Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 film RoboCop has withstood the test of time. A whip-smart satire of the police industrial complex and capitalism, it has a unique and grimy flavor that’s rarely been replicated. And the premise of normal police officer Alex Murphy being turned into an unstoppable crime-stopping machine has an appeal that feels tailor made for video games. Years have passed and the RoboCop franchise has received numerous video game adaptations that range from arcade side scrollers to fighting games. Yet none have captured the feeling of the original film and the balance of style and substance it carried. None have ever made the player truly feel like a one-man war on crime in the streets of Detroit. None have ever really felt like RoboCop.

I’m wildly pleased to say that RoboCop: Rogue City changes all of that.

Developed by Teyon (known for their work on the underrated Terminator: Resistance), RoboCop: Rogue City seeks to fix the past. Not only by putting the players authentically into the role of Alex Murphy himself, but also by delivering an experience in line with the first two RoboCop films. At times, Rogue City even feels like playing a long lost film in the series. 

Rogue City puts players in the shoes of Alex Murphy aka Robocop (voiced by a returning Peter Weller) in a story set not long after the events of Robocop 2. Working with his partner Anne Lewis, the tutorial has them storming a new station that’s been taken hostage. This is where Rogue City’s commitment to authenticity begins to shine. While most modern first-person shooter games may put an emphasis on high speed movement and agility, Rogue City sees players become a slow-moving tank. Robocop can’t even jump but that doesn’t take away from the absolute thrill of entering a shootout and taking on damage while delivering out pure violence. Gunfights are chaotic and gory and often feature enemies being turned into a bloody red mist and the environment looking like an absolute warzone after every encounter. RoboCop has a few tricks up his robotic sleeve in the form of “RoboCop vision,” which mimics his point of view from the original films but has tactical use in Rogue City. RoboCop’s Vision allows him to highlight enemies and points of interest in a chaotic environment. In gunfights, this is extremely helpful. 

While players will be able to take loads of damage, Murphy is never invincible. You can carry up to 3 repair packs at any given time but to use these you have to be stationary and hold down a button. Even then they only heal a partial amount until you make some focused upgrades. Combat uses basic firearms from pistols to assault rifles and heavy machine guns. Though most have limited ammo, players will always have access to Murphy’s auto pistol that has unlimited ammo and is just as destructive as it is in the movies, able to blow off limbs into a bloody pulp with ease. Murphy is also able to pick up various items and even enemies and is able to throw them with such force that explosions of fire and flesh easily fill the screen before you know it.

Soon after the opening mission is where Rogue City shows its true colors and where I was fully sold on the idea of a RoboCop game. After a brief visit to a wonderfully recreated police station from the films, Murphy is assigned to his first case that takes him to a seedy district in old Detroit. The district is fully explorable and tasks players with patrolling the streets in their own way. In these smaller environments I was able to explore and find other crimes to solve, ranging from murder investigations to stolen car retrievals and random crimes. Make no mistake, Rogue City is not a massive open world with tons to do but Teyon has gone the extra mile to help flesh out their rendition of RoboCop’s world in loving detail.

Investigations are fairly simple and straightforward but their writing stays true to the original films. Player choice also plays a factor into some of these missions. RoboCop has the decision to either issue a warning or arrest someone and that factors into his prime directives of servicing the public trust and delivering justice. Sometimes it feels good to maybe not write that ticket or make an arrest in the name of gaining public trust and seeing how civilians interact with you. I never felt like it made a huge impact on the overall experience but it’s a nice touch nevertheless, and allows for exploration of themes such as gentrification, drug addiction, police brutality and the cult of celebrity. 

There’s an upgrade tree as well. Almost out of necessity to mix up the gameplay. It has basic features like increased health but also some interesting additions like an engineering tree that will allow Murphy to get into safes and other lockboxes or a decipher skill that will allow him to notice more in his environment or crime scenes. There’s a good amount of player freedom in the type of build you want but when most situations boil down to a violent and slow gunfight, there’s little incentive to make choices off the beaten path.

Playing the PS5 version in performance mode I never noticed any performance issues that hindered gameplay. Sometimes the framerate would hitch up a tad when there was a lot going on on-screen (happens more often than you think) but it never lasted more than 1-2 seconds. Environments are surprisingly detailed and have reflective surfaces offering a level of detail that is impressive from such a small team. Character models also look fairly well done, especially those that recreate actors and characters from the films in loving detail. It’s just a shame that sometimes the animation and cinematic angles don’t put them in the best light, and at times they look to be puppets on strings in their movement and expression.

So RoboCop: Rogue City isn’t perfect. Far from it. The slow and repetitive combat, and basic investigation work have their novelty wear off after a while. The basic open-hub is nothing you haven’t seen done better in other games and the writing isn’t always the greatest. But I can’t help but be charmed by RoboCop: Rogue City. Teyon set out to deliver an authentic RoboCop experience and with all odds stacked against them, they delivered on everything they set out to do. It’s rare that you even come across a good licensed RoboCop game but it’s even better when you get one that treats the IP with the respect and care that it deserves. For all its faults, RoboCop: Rogue City is very obviously a labor of love. In a gaming sphere where lifeless video games are commonplace, I have to give RoboCop: Rogue City credit for being an outlier that finally delivers on the premise of properly adapting the classic films to the world of gaming. 

Review code provided by the publisher.