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The future of law enforcement is back... and boy, is he upset! Not surprising, really - problems galore confront our shiny hero, and only his wits and cunning can save him... well, those and a whacking great machine gun.

Following on from the first movie, Murphy, the baldy cyborg from Detroit, has found himself in a bit of a fix. Gangs of nasty unshaven louts have taken to the streets peddling a bizarre narcotic called Nuke, a drug which reduces the user to a drooling, snarling psychopath, incapable of reason or logical behaviour. [Have you tried it then, Frank? - Ed]

Robo's task is to locate the base laboratory where the Nuke is manufactured, and destroy it utterly. This normally wouldn't be much of a problem for Robocop, because he is basically rock hard (nobody spills his pint and lives to tell the tale!), but unfortunately he has more than a few extra problems to deal with. Not least of which is the fact that his own parent company, OCP, has come up with a model to replace him.

Understandably miffed. Robo pulls on his titanium Y-Fronts, and heads off into the grimy Detroit underworld. What we have here is a four-way scrolling platform-cum-shoot-'em-up which, at first glance, bears an uncanny resemblance to the original Robocop. The action begins in the River Rouge Sludge Plant, a huge warehouse chock-a-block with devious traps, drug-crazed psychopaths, and secret (well, sort of secret) rooms.

Considering he must weigh about half a ton, Robo is a surprisingly nippy little Cyborg. Almost too fast, in fact, and this soon becomes apparent as you accidentally hurtle, at a truly suicidal rate, into some bottomless pit or under a plunging spike. However, Robo's reactions are swift, and he can leap with (admittedly, less than majestic) grace across all but the widest chasm.

In three of the levels (out of seven), the action is loosely reminiscent of platform games like Bounty Bob or even Jet Set Willy. Seemingly insurmountable obstacles hinder your progress, conveyor belts drag you inexorably to your doom, and pixel-perfect timing is required to board floating platforms. The other four levels are smaller "bonus" stages.

Robo is armed with a pretty snazzy machine pistol, but has to be careful not to blow away any co-operative arrest subjects. Your energy decreases at a sometimes horrible speed, but a large supply of lives and well-placed energy bonuses should ease the strain a little. Platforms, however, are your main concern, at least until the other levels are reached.

Actually, these bonus levels, while lacking depth, could be considered games in their own right. There are two types. One is a puzzle where our chromium crusader has to regain his human identity by connecting a network of chips on a circuit board. The other is an Operation Wolf style shoot-'em-up and has you calibrating your targeting system on a shooting range. Stop the crims, but don't bump off anything that looks even remotely cute.

When the Robocop cart was first plugged in, you could hear the sound of jaws dropping all around the office. An excellent intro screen pops up, accompanied by some of the finest sonics ever to funk their way out of an Amstrad. The presentation screens, packed with colour, and beautifully drawn, immediately give the game a movie-style appearance, but only when you hit the Start button does the true quality of the game hit you.

The console's enhanced graphics have been used to produce beautifully coloured and detailed backgrounds, with some fairly spiffy sprites inhabiting said backgrounds. Animation of the main Robo sprite is a bit suspect, but then he is supposed to be a robot, isn't he?

A choice of sound effects or music is presented to the player, and the atmospheric soundtrack (a kind of remix of the film theme) really drives the game along.

The platform theme has been done to death in the past, but this particular outing has enough style and more than enough surprises to carry it off. With plenty of active background features like moving platforms, jet-powered elevators and hydraulic crushers to name but a few, Robocop 2 emerges from a somewhat staid format as a refreshing and enjoyable challenge.

And challenge is the word - Robocop 2 is hard! Thankfully, just as your frustration reaches a critical point, progress of some sort is made, and your Amstrad is saved from the quite unnecessarily savage beating you were just about to administer.

Novices may at first be put off by the enormously difficult nature of the challenge before them, but perseverance reaps its own rewards. You find that the urge to see what lies at the top of a ledge, or at the end of a maze of tricky conveyor belts, is irresistible.

Reaching the end of Level One alone is an immense task, but in order to reach the final confrontation with Robocop 2, our hero will require some kind of superhuman effort (it's probably just as well he is superhuman then, really).

The sub-games are excellent in presentation, and the Identity Chip section is a real brain-teaser. Both sub-games allow you a chance to have a breather, and you really do need one, if only to mop the sweat from your brow, and, for that matter, from your joypad...

Robocop 2 is a very impressive game, it just doesn't have the "Amstrad look" that we've all got used to over the years. On first appearances alone, you could be forgiven for mistaking this for a good ST title, and the music, sound effects and depth of play would do little to change your mind.

Infinitely better even than the original game, this has to rank as one of the finest Amstrad titles yet, and hopefully will set the standard for the new hardware. Expensive, but the quality of the package really sets this one apart. An essential purchase...

Complete level one.

Robocop 2 offers large sprites and tough puzzles. The puzzles are a little too tough, though, and the game rapidly becomes frustrating as you get killed time and time again by the same things.

In the first Robocop movie our hero, Frank Murphy gets blown to pieces by a particularly nasty drug dealer. After being declared legally dead, Murphy's brain and remaining organs are placed in a titanium and plastic exoskeleton, part of a plot by the huge OCP corporation to replace the police force of Detroit with a centrally-controlled and privatised force of robotic rozzers. Murphy, however, begins to regain his memory, and causes problems for his owners when he sets out to avenge his own death.

The first movie was blessed with a very black sense of humour, and director Paul Verhoeven handled the film with great style and wit.

The sequel, however, is nowhere near as good as the original and Orion, critcised for making the film too violent, has promised that Robocop 3 will be classified a PG. This could well mean a better film, but it will almost certainly ensure a larger audience, bearing in mind that most Robofans are under 18.

The Robocop 2 game, though, is a vast improvement on the original title, and possibly one of the best film tie-ins to date.

When the Amstrad console was first released, doubts were expressed both about its future, and its technical potential. A quick look at Robocop 2 should allay any fears that present owners, or potential buyers may have had. When compared to the first releases for the Nintendo, or Sega, Robo should give some idea of the future potential of the new machine...

Graphics 92%
Sharp, colourful, and easily the best seen on the Amstrad to date.

Sonics 94%
Move your hooves to the funky grooves. Outstanding.

Grab Factor 89%
Picks you up, turns you round - forget any plans you had for the day.

Staying Power 92%
A huge and demanding task, and one you won't tire of quickly.

Overall 94%
Wonderful graphics and sound. Tough as hell but very playable.