RoboCop: Rogue City (2023)
March 27, 2026
Do not meet become your heroes is the lesson from Robocop: Rogue City. I have been a fan of the original film for decades at this point, so when I first saw this game rolling out my interest was piqued. Despite that, I waited two years before jumping in, largely because I suspected it would be a bit shallow. Turns out shallow isn't quite the problem. Instead, walking in the shoes (or metal boots) of RoboCop is maybe a little too real to be fun. The game nailed the character feel, you (RoboCop) are a slow walking, big blasting cop with a short fuse. Notably, RoboCop is even shorter on words. After being my own personal RoboCop for around ten hours, it turns out RoboCop is more fun as a character to watch than he is to play.
I suppose because of this, the highlights of the game have little to do with playing as RoboCop, and more to do with the the dressing around the game. Mainly, the motions towards the movie: the (iconic to me) music, going back to the station to hang out with characters from the big screen, or blasting people with no regard to the rules and regulations. On that note, I thought it was such a nice little touch that the end of stage moments happen as RoboCop is seated at the station connected to the computer. When it first happens, it is an oh, of course moment, but speaks to the care the developers put into realizing the character in a game. Other side characters get nice touches too. As an example, I legitimately chuckled when a bomb-strapped bank president was more concerned about huge profit losses a explosion would cause the bank. His own wellbeing be damned. Both funny in the moment and on brand with the series. I think bigger RoboCop fans probably have even more to appreciate here than myself.
Still, despite these positives, once you get over the novelty of Wow, they nailed RoboCop the charm wears thin. Unfortunately, it does not take long for this to happen. Exciting combat moments of kicking through a door in slow motion as you pop the heads of your enemies quickly becomes repetitive and overdone within the first few stages. The voice acting--specifically for the enemies--is grating, clearly on purpose, but not pleasant to interact with over the full length of the game. I mentioned I liked the music, but a negative surfaces here too: there simply isn't enough of it. Instead the game leans into an odd amount of dead air. This all works to give game a bit of a undercooked feel. The worst offender of all being an early given automatic pistol with unlimited ammunition that renders every subsequent weapon unlock into a downgrade. You'll find yourself trying out worse weapons just to give the game a little more variety, but that is a bummer when you know a better weapon is a click away at all times.
The game does wrap up well, there is a cool final boss sequence the feels pulled from the movie. Some of the dead air throughout the game leaves you wanting a moment with the title theme that is finally delivered with force. However, it wasn't so good that it made the rest of the drudge worth the while. I should also note--and this is my own fault certainly--I barely engaged with the side quests. One side story I did engage with showed a sillier side to the game. RoboCop hitting up a video rental shop with a pal, browsing tapes. It is very possible that the game was holding a ton of these more refreshing moments behind side quests I never engaged with, but the base game was really not inviting me to seek out more of what it had to offer. Still, "I'd buy that for a dollar." Though maybe not much more.
I suppose because of this, the highlights of the game have little to do with playing as RoboCop, and more to do with the the dressing around the game. Mainly, the motions towards the movie: the (iconic to me) music, going back to the station to hang out with characters from the big screen, or blasting people with no regard to the rules and regulations. On that note, I thought it was such a nice little touch that the end of stage moments happen as RoboCop is seated at the station connected to the computer. When it first happens, it is an oh, of course moment, but speaks to the care the developers put into realizing the character in a game. Other side characters get nice touches too. As an example, I legitimately chuckled when a bomb-strapped bank president was more concerned about huge profit losses a explosion would cause the bank. His own wellbeing be damned. Both funny in the moment and on brand with the series. I think bigger RoboCop fans probably have even more to appreciate here than myself.
Still, despite these positives, once you get over the novelty of Wow, they nailed RoboCop the charm wears thin. Unfortunately, it does not take long for this to happen. Exciting combat moments of kicking through a door in slow motion as you pop the heads of your enemies quickly becomes repetitive and overdone within the first few stages. The voice acting--specifically for the enemies--is grating, clearly on purpose, but not pleasant to interact with over the full length of the game. I mentioned I liked the music, but a negative surfaces here too: there simply isn't enough of it. Instead the game leans into an odd amount of dead air. This all works to give game a bit of a undercooked feel. The worst offender of all being an early given automatic pistol with unlimited ammunition that renders every subsequent weapon unlock into a downgrade. You'll find yourself trying out worse weapons just to give the game a little more variety, but that is a bummer when you know a better weapon is a click away at all times.
The game does wrap up well, there is a cool final boss sequence the feels pulled from the movie. Some of the dead air throughout the game leaves you wanting a moment with the title theme that is finally delivered with force. However, it wasn't so good that it made the rest of the drudge worth the while. I should also note--and this is my own fault certainly--I barely engaged with the side quests. One side story I did engage with showed a sillier side to the game. RoboCop hitting up a video rental shop with a pal, browsing tapes. It is very possible that the game was holding a ton of these more refreshing moments behind side quests I never engaged with, but the base game was really not inviting me to seek out more of what it had to offer. Still, "I'd buy that for a dollar." Though maybe not much more.