RoboCop: Rogue City

RoboCop: Rogue City
Developer(s)	Teyon
Publisher(s)	Nacon
Director(s)	Piotr Latocha
Series	RoboCop
Engine	Unreal Engine 5
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X/S
Release	2 November 2023
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

RoboCop: Rogue City is an first-person shooter game developed by Teyon and published by Nacon. The game features an original storyline based on the RoboCop films, with Peter Weller reprising his role as the titular character. It was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 2 November 2023. Upon release, it received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

After the events of RoboCop 2, a new crime wave surges as rumors of the "New Guy", a mysterious up-and-coming crime boss, rises into the public and the criminal underworld. The Torch Heads gang takes over a news station to advertise themselves to the "New Guy", and RoboCop arrives with Anne Lewis to stop them and rescue the hostages. Once there, however, he begins to suffer various audible and visual hallucinations of his past life that cause him to hesitate in saving a hostage that Lewis rescues. Upon returning to the Police Department, crooked OCP employee Max Becker is sent to be OCP's overseer of RoboCop, while engineer Morgan and psychologist Olivia Blanche aid him, with OCP installing a chip to aid in upgrades to his performance. Throughout the game, RoboCop meets and works with other characters, such as homeless police informant Pickles, OCP police recruit and dispatcher Ulysses Washington, and reporter Samantha Ortiz.

RoboCop searches for a lead to the Torch Head leader Soot, checking an arcade and rescuing Pickles from a hideout, who informs him of a gang gathering in a slaughterhouse. After apprehending Soot, Lewis is taken hostage by the "New Guy", and RoboCop brings Soot to him. The "New Guy", calling himself Wendell Antonovsky, kills Soot for bringing too much attention to him, revealing to RoboCop that he is the brother of one of the criminals who killed him (heavily implied to be Clarence Boddicker); claiming that RoboCop's humanity is his weakness, he fatally shoots Lewis, leaving her hospitalized and in a coma. RoboCop finds a lead towards Wendell's association with the Street Vultures biker gang, and he travels into their territory near a quarry in search of both their leader, Spike, and a missing officer who later turns up dead; RoboCop also discovers dead bodies scavenged and preserved for unknown purposes. Rendezvousing with a police squad, RoboCop storms the heart of their hideout with assistance from an ED-209 unit. However, the ED-209 malfunctions and attacks the officers, allowing Spike to escape and forcing RoboCop to fight and destroy it.

RoboCop visits Lewis in the hospital, and discovers that the morgue was robbed of corpses with intact brains, and was seemingly done with aid from Wendell. Later, RoboCop assists the OCP SWAT teams in taking back the OCP Bank from the Vultures, who attempted to rob the bank after cutting ties with Wendell due to refusing to compensate them. RoboCop meets the Old Man, the elderly and ailing CEO of OCP, who once resided in the ruins of Old Detroit, and where the planned Delta City is. Following a trail that leads to Spike being tortured by Torch Heads hired by Wendell, the biker reveals that Wendell had his gang recover corpses to extract the brains. Tracking Wendell to an abandoned mall, a scuffle causes his hallucinations to worsen exponentially, culminating in a vision of his former self. Despite his struggles, RoboCop catches up to and arrest Wendell. Lewis awakens from the coma, while the Old Man has a heart attack that also puts him in the hospital, displaying his fear of OCP's fall to those like Becker.

The police believe that Wendell is in league with someone from OCP, and Becker is initially suspected; he even tricks RoboCop into walking into a live-fire exercise of his Urban Enforcement Droid (UED's), though RoboCop is victorious, impressing the next OCP CEO, who witnessed the event. Becker announces that his UED's are set to replace the police force. Heading to the city prison, RoboCop questions Wendell, who reveals that his crimes were made to progress "Project: Afterlife". A riot that Wendell instigated breaks out, and RoboCop fights his way through; however, armed mercenaries arrive to break Wendell out. Wendell manages to escape, and RoboCop returns to the hospital when the mercenaries invade to kill Lewis, who narrowly survives the encounter. Doctor Blanche calls RoboCop, who suspects that her work computer was hacked to get at RoboCop's psychological profile and her research. Meeting her at a hotel, RoboCop defends her from mercenaries sent to kill her. RoboCop enters the sewers while following a signal planted in Blanche's work computer, where he learns that Wendell was hired by the Old Man.

Arriving at OCP, RoboCop has learned that the Old Man has died, and Becker has taken over as CEO, firing the police force to replace them with his robots, and cancelling the Old Man's Afterlife project, a project aimed at creating cyborg citizens to escape death. At the OCP Arms EXPO, Wendell hijacks the UED's with Becker's remote, sabotaging an EMP device that would have been used in a scam. RoboCop's glitches result in him being left incapacitated as Wendell steals the remaining robots and weapons to create chaos in Detroit, revealing that the chip put in RoboCop is a jammer connected to a trigger in his lighter that degrades RoboCop's mind and inhibits him from accosting Wendell. After removing the chip, RoboCop and his allies work together to keep order in Detroit as gangs, robots and mercenaries unleash chaos; RoboCop aids in quelling the chaos by saving civilians from a fire caused by the Torch Heads, foiling a bridge-bombing scheme by the Vultures (putting an end to Spike), and engaging and destroying an ED-209 unit used by mercenaries to go on a rampage.

Following a trail towards Old Detroit, RoboCop discovers a laboratory built by the Old Man and managed by Wendell that was the hub for Project: Afterlife, with the stolen brains and research all contributing to it, facilitated by Wendell's criminal actions. Emerging into Delta City's under-construction district, RoboCop pursues Wendell, battling his mercenaries and UED's. The mercenaries abandon Wendell when they discover Wendell is no longer funded due to Afterlife's dissolution, and RoboCop confronts and kills Wendell once and for all. After the battle, the other characters' resolutions depends on RoboCop's actions: Pickles either remains a cynical addict or cleans himself up; Ulysses is either rejected or welcomed by the force; Ortiz either trusts or mistrusts RoboCop; and Blanche either considers him only a machine or as a human.

RoboCop responds to a call on an attack on OCP, heading to the executive floor to find Becker attacked by RoboCop2 (the same mech that the drug lord Cain's brain piloted). A message reveals that the Old Man had in fact implanted his brain into RoboCop2 in an effort to be like Murphy, but the newfound power causes him to instead become violent, killing Becker in revenge for undermining him. RoboCop battles the CEO in a grueling fight, destroying and collapsing the OCP building during the battle. When RoboCop2 is trapped under debris, RoboCop can choose to either kill him, abandon him or save him, which the CEO returns the favor by sacrificing his life to save RoboCop from the collapsing building.

In the aftermath, the greater-scope events play out depending on the players' actions: Pickles either ends up dead or commits to a more selfless disposition; Ulysses either remains an embittered OCP employee or becomes a true police officer; Blanche either doesn't trust machines at all or works to help and understand them; Ortiz either loses her status as a reporter and becomes a talk show host, or joins an underground resistance against OCP. OCP is considered for buyout by the Japanese corporation Kanemitsu, slowly leading towards the events of the third film.

Gameplay

RoboCop: Rogue City is a first-person shooter set in Old Detroit. Playing as RoboCop, the player must clear the city of criminals, conduct investigations, and can also give out parking tickets. The game is set in between the films RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3. Anne Lewis, RoboCop's police partner from the films, accompanies the player.

The player is given various side quests throughout the game and can choose how to solve them, for example by selecting between different dialogue options. The outcome of these quests varies depending on the player's choices. For instance, the player can choose between using violence or a peaceful approach when seeking information from suspects. The overall storyline and ending are also altered depending on decisions made by the player. RoboCop's public trust score can be built up by interacting with citizens, also affecting gameplay.

The player's primary weapon is RoboCop's Auto 9 gun, which has unlimited ammunition. Weapons dropped by enemies can also be picked up by the player and used for a limited amount of time. Items in the game's environments, such as exploding barrels and televisions sets, can also be flung around. Due to RoboCop's metal exterior, he takes only minimal damage from gunfire. The player can regenerate lost health or use enemies as human shields against gunfire.

The player also starts out with several abilities, including night vision and a flashbang shockwave. Time can also be slowed down briefly to kill enemies and clear an area faster. These abilities, as well as the Auto 9, can be upgraded over time. The player can also use a scanning ability to search for enemies, misdemeanors such as traffic violations, and disorderly conduct.

Development

RoboCop: Rogue City features an original storyline based on the first three RoboCop films. The game is being developed by Teyon, and is published by Nacon in partnership with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which holds the rights to the franchise. The three companies worked together to ensure it is faithful to the films; the development team watched them multiple times to incorporate their satirical aspect, especially that of the first film.

RoboCop: Rogue City was developed using Unreal Engine 5. Original RoboCop actor Peter Weller returned to provide his voice and likeness for the game. RoboCop's sluggish movements are also incorporated, despite first-person shooters generally using swift gameplay. Piotr Latocha, the game's director, said that reaching a balance on RoboCop's movements was one of the biggest design challenges on the project: "He's kind of slow and tankish, and we need to be true to the lore, but also we cannot be super slow and super heavy".

Release

RoboCop: Rogue City was announced in July 2021, and the first gameplay trailer was unveiled a year later.

RoboCop: Rogue City was initially scheduled to release in June 2023, but this was later pushed back three months, before being delayed further. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 2 November 2023. A demo was released for PC (through Steam) on 4 October 2023. A version for Nintendo Switch was announced alongside the first gameplay footage in 2022, but was officially cancelled on 20 October 2023. It will be the first console-based RoboCop video game since 2003's RoboCop.

Reception

RoboCop: Rogue City received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, while the PC version received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

External links

• Official website