RoboCop: Rogue City Steam

A new criminal has popped up to threaten the peace of the city, and not only are the press excited about him – calling him The New Guy in Town – but so are all the existing gangs. RoboCop is called upon to restore the peace in a tower block raid, with plenty of gunfights, lots of pop-up villains and even some hostage situations to resolve.
Of course, the main attraction is your playing character, the part-man, part-machine (one hundred percent law enforcer!) who goes forth armed with his Auto-9 and steel-clad protection which makes enemy bullets bounce off futilely.

The action goes where the news is, with the introduction of the main big bad interrupted by a gang of thugs, who burst in, take hostages and wait for the police – namely RoboCop and his partner Anne Lewis – to come along and sort things out.
RoboCop’s heavy build means that his progress is slow – practically tank-like. But this isn’t a problem. Villains can rush up to RoboCop, but they can’t do much to him, so it’s often fun to just keep on coming until they turn tail and flee – or, as they say, feel your wrath! As well as whaling on bad guys and gang members, you also have to investigate crimes, poke around crime scenes to find clues and make arrests of likely looking felons.

RoboCop is big and strong enough to always choose violence if he wants – even running out of ammunition is no real obstacle to him. Should he start running low, he can just march (slowly) up to the next bad guy in line and punch him into next Tuesday! However, he does not always have to use force: some of the side quests offer more conciliatory paths to success, using persuasion and dialogue to encourage a gang member to provide needed information.
You can also earn goodwill by doing favours for fellow police officers, or by interacting with the citizens of the city. And this non-violent path is actively encouraged to assist with your investigations: you can upgrade your dialogue choices using a skill tree to get more out of your peaceful exchanges with citizens, good or bad alike.

The Nitty Gritty

The game is quite strongly choice-based, with different results depending on your choices in solving puzzles and side quests. These effects go all the way to the finish line, with different end scenes appearing depending on the choices you have made. How must trust the citizens have for RoboCop by the end also has an impact on how the end plays out.
RoboCop’s Auto-9 has unlimited ammo, but other weapons can be collected and their use is quite limited. Villains will try all sorts to slow RoboCop down, from chucking explosive barrels and TVs as well as shooting at him – but he is so sturdy that these have little effect on him. If he does suffer ill-effects, health will regenerate in time, and RoboCop can use enemies as human shields should he need to.

Be aware that the background of Detroit is not just for show. While the grimy streets and decrepit buildings are there to show the state of affairs, you should pay attention to the thugs and wannabe hard men lurking on street corners and near lampposts – eavesdropping on snippets of their conversations can be useful to some of your investigations and side quests…

RoboCop’s Powers

As well as being almost invincible in his armour, RoboCop has a number of other powers, most of which can be upgraded in time as you play and grow. But all are useful and should be mastered as quickly as possible. Let’s have a look at them: