GAME CLEAR No. 189 -- RoboCop: Rogue City
video games game clear teyon nacon playstation ps5RoboCop: Rogue City (2023, Multiplatform)
Developer: Teyon
Publisher: Nacon
Clear Version: PS5
Clear Platform: PS5
Clear Date: 9/7/24
| Why should I care? |
|---|
| Rogue City is a competently-made, mid-budget game in an era that needs more of them, and that’s something. Too bad about cops, though. |
Still all cop
When RoboCop: Rogue City first dropped, it seemed to immediately catch on as a darling for the “shorter games, worse graphics” crowd. I consider myself part of that crowd, and I wanted to support the effort, so I put it on my shortlist of games to play (perhaps it’s worth noting that games like Final Fantasy VI have been on that list for close to two decades). I finally got around to it recently, and while I do think it succeeds as a well-made and reasonably-scoped RoboCop simulator, it unfortunately fails to really live up to the bite of the original in the way most of its needless sequels have. Furthermore, its failure to critically engage with what it means to control an American police officer in a 2023 video game feels like a major whiff.
In Rogue City, you assume the role of the eponymous RoboCop Alex Murphy in an original story set between the events of the second and third films. There’s a deep-pocketed crime boss in town known as the “New Guy” who has provided an influx of cash for area gangs, causing rapidly-increasing crime rates. Sounds like a job for RoboCop and his trusted partner Anne Lewis.
The story then proceeds in somewhat predictable fashion. You and Lewis — officers of Detroit’s privatized police force, a subsidiary of Omni Consumer Products (OCP) — go after the top dogs of the Detroit crime world to try to get leads on the New Guy. You follow these leads to more criminals and their hideouts, rinse and repeat. Sometimes Murphy has to reckon with his human side, his fractured memories, and the reanimated corpse that he is. The plot takes some twists and turns, but if you somehow think OCP doesn’t have its hands in the whole mess its police force is tasked with fixing, then I’m guessing you were also shocked all those times Dr. Wily was revealed to be the actual villain of each Mega Man game.
The writing is of more or less the same quality as the two film sequels, which I guess is pretty good for a budget video game, but not very good overall. It just doesn’t pack nearly the punch or have nearly the wit of the excellent first movie, and it sometimes comes off as corny in a way that the original never did. You can see where it tries to check the boxes of critiquing American capitalism, corporatization, and politics, but it just doesn’t hit the same. Verhoeven had a way to both bludgeon you with his satire while also somehow being deft with it. It’s difficult to replicate, and I don’t think anyone that has tried has really succeeded yet.
One area where Teyon does do something interesting even in comparison to the films is in its moments in which Murphy “glitches” out. These scenes involve Murphy hallucinating memories of his family, or the death of his partner, or other traumatic things of that nature. It reminds me a bit of the Scarecrow sections of the Arkham games. Murphy experiences the agony of recollection like this in the movies, but marching slowly through funhouse hallways of Murphy’s nightmares is compelling and effective in the game because of its interactivity. It’s pleasingly jarring, and it makes you feel for Murphy.
And that’s one of the major themes of the game. Much like the source material, Rogue City wants you to have some empathy for Murphy. Sure, All Cops Are Bastards, but empathy also demands that we acknowledge that they probably became bastards because of Society or whatever. Furthermore, in flashback scenes in from the film and in the game, we are shown that before his death and reincarnation, Murphy seemed to just be a normal guy and a decent family man. And even if you don’t care much about that, his rebirth as both a weapon of the state and corporate interests is inarguably cruel and unusual. It’s tough not to pull for him to at least find peace.
Or at least it should be.
I’m not a hero, I’m not the savior, forget what you know
Unfortunately, any efforts to humanize Murphy are drastically undercut by the outrageous levels of wanton violence he inflicts upon his enemies. Yes, I know the Verhoeven original was gleefully ultraviolent. I know one of the famous scenes in the movie involves Murphy shooting a guy’s dick off with the kind of precision only a robot could manage. I know these things. But it’s crazy to me that dispatching hostiles non-lethally isn’t an option at all in this game. Quite the opposite, you’ve got to mow them the fuck down in preposterous numbers. The endless splattering of bad guy giblets as you work your way through hideouts and banks and construction sites is so dissonant with this notion that Murphy is “one of the good ones” or someone I should feel sorry for. I’ll grant that all of the enemies in these scenarios shoot first, which I guess makes them “violent” criminals and makes firing back “self-defense.” But that feels a little flimsy when you’re fucking RoboCop and are specifically designed to be effectively invincible.
What’s more, it’s also completely incongruent with other systems in the game. At various points, you’re granted the ability to roam freely around slices of Detroit. In these sections, there are optional side missions called “Protect and Serve” quests. These are generally non-violent crimes-in-progress, like vandalism or littering. In every case, you’re given the choice to prioritize one of two of RoboCop’s prime directives: Serve the Public Trust or Uphold the Law. In basically every case the former is what you should do if you’re not an asshole. Y’know, let ’em off with a warning, explain the rationale for why the law is what it is, and urge them not to do it again. Yes, some of them are belligerent and unapologetic, but you know that subjecting them to the United States justice system will only make them worse for the wear. Maybe the bit of compassion you showed them will help them on their way.
But if they pull a gun on your ass? Blow ’em the fuck away! No arrests, only fatalities! It just seems so weird that there are no non-lethal options at your disposal.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m actually not looking at it critically enough. Maybe this is one of those meta games where you’re supposed to feel bad for your endless volleys of lead death on every 2-bit criminal in Detroit. It’s not the writers’ job to beat you over the head with a Kojimaesque monologue about how RoboCop is bad or how he’s more weapon than man. Go to your room and think about how you had fun and why that’s fucked up.
And that’s the thing: you will have fun! Teyon made a shooter that feels great even as you occupy the plodding body of RoboCop — a feeling that they also nailed. Robo’s signature Auto-9 sidearm has a fun upgrade system and becomes truly OP in the later stages of the game. In a vacuum, it feels really nice to hit your target in this game (especially if you’re using a DualSense controller). The sound effects, gore, and feedback on hits would indeed make Verhoeven proud.
Unfortunately, we don’t live in a vacuum. We live in a world that, rightfully, is questioning the very point of police more and more every day. For lots of cop-centric media, I’m able to sort of suspend my disbelief and enter into this common fictional world in which cops are mostly good and genuinely exist to impartially protect the public rather than mostly harrass and imprison them along socioeconomic or racial lines — if they don’t just kill them first. It’s a little harder when I’m the actual guy blowing human being after human being to bits. I know that for lots of people simply being a criminal — and especially a violent one — means your value as a person is forfeit, but I simply don’t! So it often just doesn’t really feel right to be playing this role no matter how well-executed it is in many ways.
Tough one, man. There’s a lot of good here in a certain sense of the word, but it’s hard for me to really recommend. It’s not like the original RoboCop was all that critical of police itself, preferring to cast the blame on the systems they operate in, so maybe I shouldn’t have expected much. Sure would’ve been nice if this game had had a little something to say about such a topical issue, though.