RoboCop Versus The Terminator

"Violence on an extreme level, but its initial shock fades to a feeling of it being gratuitous =./"

FOREWORD

I heard about this game WELL in advance of its anticipated release date (my brother has always had his finger on the pulse where video games are concerned), so I knew pretty much what to expect ... excessive blood and gory violence on a scale that had previously barely been scratched ...

... was it a satisfying experience seeing all that blood ? Or was it a TAD desensitising ?? Read on ;)

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

This title represents an attempt to merge two completely standalone concepts and series - Robocop (whom, for anybody that doesn't know, is a human being who suffered horrific torture at the hands of a drugged-up gang, and who's body and consciousness were melded with a human machine-body, making him part-man, part-machine), and the Terminators (robots created by a sentient computer system named Skynet that dominate the future, and seek to obliterate the human race).

You are put in charge of (and play) Robocop, so your primary role is to keep the peace and police the streets. As you play you will eventually encounter Flo, a member of the human resistance movement that is battling the Terminators in the future, who has time-travelled back to prevent Skynet being created, and you must help her to complete her mission.

This, of course, means you will be doing battle with the Terminators as well, hence the title - Robocop vs. Terminator.

GRAPHICS - 8/10

The graphics are well done throughout the title, reflecting the oftentimes very dark and gritty environment that is Robocop's world. There are plenty of nice animations, from people drawing back curtains to shoot at you from windows, to rubbish blowing down the street past you, to the animations on the characters themselves.

These are done, again, well - there is no apparent shortage of frames of animation (although the most frequently-recurring animations and graphics on-screen are the bullets - BELIEVE ME - there are TONNES of those little beauties, as you can readily see by the fact that your basic weapon has unlimited ammo !!).

There are a number of different handguns and sidearms that you can pick up and avail yourself of during play, and each has different visual characteristics, rates of fire, sprites for the bullets, and so on. Some explode, some puncture, ALL do heaps of damage in brutal and often bizarre ways.

Boss fights are suitably sinister, and all told, whilst there are a couple of bits which I think could have been done better (such as Robocop's jumping animation, which looks like he's kinda floating about a bit), the game feels, graphically-speaking, reasonably well attended-to throughout.

The BLOOD, however, is another matter. Blood has always been the major point of hype surrounding this game ... well, blood and GUTS to be more precise, and it is easy to see why. This game is jam-packed FULL of some of the most grotesque and over-the-top death-scenes you will EVER see in a console released video game. Enemies don't go "Argh" and fall over - they explode ... or lose an arm ... or their head will come spiralling off their body in a crescendo of blood ... or they will simply evaporate into a haze of blood - blood is EVERYWHERE, so this is most DEFINITELY not a title for the squeamish (and all you pacifists out there had better head for the hills as well !!!!!).

The game's artists have taken painstaking amounts of time to ensure that the blood flows freely, and that every single person that you kill dies in some grotesque way (all of which are rather nicely animated it must be said) !!

SOUND - 6/10

Whilst the graphics are fine, the sounds are a bit pants to be honest. The music is catchy, but rather tinny, and whilst the sound-effects for the screams are fine, they sound a little bit disproportionate to the levels of visual violence you experience.

If I had my head blown off I VERY much doubt I would just go "Eurgh" ... I think it would be a bit more like the sound of music, if the sound of music was a horror flick, to be honest with you.

The sound-effects applied to the gunshots, bullets and blood (which are the most plentiful sounds you will encounter during play) are all well done, which is good because there is so very much of it going around !!

CONTROLS - 7/10

The controls for the game are simple - walk, jump, crouch, shoot - basically it's that easy. Jumping doubles up as grabbing (of clothes lines and similar), and Robocop responds well-enough to your directions, which is good.

It is rather awkward at times to dodge the huge amount of bullets that can be on-screen, particularly as some bullets you and your enemies can change the angle of, to make them harder to dodge - however, in general, the controls are simple and quick to pick up. There is no learning curve - it, like most of your enemies, is a flatline by the time you come to appreciate it ;)

PLOT - 1/10

Diabolical. You would think that people would have learned by now that mixing dissimilar plotlines together to try and blend something similar just doesn't work. Ever heard of Alien vs. Predator ? Well that's HEAPS better plot-wise than this baby, no questions asked.

Basically the plot is that the resistance in the future, led by John Connor (the ones fighting the Terminators, just so we're all on the same page), has learned that one of the companies that contributed to the creation of Skynet originally was the same force that created Robocop.

Seeing this as an opportunity to YET AGAIN travel back in time and seek to snuff out Skynet before it becomes an issue, they send back a sole agent - Flo - with orders to take our Robocop, and thereby prevent Skynet from being built.

Skynet, however, isn't stupid, and sends a contingent of Terminators back to prevent Flo from succeeding in her mission, thus ensuring its creation, and the future extermination of the human race.

THAT, is the plot.

To my mind it is a very, very weak attempt at ushering in what is otherwise a reasonable belts 'n braces platform shooter, the main selling-point of which is its over-the-top violence ... sorry guys, but you could have done a much better job with this.

GAMEPLAY - 6/10

In spite of the butt-awful plotline, the game itself is disturbingly fun to play. I am not one who believes that violence in video games promotes violence in real life, otherwise odds are I would be a mass murderer by now, but my experience of playing the game went a bit like this ...

*turn it on*

Revel in shock, horror, awe and a big cheesy grin for the first 30-60 minutes of play, as your enemies die in some of the most stylised and well-animated death scenes I've ever seen in a platform title console release.

*rub your eyes*

Realise that, beyond that there really isn't that much substance to the game, but keep on playing because you're still so AMAZED that they ever got this much blood and violence past censorship.

*realised it's time for my tea, and off goes the game*

The game is pure arcade-fun, by which I mean that its appeal is stunning and immediate, and that your eyes will bug out of your SKULL when you first play it, but that this will not necessarily carry it into your private halls of fame unfortunately.

I would be happy to say that for the first hour or so, the game would rank an 8/10 for the enjoyment-factor, but factoring your enjoyment out over a longer period, I think 6/10 better reflects the overall experience of playing the game.

You do have the ability to carry more than one weapon at a time, so the MANNER in which you slay your enemies can be varied which is a good thing, and there is also a hidden secret code which you can put in which makes the game EVEN MORE violent (yes, EVEN MORESO !! Basically it replaces all the common enemies in the game with women, which is EXTREMELY unpolitically-correct, but does promote the longevity of the title at least a little bit).

REPLAY VALUE - 4/10

Unfortunately the biggest selling point of the game is also about the only reason to really go back and play it again. I certainly have gone back and played this game a number of times simply because I thought I might have been dreaming, and that there wasn't really that much blood and guts in-game ... only to be "refreshed" by the level of violence contained therein.

There are better titles out there for both Robocop AND the Terminator, so the appeal of this title is perhaps more like the spark made by two giant swords striking each other, rather than a decisive victory for either one ... and you can quote me on that !! ;)

VALUE FOR MONEY - 6/10

If you can secure yourself a cheap copy of this game, then it does represent reasonable value for money, purely for the gimmick of its excessive violence. It does deserve A place in the history of video games for that reason, as it is without a shadow of a doubt the most noteworthy element of the whole title - just ask yourself what it would be without the blood and guts, and you'll have your answer.

If anybody tries to charge you over ... £10 ? US$20 ? For this title ? Then I would just laugh and walk off personally.

OVERALL - 6/10 (This is NOT an average)

Whilst the plot is a joke, and the violence counterbalances it by being gratuitous and excessive to the point of being, in parts, ALMOST sick ? The end result is a title which stands alone (for all the wrong reasons), and which I am actually perversely going to say I am never likely to get rid of.

It tries to bite off too much in terms of its characters, and comes away with something mediocre, but the violence is so extremely well-detailed and the developers obviously put their ALL into making it so, that it does deserve to be recognised as something of a half-breed, but something that stands out from the crowd, definitely.

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* I don't know whether it's "good", but the EXCESSIVE violence does detract from the appalling plot to the point where it could be considered the best reason to play the game ;)
* Graphics are reasonably well done
* Death animations on your enemies are EXTREMELY well detailed (if rather unrealistic)

MAIN BAD POINTS

* Sounds are reasonably poor
* Plot is rubbish
* Violence, blood and gore is somewhat excessive

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

If you find yourself in a position to get a copy of this game, then I would suggest you rent it to see what I'm talking about. If, after that, you really want to have it, then by all means !! GO for it. If, however, like me you are left with a sorta "what the heck was all THAT about !?!?!" kinda taste in your mouth ? Then you might want to return it ;)

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/07