Never Writes About:
Robocop: Rogue City-Unfinished Business
(More like gushes over)
Yes I’ll be gushing because this game is excellent. No exaggeration. No hyperbole. Robocop: Rogue City-Unfinished Business is so well made and well executed and the developer Teyon deserves every bit of praise I am about to bestow to them and the game.
I often read and hear “Gamers” lament the lack of great AA games. These are usually older “Gamers” reminiscing about the good old days of the PS2 era or 360 era. I see pundits bashing AAA developers and publishers, decrying what they call inflated budgets for big games that under-deliver, and begging the game makers to focus on smaller experiences. And seemingly everyone agrees. That is the mainstream sentiment you see. That is the current popular narrative in many online spaces. But when these games release, they go mostly ignored by the mainstream, and are marked down in reviews because they lack the polish or features they expect from AAA games. And honestly it’s just a huge bummer.
There are so many great games that match the criteria these people say they want. I’m thinking of Eternal Strands, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Alone in the Dark, and one of my GOTY’s from last year, Hell is Us. I hear great things about Mafia: The Old Country also but I’ve yet to play that. I’m not saying these games bombed or that they don’t have an audience. It just seems that the perceived sentiment towards games like these do not match the sales or attention given to the actual games when they release.
I’m just saying there are great indie and AA or single A games available and they are being made all the time. Robocop: Rogue City-Unfinished business is one of them. That title is really long though.
For those that may be unfamiliar, Unfinished business is a stand alone expansion to 20223’s Robocop: Rogue city. I loved that game. Speaking as just a casual fan of Robocop (I loved the movies when I was young and have seen them multiple times, but I’ve never like, bought merch or put posters on my wall) Teyon did a great job of matching the tone and feel of those films. That continues with Unfinished Business. I was excited when I first heard about the expansion, and even more excited when I saw it had its own Platinum trophy!
R:RC-Unfinished Business is shorter and more linear than its predecessor. Being an expansion, this is to be expected. Despite this, Unfinished Business retains the intense, violent gameplay and sardonic cynicism of the citizenry found in the first game. And when I say violent I mean VIOLENT. Bullets fired from Robocop’s iconic Auto 9 (your infinite ammo default weapon) tears through enemies, dismembering limbs and exploding heads in a gory torrent of blood and viscera. Teyon did a spectacular job on these animations and effects. I was particularly impressed by the blood splatter. It looks thick and viscous; slowly oozing down whatever surface it was sprayed on. It looks less realistic and more akin to blood splatter from a schlocky slasher flick, which is perfect for this.
Unfinished Business adds “Takedown Finishers” to Robocop’s arsenal. These are new animations that allow Robocop to instantly finish an enemy, usually by smashing them into something in the environment, like a soda machine or an electrical panel. You can also shove a bad guy into a garbage chute.
The same upgrade systems from Robocop: Rogue City return and function the same way. You gain experience not from kills, but completing objectives and finding crime evidence that serve as the games collectibles. Items like stolen purses and drug stashes. There are items called PCB boards that are used to enhance the Auto-9. These are circuit boards with nodes that house mostly positive traits such as increased damage and weapon spread. You plug in chips that increase to percentage of the effects. Some PCB’s have special effect nodes, like the ability to never have to reload, that can greatly increase Robocop’s already substantial power.
The trophy list is straightforward. Most of the trophies will come from the story. There are a few trophies for eliminating certain enemies in certain ways. I don’t like spoilers so I’m not going to even come close to spoiling anything. There are no difficulty trophies, and nothing is really considered missable because there is chapter select.
I don’t think you have to be a fan of the films to enjoy either of these Robocop games, but if you are I think you’ll appreciate the care and respect Teyon has shown the franchise. They are great at taking these franchises (Teyon also made the criminally underrated Terminator: Resistance) and crafting enjoyable, entertaining video game experiences within them.
Robocop is slow and clunky, but the game never feels that way. It plays so smoothly. The shooting is tight and precise. The sound effects, like the dinging of bullets ricocheting off of Robocop’s armour or the clunking thuds of his footsteps of his, deepen the immersion into the action. I had so much fun with these games, and I am looking forward to Teyon’s next game, Hunter: The Reckoning-Deathwish. It’s another licensed game, one that I am unfamiliar with, but Teyon’s pedigree in this space has me confident it will be another winner.
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