RoboCop
-
Hollywood Collection
(1990)
-
RoboCop
(1988 on
Arcade, 1989 on
DOS,
Apple II...)
-
RoboCop
(1989 on
TRS-80 CoCo,
NES)
- RoboCop (1990 on Dedicated handheld)
-
RoboCop
(2001 on
Game Boy Color)
-
RoboCop
(2003 on
PlayStation 2,
Xbox,
Windows)
-
RoboCop
(2004 on
J2ME)
-
RoboCop
(2014 on
iPhone,
iPad,
Android)
Description
Based on the 1987 movie of the same name, Patrolman Alex Murphy was killed on the streets of Detroit. The major corporation there, Omni Consumer Products (OCP) saw an opportunity to sell a new kind of law enforcement officer to the troubled city. They took what was left of Murphy, encased it in titanium armor, wiped his memory and created RoboCop. Now it's up to RoboCop to clean the streets of Detroit and eliminate the one responsible for his murder, Clarence Boddicker. But it looks like Clarence might not be the kingpin of this town...
Ocean's version of RoboCop for 8-bit machines loosely adapts the Data East arcade game, with stages inspired by those from the coin-op, but also entirely new gameplay elements.
In most levels, RoboCop walks from left to right, shooting his gun at hordes of enemies that intend to kill him with bullets, chainsaws or their fists. Stages include the streets of Detroit (in two parts, based on the first level of the arcade), a drug factory (based on the fourth arcade level), and a junkyard (based on the third coin-op stage). Gun power-ups to collect include a rapid fire model, a three-way shot and a powerful flame cannon. Two levels end with boss fights against RoboCop's chief adversary ED-209. For some reason, ED is impervious to bullets and must be defeated using Robo's fists alone.
New challenges from the arcade include hostage scenarios: in these, seen from a first-person perspective, a criminal holds an innocent person. Moving crosshairs and firing precisely, RoboCop must take care to shoot only the criminal, not the civilian.
Another new game element requires some quick thinking: in a puzzle mode, a composite sketch of a suspect is presented and must be matched by choosing the correct parts (hair, chin, eyes, etc.) of the face within a tight time limit.
Spellings
- ロボコップ - Japanese spelling
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Commodore 64 version)
6 People
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| The Graphics |
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 75% (based on 24 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 70 ratings with 1 reviews)
Would not buy that for a dollar
The Good
I would say Robocop originally is one of the best action games that Ocean created from scratch for their movie licenses. With a few tweaks it even became an arcade game. It's a hit among the many misses. The C64 version however...
Well it's got pretty gimmicks.
There is a loading screen with a digitized picture taken from the movie. The game graphics are colorful and ambitious, maybe a bit too much (it looks horribly dated by just a couple years later even on C64), Robocop himself made of high-resolution sprites, and the usual 50FPS smooth scrolling.
The music is very cool and atmospheric. It's not the Robocop theme song, but I think it wouldn't be out of place in the move.
I love when the gameplay starts, it plays a digitized sample and a funny sounding bass fanfare, like "ROBOCOP dun dun DUNDUN dun!"
The Bad
I played this back in the day. It's incredibly hard, unfair, and it feels like a chore to play. Robocop slides forward like he is riding an invisible unicycle, while a million things keep bombarding him so fast it's impossible. He's not even like the tank he was in the movie, the life meter drops to zero in no time. Never got trough even half of the first level, no matter how hard I tried! It's just not fun.
Rubbing salt to the wound, the YT longplay revealed that level 3 is an unfinished mess of glitches.
As a bonus, it gets silly to see Robocop jumping(!) whenever you try shoot upwards. As in, hovering high into the air and back, bouncy bouncy! Jumping has not even any real use in this game and it's just in the C64 version.
Then there is the deal of selecting either in-game tune or sound effects. That's the least of our problems.
The Bottom Line
Recently I tried out the Z80 versions (Spectrum/Amstrad/MSX), and while far behind in cosmetics, they are well designed, well drawn, and good to play. The C64 version is supposed to be the same game in theory, but it's very off and unpolished. Heck, I even had more fun with the Apple II one than I ever had with this! As horrible as that version is, still gave me that "Let's have another go!" feeling, unlike this.
The scoreboard entries has some pretty depressing words as default. Maybe that's the story of the development.
"panic... anxiety... depression..."
Commodore 64 · by 1xWertzui (1134) · 2017
Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Nowhere to be found... | ZeTomes (36199) | Jul 14, 2016 |
Trivia
The two different RoboCop games for DOS
Ocean Software actually produced two different RoboCop games for DOS. One, aimed squarely at the American market, shows EGA graphics, credits Data East and Ocean and is very similar to the coin-op. The second one has CGA graphics, gives credit to Astros Productions and Ocean Software and follows the same layout as the 8 bit computer versions.
The Commodore 64 infamous bug
The C64 version of RoboCop has become infamous for being home of one of the most outrageous bug ever. After development, the entire fourth level of the game turned out to be a graphical mess due to a glitch, rendering it almost entirely unplayable. Thing is, Ocean apparently knew about that bug, but allegedly didn't want to delay the release of the game. So, instead of correcting it... they altered the timer on level three, making it impossible to complete in the given time, thus making the buggy fourth level impossible to reach on purpose!
In-game speech and title tune
A special version of the game released for 128K Spectrum consisted a lot of in-game speech and Jonathan Dunn's title music. These enhancements also existed in the Amstrad CPC version but were nowhere to be found neither in C64 version nor in the DOS version.
NES version
NES version developed by Data East bears little resemblance to the original coin-up. It contained additional "block action" move and comic-style cutscenes.
Game Boy version
The Game Boy version in terms of looks and design was very similar to ZX Spectrum and was probably ported directly from this system as both machines use the same Z80 processor. However there were some improvements such as unlimited ammo and the ability to jump. Unfortunately the player had only a single life what made it next to impossible to complete the game.
Ariston commercial
Interestingly enough, the game's title theme (Game Boy version) was used in a British commercial for Ariston home appliances in the early 90's.
Awards
- Computer and Video Games
- Issue 06/1989 - Runner-up Golden Joystick Award 1989 for Best 8-Bit Soundtrack (reader's vote)
Information also contributed by mailmanppa
Analytics
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Related Sites +
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CPC-Power (in French)
for Amstrad CPC: game database entry; package material; manual digitalizations; goodies; advertisement; magazine reviews; downloadable releases; additional material
Identifiers +
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Corn Popper.
Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX added by Martin Smith. DOS added by Terok Nor. Game Boy added by Игги Друге. Commodore 64 added by Katakis | カタキス.
Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Shoddyan, Neville, Lance Boyle, mailmanppa, Rik Hideto, Jo ST, ZeTomes, RetroArchives.fr.
Game added November 7, 2007. Last modified June 21, 2024.