RoboCop: Rogue City review - The ultimate 1980s movie tie-in game

You can actually already play it in early access if you pre-ordered the 'Alex Murphy Edition'.

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The game is set between the events of the second and third entries in the original RoboCop film franchise (reboot? What reboot?), with iconic actor Peter Weller reprising the title role.

And given that this performance was always monotone and deadpan, it translates into the gaming voice-over realm just fine.

Playing as this armoured avenger is genuinely fun, with his lumbering movement and bullet-sponge mechanical body providing a really refreshing change of pace from the usual shooters of today. We'd definitely recommend it for fans of the films.

Hardened gamers may find a few annoyances here and there, from dodgy facial animations to stingy checkpointing - and even some buggy moments where a character will disappear unnaturally through a wall.

But if your primary objective here is to have a fun time and remember why you loved RoboCop back in the day, we think you'll have a mostly great experience with Rogue City.

In terms of the writing, the developers at Teyon clearly have a lot of love for the source material, as they've woven in all sorts of Easter eggs and callbacks while also generating a new story that slots in nicely between the established beats.

And yes, you will get a trophy for shooting someone in an area that you could probably guess!

There's also, impressively, an engaging emotional core to the game. While anyone could take a stab at the ultra-violence of the early films and the political satire that they're often remembered for, it takes genuine care for the character to get under RoboCop's skin (what's left of it, anyway) in the way this game does.

Despite not being an open-world affair in the truest sense, the game does offer a series of decent-sized areas for the player to explore, with some imaginative side missions thrown in along with plentiful collectable criminal evidence.

Not content with just being a robot action game, Rogue City also takes the time to give you plenty of cop work to do (plenty of which you can skip past if you'd prefer).

Overall, the gameplay is pretty fun, with RoboCop feeling utterly unique as he clanks his way slowly through combat arenas, blasting away at crooks and even throwing everything from computers to motorbikes at his foes.

Blood splatters in all directions, and you can also look around using the green-hued RoboCop vision to spot interactive items in the space.

To put it simply, you'll genuinely feel like you're playing as the character, with Weller's suitably flat voice guiding you through the experience (along with some memorable side characters).

The baddies may not always have very interesting personalities, but they make for good target practice, and there is an impressive amount of variety in how they'll behave, providing you with ample challenge in each major confrontation.

At the end of every level, you'll be given a score card that will note how many side missions you ticked off, how much criminal evidence you found and numerous other things that the game has been tracking.

When it comes to scoring the game itself, we're happy to ignore the glitches and the un-synced faces. Much like the hero at its heart, this game is more than the sum of its parts.

RoboCop: Rogue City launches Thursday 2nd November for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and you can order your copy now. We reviewed on Xbox Series X.

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