![\"RoboCop:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259199952-35d6.jpg\")
\n\t\tRoboCop: Rogue City \u2013 Unfinished Business is far better than you\u2019d expect (Nacon)<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\tRoboCop: Rogue City \u2013 Unfinished Business is far better than you\u2019d expect (Nacon)<\/p>\n
2023\u2019s surprisingly good homage to 80s classic RoboCop sees Officer Murphy uphold the law in a new standalone expansion with improved graphics.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s tempting to say that RoboCop is not the kind of film that would be made today, and in terms of the action and gore they certainly don\u2019t make \u2018em like they used to. As the gutless 2014 remake proved, the social satire is also not something you\u2019d expect to find in a modern mainstream film, but we would say that a TV show like The Boys<\/a> is a reasonable modern equivalent.<\/p>\n The original RoboCop movie still holds up as an 80s classic, and sadly its portrayal of corporate callousness is more relevant than ever, but it\u2019s difficult to see what future the franchise could have in terms of live action, even though Amazon<\/a> is apparently planning a new movie and a TV show. Indiana Jones has that same problem, especially as both protagonists are so tightly tied to their original actor (and, yes, Peter Weller is back for this game).<\/p>\n 2023\u2019s RoboCop: Rogue City<\/a> wasn\u2019t quite as refined as Indiana Jones And The Great Circle<\/a>, and certainly didn\u2019t have anything like the budget, but it was a surprisingly ambitious and self-assured game, that not only did justice to the RoboCop franchise but had something to teach narrative action games in general; including how to make a standalone expansion.<\/p>\n Although this is technically a direct sequel to Rogue City there\u2019s really no story connection, so you don\u2019t have to have played it in order to understand what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s set some time after the events of RoboCop 2, with this game having a few more direct references to RoboCop 3 than the last one. However, the actual plot set-up, and even some of the set pieces, are clearly inspired by Alex Garland\u2019s 2012 film Dredd, perhaps in reference to the fact that Judge Dredd was a major influence on the original RoboCop.<\/p>\n The story starts with Robo investigating an attack on his police station, where many of the cops have been killed. This leads him to a massive, rundown tower block, that\u2019s owned by OCP (the evil corporation that made RoboCop) and looks like something straight out of Mega-City One. The tower is filled with heavily armed mercenaries, led by a big bad who knew Alex Murphy before he started eating baby food.<\/p>\n Somewhat surprisingly, you start the game with all of the major abilities from the first game already unlocked, including time-limited shields, an electric shock attack, and the wonderful ability to bounce bullets off of angled surfaces, in order to hit bad guys from behind.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tExpert, exclusive gaming analysis\t\t\t<\/p>\n Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter<\/a> for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The first person shooting is very simple, and in truth very repetitive, but there\u2019s such a primal joy to it that you can never get enough, especially the wonderfully satisfying headshots. The game starts off moderately difficult but as you unlock the skill tree, and find new circuit boards for your signature Auto-9 handgun, it becomes trivially easy in the final hours.<\/p>\n On paper this should count hugely against it, but we had the Auto-9 so ridiculously overpowered we were using it like an infinite ammo machinegun, ripping through even the most heavily armoured goons almost instantly and grinning from ear to ear as we did it. Although the freeze gun that both they and you can use is also excellent and works just like Mr Freeze\u2019s from Batman<\/a>.<\/p>\n While this is primarily a first person shooter, with nothing that could be counted as a proper puzzle, in hindsight Rogue City is relatively similar to The Great Circle and other MachineGames titles, as you often come across areas where there\u2019s no combat and you can just chat to civilians and pick up side quests.<\/p>\n The more enclosed nature of Unfinished Business\u2019 setting means that it\u2019s all very simple stuff but there\u2019s a few amusingly silly requests from the various civilians and Robo once again gets to pet a lot of cats. If he\u2019s investigating a crime then you also get the choice to either let the perp off with a warning or write them a ticket, although there\u2019s less payoff for this at the end of the game, compared to Rogue City.<\/p>\n \t\t A low budget video game was never going to have a script to match the original movie and often the dialogue is very workmanlike, and in terms of the dialogue choices at least, badly translated (developer Teyon is Polish). But there are still a lot of good lines in there, like when Robo is asked why he insists on walking blindly into trouble, to which he answers, \u2018I have night vision.\u2019<\/p>\n We also liked the visual gag about turning machinery on and off again, but in general it\u2019s fair to say that while Teyon clearly get the satire and absurdity of RoboCop their attempts to replicate it are only occasionally successful. The game dabbles with the question of how far police action, and by association vigilante justice, should go but only in a very superficial way. You can see what they were going for with the main villain, but it doesn\u2019t really work.<\/p>\n Also, we already complained that OCP weren\u2019t in Rogue City enough, since they had all the best lines, but in this game none of the execs are featured at all, which is a shame.<\/p>\n The basic gameplay of Unfinished Business is functionally almost identical to Rogue City (environmental kills are the only new combat element) but there are a number of other new features. Unfinished Business has multiple flashbacks where you play as other characters, including Alex Murphy and a disturbing one where you\u2019re cast as a woman being chased through the night by thugs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Overall, though, these segues go on too long and in gameplay terms are easily the least interesting part of the game; that and a murder mystery that involves nothing more than Robo walking where he is told and scanning the crime scene like the world\u2019s simplest hidden object puzzle.<\/p>\n What makes up for this is a chance to play as ED-209, the exec-slaying robot, in a wonderful sequence that shows off the game\u2019s surprisingly good destruction effects. You can\u2019t destroy anything particularly big but by the end of the shootout there\u2019s giant holes in the concrete and yet another model of Old Detroit has been thoroughly ruined.<\/p>\n As a whole, the graphics are significantly better than Rogue City, which is presumably one of the main reasons this became a standalone game rather than just DLC. The environments were already good before but now they\u2019re triple-A standard, not just on a technical level but thanks to some fantastic work from Teyon\u2019s environmental artists. Also, the game\u2019s noticeably gorier than before, which we appreciate, even if it\u2019s still lightweight compared to the movies.<\/p>\n The animation and human characters are also much improved, which means they\u2019ve gone from being absolutely terrible to just plain bad \u2013 like a souped-up PlayStation 2 game. The AI also smacks of something from that era but apart from some missing lip synching there are very few graphical bugs.<\/p>\n By comparison, the sound has a ton of problems, with voices often sounding slurred or being cut off and music (which is generally very good) not kicking in when it seems it should. However, the worst problem is that the ability to pick up extra weapons often doesn\u2019t work. We almost weren\u2019t able to complete the game because of that, during a mission where you don\u2019t have your Auto-9, which would\u2019ve been a nightmare because it was right at the end.<\/p>\n We\u2019re sure that sort of thing will be sorted out with a future update, as overall this is another highly ambitious AA game, doing its absolute best to make all your RoboCop fantasies come true. No one would expect much progress from just a standalone expansion but the improvements in the graphics and the attempts to expand the scope of the gameplay are very much appreciated.<\/p>\n As with Rogue City, our score flatters the game, and you should definitely take off at least one point if you\u2019re not a RoboCop fan, but considering the improvements that have been made in just two years, for a 10 hour long expansion, we can\u2019t wait to see what Teyon does next, with even more time and money at their disposal.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tRoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business review summary\t\t\t<\/p>\n In Short: Another loving homage to the glory of RoboCop and despite only being a standalone expansion this features quite a few new ideas, as well as some hugely satisfying combat.<\/p>\n Pros: Very enjoyable gunplay and RoboCop and his abilities are portrayed perfectly. The storytelling is once again unusually ambitious for a first person shooter. The improved graphics look great and playing as ED-209 is tons of fun.<\/p>\n Cons: As enjoyable as it is, there\u2019s no denying the gameplay is very simple and repetitive. The script tries its best but can\u2019t match the high standard of the first movie. Flashbacks aren\u2019t terribly interesting and some nasty bugs at launch.<\/p>\n Score: 7\/10<\/p>\n Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X\/S, and PC \t\t Email\u00a0gamecentral@metro.co.uk<\/a>, leave a comment below,\u00a0follow us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n To submit Inbox letters and Reader\u2019s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our\u00a0Submit Stuff page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this,\u00a0check our Gaming page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow![\"RoboCop:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259199949-556a.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe facial animation is much improved but it\u2019s still not very good (Nacon)<\/p>\n
Price: \u00a324.99
Publisher: Nacon
Developer: Teyon
Release Date: 17th July 2025
Age Rating: 18<\/p>\n![\"RoboCop:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_259199953-bcfa.jpg\")
\n\t\tED-209 remains one of the best robot designs ever (Nacon)<\/p>\n
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