List of RoboCop video games

RoboCop is a 1987 cyberpunk action movie set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future. RoboCop centers on a police officer that is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg, otherwise known as a "RoboCop". Two sequels followed with video games done for each film.

RoboCop

Premise

RoboCop was released in 1988 by Nihon Bussan/AV Japan.^[1] In the game, a player controls RoboCop who advances through various stages that are taken from the 1987 movie. The bonus screen is a target shooting range that uses a first-person perspective. The intermission features digitized voices from the actors.

RoboCop was licensed by UK-based Ocean Software at the script stage, so (fairly uniquely for the time) the 1988 run & gun and beat 'em up hybrid arcade game developed and published by Data East and Nihon Bussan,^[2] was licensed from a computer game company rather than the other way around. This is why the arcade game bears a licence credit for Ocean.

Several reworked versions appeared for home computers and video game consoles, most of them handled by Ocean, as well as a NES version ported by Sakata SAS and published by Data East. It has more recently appeared on mobile phones. The IBM and Apple ports were produced by US-based Quicksilver Software. Unlike the other home versions, the Commodore 64 version is a mostly original game that only loosely follows the arcade RoboCop. In addition to a different soundtrack, the boss battles are replaced with a screen where the player must shoot a man holding a woman hostage (without hitting her). The original European cassette tape version was notorious for a huge number of bugs (which were cleaned up in the US disk release).

The games capture the spirit of the RoboCop film to some degree, as it involves killing generic criminals and enemy bosses, like the dangerous ED-209. Being quite popular, RoboCop was followed by several sequels (most of them handled by Ocean), including RoboCop 2, RoboCop 3, and RoboCop versus The Terminator which was developed for, but never released in arcades, and was later ported to several other consoles including the Sega Mega Drive, Super NES, Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, and even as a final generation title for the Sega Master System in Europe.

Reception

Screenshot of the arcade game.

The ZX Spectrum version of RoboCop achieved particular critical success, receiving a CRASH Smash award from CRASH,^[9] 94% in Sinclair User^[5] and Your Sinclair gave 8.8 out of 10,^[10] also placing it at number 94 in the Your Sinclair official top 100. The overall opinion was that this game was better than the original arcade game. Its capture of the original material, smooth scrolling and animation, sampled speech and sound effects were highlighted.

In addition, the ZX Spectrum RoboCop was one of the biggest selling games of all time on that platform and was number one in the sales charts for over a year and a half.^[11] It entered the charts in April 1989, and was still in the top five in February 1991.^[12] The readers of YS voted it the 9th best game of all time.^[13]

The title theme of the Commodore 64 & Game Boy ports has become well known for its serene, calm tune, which heavily contrasted the tone of the actual game. Additionally, the Game Boy version of the tune was used as the music in a series of TV adverts by European kitchen appliance company Ariston .

RoboCop 2

RoboCop 2 is a series of video games published in the 1990s by Ocean and Data East for various home computers and video game consoles. They are based on the movie of the same name. Three different games were produced, each produced on two systems.

The version for the Commodore 64 and NES is a simple left-to-right scrolling platformer, in which RoboCop is required to collect/destroy at least two-thirds of the drug "nuke" in each level and arrest two-thirds of the suspects by running into them (in contrast to shooting them). If RoboCop does not manage to attain the required amounts of nuke or number of arrests then he has two chances in the game to prove his efficiency at a shooting range. If he succeeds, he may continue onto the next level. If he fails, or if both chances at the shooting range are already used up, he must repeat the level.

The ZX Spectrum and Amstrad GX4000 versions are also platform games, but offered movement in both directions (vertically and horizontally) as well as into various areas providing an element of exploration. There is also a number of puzzle sub-games that have to be completed to progress in the game.

The version for the 16-bit Commodore Amiga and Atari ST is similar in nature to the 8-bit Spectrum and Amstrad GX4000 versions, but contains completely different levels to take advantage of the extra power offered by these computers.

There is also an arcade-only version of RoboCop 2, developed and published in 1991 by Data East (who still held the rights to create arcade games based on the franchise), which allows up to two players at once (one controlling the original RoboCop, the other controlling a slightly purple-hued clone). The game follows the basic premise of the movie, but has some major sequential differences.^[14]

It is mostly side-scrolling shoot-em-up, with some levels viewed from behind RoboCop and providing a targeting reticle with which to kill generic criminals.

Reception

The game won the award for Game Of The Year 1990 in Crash magazine.^[15] The Spectrum version of the game went to number 2 in the UK sales charts, behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.^[16]

RoboCop 3

RoboCop 3 is a 1992 video game published by Ocean. It is based on the movie of the same name. The NES edition of RoboCop 3 is a traditional single-player, side-scrolling game with a storyline and background that loosely follows the film. A unique, memorable feature is the fact that each of RoboCop's body parts has a separate damage rating. Heavily damaged parts can result in "malfunctions," such as erratic firing (if the arm holding the weapon is damaged) or difficulty walking (if legs are damaged). The player has the opportunity to repair RoboCop's parts between levels. Within PAL-A regions, it was only released in Italy.^[17]

The Super NES edition of RoboCop 3 is also a traditional single-player side-scrolling game. It was developed by Ocean Software and had what many considered to be extremely difficult gameplay. It was largely critically panned upon release. Flying Edge (a subsidiary of Acclaim Entertainment) would later publish this version to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear, with Eden Entertainment developing the games.

RoboCop 3

The Amiga, ST and IBM PC versions of the game were developed by Digital Image Design, and were renowned and acclaimed for the 3D engine used. The more advanced version of this game for the Amiga, PC and Atari ST featured first person car chases and first person shooter sequences as well as a flying sequence.

The Amiga version comes with a choice of three languages: English, French and German. There are two game modes "Movie Adventure" that follows a story-line and "Arcade Action" where the player can choose between five different single levels. The "Movie Adventure" mode opens up with a cut-scene (the cut-scenes are made with subtitled 2D panels and movies with a mix of 2D and 3D graphics) where a newscasts details how the building of the new Delta City is creating a new class of homeless people and a wave of crime by a new gang called "Splatterpunks". A new police unit named "Rehabs" have been set up in response to this, headed by Mac Daggart (named differently from his counterpart in the film, whose name is Paul McDagget. Also, the CEO is still The Old Man from the previous films). The newscast then reports of a hostage situation in the city and the game cuts to the action where RoboCop is in pursuit of a stolen van. The player (represented by a green dot on the ingame map) is to stop the van (represented by an orange dot) by ramming it with his police car. If approached from the rear, the residents of the van will open fire lowering the health (called "Efficiency" in the game) of the player. Other obstacles include civilian cars on the road, terrain and buildings. After the van has been stopped the player's next goal is to assist officer Lewis inside an apartment building (represented by a white dot on the ingame map). The controls for driving the car are the keyboard cursor keys and the mouse. Somewhat different from most other racing games is the fact that no loss of speed occurs when turning only when moving the steering wheel.

Once the player has driven there, a First-Person shooter sequence follows where the player must find officer Lewis (who is being held hostage) in under two minutes. The only guide to where Lewis is a beeping noise that gets more frequent the closer the player gets to the goal. The level consists of corridors where the player must avoid shooting civilians (doing so lowers health) and shoot the opposing Splatterpunks who can attack by shooting and throwing handgrenades. Getting hit by a handgrenade lowers the health to zero immediately but the grenades can be shot out of the air as well. The controls are somewhat peculiar compared to what is standard today. Holding the right mouse button moves the player forward, left clicking fires the gun (unlimited ammo) and moving the cursor to the sides turns the perspective. There is no keyboard control and no strafing that is common in other FPS games. Robocop 3 in home computers was one of the first 3D games.

RoboCop Versus The Terminator

RoboCop Versus The Terminator was released for a number of platforms and based on the RoboCop and Terminator franchises.

In the future, human soldiers of John Connor's resistance force against the machines are fighting a losing war against Skynet and its robot forces. Discovering that one of the foundation technologies for Skynet is the cybernetics technology used in the creation of cyborg police officer RoboCop, Flo, a resistance soldier, is sent back in time to destroy RoboCop and stop Skynet from being built. However Skynet learns of the time travel attempt and sends Terminators to stop Flo.

In the game, the player controls RoboCop, who may move across the screen, jump, fire and exchange weapons. RoboCop starts with the Auto-9 which has unlimited ammunition. Other weapons may be more powerful and carry unlimited ammunition as well. Beginning the game on a mission of law enforcement, RoboCop soon meets up with Flo and must engage in battle against Terminators, the forces of OCP and several obstacles. Upon discovering one of the Terminators has infiltrated the OCP building, RoboCop plugs himself into a console to reprogram the security, only to fall into a trap and be digitized. After his body is disassembled and used for building Skynet, RoboCop watches Skynet come to power before using his digitized mind to seize control of an abandoned robotics factory, rebuild himself, and begin to destroy Skynet in the future.

RoboCop (2003)

RoboCop(titled RoboCop: Aratanaru Kiki in Japan) is a 2003 first person shooter released for the sixth generation home consoles. The only North American version available was released for the Xbox while the PAL region versions were released on all consoles except for Game Boy Advance.^[18] A Japan-only version was released on GameCube. This was the last game Titus Software developed before going bankrupt in 2005.

The game allows the player to play as RoboCop and to uncover a sinister plot involving OCP, local gangsters dealing a deadly new synthetic drug and a powerful cyborg known only as MIND. As a last hope, RoboCop must capture, destroy, or arrest hostile characters in a desperate search for clues and evidence.

The game received mostly negative reviews by critics. GameSpot rated it 2.2/10, the official Xbox Magazine UK rated it a mediocre 5.9/10, GamerFeed gave it a 2/5, Xbox Magazine gave 2/10, and NTSC UK rated it 3/10.^[19] The Scandinavian magazine Gamereactor gave the game 1/10^[20] and called it "the worst videogame since Superman 64" (also from Titus Software).

Game Boy Advance

Titus also developed a version for the Game Boy Advance. This was an update of the 1988 arcade game that was ultimately never released.

References

External links

• List of RoboCop video games at the Killer List of Videogames
• RoboCop at World of Spectrum
• Robocop at CPC Zone
• Robocop Games Information on several games in the franchise.
• Robocop at MobyGames
• Robocop PlayStation Tech Demo at The PlayStation Museum
• http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/robocop/review.html
• RoboCop 2 at MobyGames

RoboCop Character Films RoboCop (1987) RoboCop 2 (1990) RoboCop 3 (1993) RoboCop (2014) Television Animated RoboCop: The Animated Series (1988) RoboCop: Alpha Commando (1998–99) Live-action RoboCop: The Series (1994) RoboCop: Prime Directives (2001) Comics RoboCop RoboCop Versus The Terminator Video games RoboCop Versus The Terminator Category