Previous Next

You've seen the film, bought the T-shirt, the video, the poster and the battery-operated rubber effigy, now it's time to play the game, again. Robocop is back, with a neat line in lethal response. His (your) mission is to penetrate a drugs network and arrest the laboratory technicians who've created the highly addictive drug, Nuke. You must ensure that Robo doesn't inadvertently pop these guys off in a battle-frenzy, since you need the arrest points for later. Everyoe else is dead meat - apart from one leather-clad, laser-toting female who also needs the long, strong arm of the law to get her to see reason.

So off you trot, breaking boxes open, riding lifts and floating on hover-platforms in your search for Nuke, extra weaponry and the secret of eternal happiness. Clear out the drugs base and you move on to mental dexterity puzzles which could help you regain some of Robo's pre-cyborg humanity.

Then, after a test on the firing range, you get to meet Cain, the evil drug baron. He's holed up in his hideaway at the Tokogawa Brewery, where you must avoid the temptation to organise a proverbial and defeat him instead.

However, that's not the end for Cain. He returns as the drug-crazed OCP robot and he's not a happy man - er, cyborg. During a demonstration of his abilities at the Civic Centrum, some unfortunate fool waves a canister of Nuke around and Cain starts going cold turkey. Robo emerges for the final showdown and it's all down to you from there.

The first thing you notice on the graphical front is the smoothness of Robo's animation. He may not be the most controllable sprite in the world (he has a tendency to refuse to jump where you want him to!) but he's certainly among the slickest. Other incidental animation is crisp and clear, well-defined against a detailed backdrop which helps you to spot dangers early. No aciieed-house, eye-confusing colour schemes here - it's all first rate arcade clarity.

The sound effects are a bit twee, though. They add nothing to the atmosphere and merely inform you that you've been hit or you've hit something else.

However, the music is (for a chip-tune) quite remarkable. It took an astonishing 24 hours of continuous play before I finally cracked and had to kill the sound. There's a sure sign of the (relatively) pleasant intro tune. Ennio Morricone would be proud of it.

Robocop 2 is tough - tougher than is perhaps necessary, but not unbeatable. Too high a difficulty level on the first stage makes it frustrating but not unattractive: the desire to continue and win through surpasses the desire to switch off and do something easier - and that's the mark of a good game. Buy it and you'll be swearing, throwing the joystick around, missing your tea and staying up into the night. But you'll love every minute of it. Your move, creep.