Sinclair User


Robocop 2
By Ocean
Spectrum +2

 
Published in Sinclair User #107

Robocop 2

It's "your move, creep" 'coz Robocop 2 is here - will you buy or not? Truth is, if you don't buy it then you're definitely going to be playing with a short deck this Christmas - or have a 48K Speccy that Robocop's immense 128K of music, digitised graphics and all action gameplay won't fit into.

So, he's back. He never really went away though as Robocop 1 never actually left the software charts. He's been out there - serving the public trust, protecting the innocent and upholding everything for nearly two years - you'd think they'd give the poor sod a break.

So, what must he do now? Well, Robocop must make his way through seven levels of action to where he must eventually confront Robocop II, but to get there he must complete each of the differing levels. Level one begins in the River Sludge Plant where he must locate the Nuke Lab. Along the way there are some unarmed suspects that are crying out to be arrested - arrest flashes at the top left of the screen and Robocopy must walk into them, 'coz if you shoot them, a time penalty is taken away (Quite right too!).

Robocop 2

As Robocop progresses, he gets the chance to recover the memory chips of his human past. This section of the game presents itself as a puzzle, whereby you have to journey around a circuit board, collecting 32 chips to complete the picture on the four boards. Unfortunately, you cannot cross circuits that you have passed along previously because they have 'burnt out' maahn.

There are also two sessions at the Detroit shooting range to sharpen up his targeting skills. He gets one minute to shoot as many armed targets as possible, whilst studiously avoiding anyone who looks like a Joe Bloggs-type citizen.

Graphics are good and sound (thanks to the 128K only format) is musically good, although spot effects are somewhat lacking. A large chunk of memory has been used up with the digitised images that greet the start of each level but gives the game an overall *big* feel. I like it, and I'm sure that most people will find the directive "Buy This Game" an easy one to follow.

Verdict

Big licence, big film, big stars, big program. Turtle-y terrific and totally Cowabunga.