Robocop (NES)

Comic book week continues!

Difficulty - ***1/2

Controls - **1/2

Sound - ***

Graphics - ***1/2

Overall - 12 1/2 stars out of 20

The officers of old Detroit have gone on strike! But who needs an entire police station when you have the awesome Robocop! Its up to you to clean up the streets and uphold the law.

You get six stages packed to the brim of action. The first few stages get you used to handling the controls of Robocop. But once you enter stage four (O.C.P. HQ) you're in for a rude awakening. With only a handful of continues, (three of them) the game can get really frustrating really fast.

I also would like to note that you can only use your handgun in certain points of the game (which really stinks!) Adding to the difficulty is the fact that your health meter does not recover after beating a stage. You get some bonus health back for every point of time is left on the clock (ouch!)

The controls are loose at best. Robocop can't jump at all in this game (big bummer), and going up or down stairs/elevators can be a pain.

You get some cut scenes after beating certain stages which is nice. But they do repeat. The game does look very good for an NES game. One of my favorite animations is that of an enemy that falls out of a window after you shoot him (cool!) The boss characters are nicely detailed (ED-209) but some of the enemy sprites...yawn!

The sound effects from punching, shooting various weapons are great. Some of the enemies yelp as you beat them up (the dogs and ED-209 for instance). Unfortunately, you only get one main theme throughout the game. Its good but there should have been more variety.

While there are some control issues, it doesn't detract that its a fun, old school beat 'em up. The difficulty really ramps up in the latter stages. As you only get three continues you'll be coming back again and again. The graphics are very detailed giving you the feeling that old Detroit has seen better days. Robocop has some variety in the game as you get bonus shooting stages to earn extra lives. If you have some spare cash give this title a whirl. And remember, stay out of trouble!