Highlights
- RoboCop: Rogue City successfully recreates the gritty vision of future Detroit from the films, providing players with the most genuine RoboCop experience.
- The game’s controls, shooting mechanics, and skills make players feel like RoboCop, despite some players finding the slow movement to be a detriment.
- The game features intense and gorey gunfights, balanced with more tranquil world-building side quests, creating a well-rounded gaming experience.
Games based on movies have historically had a rough time finding critical and commercial favor save for a few exceptions. Some games in recent years have managed to crack the code to make a good game based on a movie, including 2023’s RoboCop: Rogue City.
RoboCop: Rogue City – Best Side Missions
Some of the most entertaining objectives and narratives in RoboCop: Rogue City are found in these exciting side missions.
It certainly took enough time, as the ranking of the RoboCop games below will show. Some of them failed completely, and others were almost there but were missing some of the “special sauce.” While the history of RoboCop games is not pretty, fans can finally be satisfied knowing there is a faithful, entertaining, and violent video game adaptation of the series.
Some of the older games on this list do not have recorded Metacritic scores. Additionally, their exact release dates are also unspecified, so the release year is marked instead
7 RoboCop (2003)
It’s Barely Playable
- Release Date: July 29th, 2003
- Platforms: Windows, PS2, Xbox
- Metacritic Score: 30
It is interesting to compare this game to the newer Rogue City. Many of the complaints lobbied at this 2003 title were also features in Rogue City, but they work so much better in the more recent title.
The slow movement, lack of any cover system, and high difficulty all contribute to making players feel like RoboCop in the 2023 game, but they serve as points of frustration in the 2003 game. The game does not feel designed around it in the same way it is in Rogue City, and it lacks polish and refinement, feeling like a broken game right from the start.
6 RoboCop (2014)
Free-To-Play, Uninspired Tie-In To The Movie Remake
- Release Date: Jan 7, 2014
- Platforms: Mobile
- Metacritic Score: 62
The 2014 RoboCop remake was not what fans wanted from the series. It looks sleeker, but the character lacks the recognizable heaviness that made the original look so iconic. It lacked a real tie-in game and instead was supported by a mobile title.
Now, such efforts can produce good products, but the RoboCop game on mobile devices lacks anything compelling other than being a quickly put-together shooting gallery. It also ran on a microtransaction-heavy free-to-play model, so any of its faults were exacerbated by the need to grind unless one forked over more money.
5 Robocop 3 (1991)
One Of The Few Cases Where The Game Is Better Than The Movie
- Release Year: 1991
- Platforms: Home Computers, NES, SNES, Game Gear, Master System, Sega Genesis
- Metacritic Score: N/A
RoboCop 3 the movie is often considered one of the worst movies ever made. In addition to toning down the violence to the point where it is almost non-existent, it also lacks worldbuilding and does not expand upon the social commentary of the first two movies. Fortunately, the game fared a little better.
RoboCop: Rogue City – Best Guns, Ranked
There’s a plethora of weapons that players can get their hands on in RoboCop: Rogue City, but these are the best ones for causing the most carnage.
At the time, console video games were aimed more towards kids, so the decrease in violence did not hurt the game. It is a rare instance in the 1990s where the video game adaptation is almost universally considered better than the movie. The game varies depending on the system, with some levels being radically different and certain versions even including shooting segments with a top-down camera to spice up the side-scrolling gameplay.
4 RoboCop Versus The Terminator
A Little More Than Just A Novelty
- Release Date: 1993
- Platforms: SNES, Game Gear, Master System, Game Boy, Sega Genesis
- Metacritic Score: N/A
These days, it’s all about crossovers, and certain games like Fortnite indulge in the number of licensed characters they bring into their world. RoboCop Versus The Terminator was ahead of the curve in this respect, pitting two iconic science fiction characters against each other.
The game was met with a surprisingly warm reception, too, having value as a video game far beyond the novelty of putting these two characters together on-screen. It is based on a comic book, so it is not a crossover unique to video games.
Both RoboCop and The Terminator would have an opportunity to duke it out again in Mortal Kombat 11, where both characters were featured as guests on the roster.
3 RoboCop 2 (1990)
Perfectly Competent Side-Scrolling Shooter
- Release: 1990
- Platforms: Home Computers, NES, Game Boy, Arcades
- Metacritic Score: N/A
RoboCop 2 followed the traditional sequel formula of giving audiences more of what made RoboCop great. It loses a bit of the nuance of the first movie but makes up for it by being even more violent than its predecessor, if one can even believe that.
The game adaptation is mostly what one would expect from a video game from 1990. The levels are side-scrolling mixes between shooting and platforming. Certain versions of the era’s home computer versions do mix it up more with puzzles and even some first-person segments.
2 RoboCop (1988)
Good Game Even If It Misses Some Of The Movie’s Nuance
- Release: 1988
- Platforms: Arcade, NES, Home Computers
- Metacritic Score: N/A
The funny thing about RoboCop is just how violent and oppressive it is mixed with how much it was marketed towards children. It is as if John Wick had a set of Burger King Happy Meal toys to accompany its film releases.
At least this strange marketing ploy gave gamers a decent RoboCop video game. It was made for arcades, so it eschewed the witty commentary and cyberpunk plot for a more straightforward action game, but it rises above what one would expect from a licensed game of the time.
1 RoboCop: Rogue City
One Of The Most Unique FPS Games Of 2023
Developer Teyon had adapted franchises from the 1980s before, but they were always ignored or received negative reviews, although Terminator: Resistance had its charms. They finally hit the ball out of the park with RoboCop: Rogue City, which successfully recreates the gritty vision of future Detroit from the films. The controls, shooting, and skills make players feel like RoboCop, even if the slow movement is a detriment to some players.
RoboCop: Rogue City – Every Character From The Movies
RoboCop: Rogue City features a whole host of characters fans will recognize from the movies. Here’s who they are.
Gunfights are gorey splat fests filled with gut-wrenching dismemberment and the calmer world-building side quests help balance the extreme action with more tranquil moments. It goes above and beyond all the other games on this list to be the most genuine RoboCop experience players could have.
