- RoboCop™ on Google Play or App Store
- Glu
Robocop by Glu is a first-person shooter with great graphics and a load of hardcore missions to demolish criminals all over the city of Detroit set in 2028. Despite the unquestionable virtues, the game has a few quite annoying issues we hope Glu will address sooner than later.
The movie can be good or bad, but it doesn’t mean it has anything to do with the game. If we distance ourselves from all the failed expectations we relied on any RoboCop movie that followed the original score, we can just assess the game’s value. Yes, it bears one of the top Hollywood brand names, and it is backed by film studios. Nevertheless, it’s a standalone mobile shooter, and shoot you will.
Overview
There is not much prologue to the game; you just assume you are Alex Murphy, half-man, half-robot put together to make Detroit a safer place. You are armed with a Robocop suit and guns, droids and weak spot scanner, and two somewhat annoying operators who give tips, assign missions, and sometimes mock you for being goofy.
You have a selection of suits, a large arsenal of ammo and an unprecedented multitude of villains, both human and mechanical to fight in a wide variety of settings. Moreover, you get to train your recognition skills to avoid shooting peaceful citizens and hostages, so thoughtless shooting won’t do if you want to progress.
Graphics
The game’s strongest point is the visuals – everything from the Robocop to crooks and robot enemies and environment is designed with meticulous precision and in great detail. Nevertheless, the game’s dependence on Internet adds the lag element into performance.
The visual effects are nice, although add little value to the gameplay.
Perks
The game features robot enemies taken directly from the recent Robocop movie, while the drone strikes support your character throughout the game whenever you’re in big trouble. The smart scan allows you scan your enemy and locate weak spots – a feature especially handy when you deal with robots that appear invulnerable to your guns.
The guns arsenal is huge, and you can upgrade to your heart’s content as long as you have enough gold in your account. The recent update brought a new selection of weapons including the rocket launchers and a new Robocop suit.
I couldn’t count all the missions, but there surely is a great deal of fighting, hiding, running and aiming.
Gameplay
It takes some time to master the controls, all the buttons and features and understand the game physics. Robocop needs your help to aim, shoot and hide, but truth be told, I was taken by surprise Robocop needs to take cover. It is one thing when you confront a giant robot enemy with rockets and lasers, but why he has to take cover behind concrete walls, cars and all sort of trash scattered around when he confronts human enemies is a secret to me, and a great disappointment. What’s the use of the Robocop suit then if it’s not bullet-proof?
Now, the guns get overheated in no time, and very often you will find yourself aiming just to realize you need to wait till they chill. Aiming and shooting feature belongs to the same button, so sometimes your guns will begin shooting while you are still aiming. Hence, the overheat problem may potentially cause a lot of headache.
There is one odd thing I couldn’t immediately explain – whenever Robocop resorts to drone help, he starts running around the set with no particular pattern, with graphics going somewhat hectic. This may be a bug, though.
Other than that, it’s a nice shooter with beautiful graphics and cool ammo, but you will have to work hard to hear that famous ‘Thank you for cooperation.’
Controls
You can scan the area and the enemies with the left-side button; aim and shoot with the right-side button; press the big arrow to relocate to a different hide-out when your current position crumbles.
Additionally, you can call the drones to take out multiple targets, and heal yourself when things get tough. By all means, you will have to remember to use the scanning feature to locate your enemies’ weak spots, or find the vehicles that can explode if you shoot them.
IAPs
The upgrade system is heavy on IAPs. You can buy guns and upgrades via in-app purchases, but it won’t be cheap. The game offers three currencies – OmniCorp credits, gold and cash, and gamers can buy guns, abilities and upgrades via a variety of combinations of each currency, which is somewhat confusing, but nonetheless expensive. The upgrades you can earn by playing are naturally slow to achieve, and when achieved are disappointingly low, so you will have to spend OmniCorp credits.
The energy points is something that might slow you down, especially if you have a few hours you’re willing to spend playing. About an hour into the game and you will find your energy points shrinking. You can then wait for them to replenish, or buy them for XP currency, which you can earn a lot slower than spend, so at some point you can find yourself waiting rather than playing.
Basically, you can play without spending a cent, but you will have to buy if you want to beat the game, which is nothing new in the industry.
Pros
- Beautiful graphics
- Intense action
- Large variety of environments, ammo and villains, including drones and robot enemies
- The ability to earn coins by completing missions
Cons
- The game requires Internet connection, so make sure your connection is speedy enough.
- The game requires an update whenever I launch it, and each update is around 80MB, which beats me and adds a dose of annoyance.
- The often overheated guns aren’t helping, either.
- Robocop has to take cover – a feature that contradicts the entire Robocop plot and questions the perks of his suit.
- The game is power and resource hungry, so make sure you have a charger at hand. I experienced a few consistent crashes, too.
- You can’t beat the game without spending real money.
- There is a distinguishable learning curve before you can actually start enjoying the gamepay.
- Time Error bug
- Expensive guns and upgrades
- The more you advance, the more repetitive gets the gameplay
Conclusion
The Robocop cover-based shooter is a potentially awesome game with a few pitfalls that take the foreground. Instead of adopting the movie-based plot where the Robocop is an invulnerable cyborg, Glu makes him take cover when you expect him to walk out there, shoot the bad guys and thank them for cooperation, post mortem. Alas, it won’t be that easy. You will have to hide behind walls, wait for your guns to cool down, scan the enemies for weak spots and shoot when you are ready. The game is free of charge, but if you want the cool guns and abilities, be ready to cash out some real money on IAPs. The graphics are awesome, and the big selection of missions is its greatest virtues, but connectivity dependability and battery drain have to be taken into account.
