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A total of 6 major titles spanning between 1988 - 2014 across different gaming platforms including arcades have had their chance to make a mark in the gaming industry. Some were memorable, while some were just better to be forgotten.
6 RoboCop (2003)
Titus Interactive Studio spearheaded the 2003 soft reboot of the RoboCop gaming franchise, and the first installment of the series was released for PS2, Xbox, PC, and GameCube. Although it was a spiritual reboot, the game boasted an original story based on the movie franchise. The game followed a mainstream level challenge with nine levels, each putting forward many mandatory sub-quests and missions to complete.
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The game was a complete disaster in all corners. Besides the critics calling it the worst game since Superman 64, fans were furious over the inability to save progress in mid-level or missions. Adding more to its woes were its annoying sound designs and eye-hurting graphics, and the idea to move to a first-person shooter genre killed the game even before launch. Only the most diehard RoboCop fans will get a kick out of this game.
5 RoboCop (2014)
Just when things seemed dull for the half-dead half-machine crime fighter, the 2014 movie tried to revive the franchise on a full-blown scale. However, things were a little different this time on the gaming front. Instead of going the old route with arcade and console platforms, the Glu mobile developed and published a mobile game entirely based on the 2014 film. The game was free to play and was available for download on Android and iOS devices.
The game had a downside to being free to play. The cover and shoot mechanics required frequent upgrades on the player’s end, and some of them were priced a little too expensive for convenience. Despite the lush graphics, smooth controls, and gameplay mechanics, the game was majorly seen as a cash-hungry means by the developers to hype the movie.
4 Robocop 3 (1991)
RoboCop 3 was probably the last of the good games in the series and came at a time when the IP by itself started to roll down a road that seemed unnecessary. The 1991 game was based on the movie of the same name (released in the same year, obviously) and tweaked a few changes here and there, making the game both great and annoying simultaneously. The game was released on all the existing consoles back in the day and had a different version of gameplay for most of them.
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The SNESversion was insanely tricky, and players could destroy their power-ups before even collecting them. The NESwas a little more in-depth, allowing the players to experience RoboCop as themselves. The HUD showed off damage screens for different body parts, and the players could use that information to change their strategy.
3 RoboCop Vs. The Terminator
Things were starting to look bleak for the RoboCop gaming franchise, and it needed something exceptional to bring back the fans. Thankfully, the much renowned comic book artist Frank Miller published a cross-over series for Dark Horse Comics combining two of the most iconic sci-fi robots from the 80s. This comic book invoked the concept for the 1994 game RoboCop vs. the Terminator.
The game was released on major platforms like Gameboy, SNES, and Game Gear. Once again, each console version differed in how the story was presented. The consoles, powerful enough to handle cutscenes, had them between missions, while the others had a scroll-down narrative. The game went down to the dark side, just like Frank Miller’s comics introducing gore and blood to the animations. In spite of all the creativity with the cutscenes and animations, the game was still considered a dud by the critics, stating that the game wasn’t intense enough.
2 RoboCop 2 (1990)
RoboCop 2 was released in 1990 and was based on the movie of the same name. It had the same graphics as its original precursor (more on that later), but it was the first game of the franchise to port into mainstream consoles apart from releasing in the arcades.
In addition, the game for the console featured a co-op system, with the second player taking the role of a clone in a more purplish shade. The first game’s success took the sequel’s hype to high levels. Even though the gameplay remained the same, the overall experience with co-op modes and the comfort of playing it at home made it better!
1 RoboCop (1988)
For those who have played the games on the list, it would have been no surprise that the OG RoboCop from 1988 would be topping the list. The game was initially released for the arcade and later ported to home computers.
The game was a simple sideways run and shoot’em up game that sold over 1 million copies for home PCs worldwide and was a commercial and critical success. The game even topped the list for the best home computer game of the 80s. The game had great graphics for the era and still holds up compared to the arcade genre games of the modern times like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. This is a masterpiece by all means and tops the ranking easily!
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