Nerdicus Gameboy Review #2: Robocop

Title : Robocop

Publisher : Data East

Developer : Ocean

Genre : Platformer

Players :  1 Player

Release Date : 1989

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $8-$10

So, I had a special request to do this review, and you know what I am not going to turn down a special request. Especially since I don't get many of them. Which brings up the following point, if ANYONE has any specific reviews that you would like to see, I shall pick one a week to do out of the alphabetical order routine I've been doing for each console. It's more refreshing for me anyway, since I get kind of irritated when I have to review certain crappy games in a row just because of a self-enforced rule ha.

When you think about Cybernetic heroes, one of two famous sci-fi film heroes will probably come to mind. One being the Terminator of course, and the other is..well..take a look at the game we're reviewing. That's right, we're talking Robocop. 

DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU"RE COMING WITH ME! Man, he was a badass...

At first, I didn't even think I played this game before writing this review, but lo and behold, the more I played through it, the more I remembered it. I think it was one of those games that either I borrowed from a friend, or rented from blockbuster. Remember when Blockbuster rented out handheld games? That was short lived in my area, I don't know about yours. Either people lost 'em, or they just never bother returning them. Side note, remember when people returned wrong games in the box? Bastards...people still do that today in redbox...CORRUPT SYSTEMS!

Apologies - side tracked again. How do you guys put up with my semi-coherent babble!? Lets go review a game, shall we?

I think when someone is shot to death, you really don't want to sign any waivers for surgeons to replace everything but your face and brain with a machines body. Seriously, his face always disturbed the hell out of me when he removed his helmet. KEEP THE HELMET ON ROBOCOP!

Robocop can safely be described as a linear based shooter / action game. In most stages, you just go from left to right, spamming the fire button at every enemy you see, watching as your black bullets spew out from your gun in all directions. Don't ask me why, but the bullets remind me of hamster poop. I have horrible memories of my old hamster flinging poo at me, so maybe that's why.

There are two types of combat stages. The basic side-scrolling levels where you'll encounter thugs, collect power ups for your guns, and do very minimal platforming. For the most part you'll blow barrels out of your way, but that's about it. The second type of stage is a reticle display shooter where you'll try to kill enemies using a scope HUD. Closest thing you'll get to a gameboy shooter, am I right?

There's also one other type of stage, that's not even a stage, its more like a mini game where you need to identify a perp by matching sequences of a facial system to make it look the same. First time playing it, I had no idea what I was doing, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

In terms of difficulty, the game isn't that hard at all. In fact, you'll be provided with enough upgrades your gun, and the enemies are dumb enough that you can spam your way through the entire game. Not to say it's not fun, because blasting baddies, and punching them with your robotic fist when they get too close, is always a heck of a good time. Enemies do get progressively harder, and require more hamster poop bullets to kill them, but it's a rinse and repeat pattern to it. The bosses do provide a bit more of a challenge as they tend to spam missiles and semi-automatic weapons at you which are impossible to avoid. But. hell. You're Robocop. 

DEMAND JUSTICE!

One of the things that surprised me the most about this game are the graphics. I mean they are downright awesome for a Gameboy game. It's always a pleasant surprise when you find a Gameboy game that has graphics that are practically better than it's Nintendo counterpart. Just check out those urban settings, and those criminals ACTUALLY look like criminals...in a 1980's New York sense.

Even the music is catchy. Felt like I was really walking through the slums of Detroit with these jams. 

Unfortunately, like most Gameboy games, Robocop doesn't offer anything other than some mindless shooting. Can't blame them though, as there wasn't a lot of room to work with when developing Gameboy games thanks to its portable restrictions. Still, the game proves to be one of the better "movie-based' games out there, and for a car ride, you can't complain about shooting thugs in the face. Am I right?

Final Score (out of 5) :

   

Until Next time - Keep on Gaming!