RoboCop Review. Disappointing.

[AnOldMan]

DISAPPOINTING!!!!

I'm sure I'm one of the first to play this through on it's most difficult setting (Extreme). To give you an idea of how I did, the missions are rated, 'A' being the highest you can achieve, from what I can tell. I got 'A' on all but one mission.

I enjoyed the game, its mechanics, its story, its graphics, etc. But I didn't enjoy how hard it was to gain XP for ability enhancements. And then, after finally building a decent RoboCop, that could make it through the story, I discovered YOU CANNOT TAKE YOUR XP WITH YOU! You can't use your now bad-ass build on a 2nd play through of the game. YOU RESTART AT ZERO!!! This is unforgivable. No highly acclaimed game since 2005 has made that mistake.

More annoyingly is how the game tries to force your decision making. I played through like a normal law-biding citizen or cop might. Uphold the law, issue warnings where more appropriate than citations. The game totally screwed me on XP for that. And nearly all the dialog options make a show of wanting you to condemn OCP and capitalism. If you don't, no matter how neutral your choices, the game makes you out to be a capitalist, OCP guard-dog, only out to screw the every-man, and rewards you with little to no XP for your interactions. I get the movies pushed that view, but even in the movies, Robocop was portrayed as more or less neutral, concerned only with upholding the law. It would have been nice if the game had adhered to that.

And for those, like myself, who pre-ordered, and got the extra weapon (OCP's shotgun) and cosmetics (Blue and Battle Damaged Robocop skins), there's a bit of an in-game frustration there, too. You cannot change your character skins in-game. You have to do that from the Main Menu. The shotgun? Almost totally useless, outside of the first one or two levels.

This game is a One-And-Done kind of a game. Great for reliving the nostalgia of the 1987 RoboCop movie, and its sequals, but not good for replay value.

[RangerXT]

I dont think its enought to negatively color my view of the game, but I think being a little more lenient in how much xp is given would be nice, and yes NG+ is 100% needed.

[ZigFreid]

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

Messaggio originale di Mortal_Kasi:

You know Cops are Humans too right? And i bet there are some Cops that let a Graffiti Tagger of the hook in real life if he has a clean File. And i think it is made that way to show that the Huma Murphy is still there and he is more then a Machine.

I'm not saying cops aren't human. Nor am I saying there are not other ways to dealing with a tagger. For example, one of the options, instead of arresting or ticketing the tagger, is to assign him community service. That is a real-life option many LEOs and justice personnel have utilized.

I'm saying, releasing a reporter, who broke into a bank, during a crisis, placing herself in jeopardy, as well as officers of the law, and viewing/stealing confidential legal documents in the process, is not a real world option. Hell, it wouldn't have been an option in any of the RoboCop movies. Why, then, does the game push such dialog options by awarding you XP and public trust points if you release her? Shouldn't it be the other way around, since she both broke the law and placed others' lives in harms way? Shouldn't arresting her, no questions asked at that point, be no only the correct way of dealing with the scenario, but also the way with rewards you most both with upholding the law points, and public trust points?

The game shoves criminal pandering dialogue on you 2/3 of the time. Even when you choose a clearly upright, and correct, choice, it often twists your characters words and intentions to extremes as well. I just don't find that, and the fact that it's penalizing my XP for that choice, enjoyable at all.

it's just a cyberpunk trope, come on. she's on the hunt for the truth to bring down a corrupt corporation or something. you either help her (hence the public approval) or you act as a corpo tool, in her eyes. which will have its consequences later on.

i think you confuse robocop for judge dredd here. relax.

[AnOldMan]

Messaggio originale di ZigFreid:

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

I'm not saying cops aren't human. Nor am I saying there are not other ways to dealing with a tagger. For example, one of the options, instead of arresting or ticketing the tagger, is to assign him community service. That is a real-life option many LEOs and justice personnel have utilized.

I'm saying, releasing a reporter, who broke into a bank, during a crisis, placing herself in jeopardy, as well as officers of the law, and viewing/stealing confidential legal documents in the process, is not a real world option. Hell, it wouldn't have been an option in any of the RoboCop movies. Why, then, does the game push such dialog options by awarding you XP and public trust points if you release her? Shouldn't it be the other way around, since she both broke the law and placed others' lives in harms way? Shouldn't arresting her, no questions asked at that point, be no only the correct way of dealing with the scenario, but also the way with rewards you most both with upholding the law points, and public trust points?

The game shoves criminal pandering dialogue on you 2/3 of the time. Even when you choose a clearly upright, and correct, choice, it often twists your characters words and intentions to extremes as well. I just don't find that, and the fact that it's penalizing my XP for that choice, enjoyable at all.

it's just a cyberpunk trope, come on. she's on the hunt for the truth to bring down a corrupt corporation or something. you either help her (hence the public approval) or you act as a corpo tool, in her eyes. which will have its consequences later on.

i think you confuse robocop for judge dredd here. relax.

I'm not confused. I understand it's a trope. But it is also an undeniable fact that RoboCop, in the movies, would never have just let her go. He would have arrested her. Thus, that decision should pay out more XP and public trust than letting her go.

The same applies to many of the in-game situations your character finds them-self in. So why does it feel like the game has been made to push a political agenda, and a particular view of cops, onto the player?

I'm just saying, the game could do with some more balanced decision making payoffs.

[Mr Fantastic]

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

Messaggio originale di Kashra Fall:

Just finished the bank heist mission and it was the first mission I got a B (Damn swat challenge on extreme!) You can get around 3500 exp from just the completions a mission, this does not include the lore (exp per read.) item pick ups (Varies depending on items.) Gang stash locations and side quest completions.

I am currently 2 in all things aside from deduction, which is 5. So that would make me what? Level

Level 15? I could of maxed a stat and been halfway through another by now (If) I wanted to. EXP isn't hard to get at all.

By the mission you described, I had my Vitality maxed, and all but psychology were AT LEAST at lvl 3. Yes, I collected items. Yes I did side quests. The problem is, if you pay attention, how many side objectives pay out XP. You get more for public trust selections, than you do from upholding the law selections. This forces you to choose to do things such as let criminals go, hack OCP data illegally, and buy-in to the "OCP is Evil" propaganda in your dialog options, unless you're OK getting lesser amounts of XP.

You don't get enough XP to max out more than two, maybe three, areas in a single play through. Given that you have eight fields to upgrade, and, again, that you cannot re-use your build, that's a big fat negative for me.

One final thought...I find it laughable you are trying to indicate I must have done poorly at exploring and picking things up, or must have screwed up in some other fashion when I already explained how I got an 'A' on all but one mission, on EXTREME difficulty.

This is fake news though, I'm meeting the old man now and already have 3 maxed skills and 4 points to distribute.

If you want to use your head you should max deduction as soon as possible, it's a huge XP boost.

[Grunch]

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

Messaggio originale di MrSharpobject:

What I'm hearing is, "If you don't explore, you don't get rewarded", which honestly I think is fine. I completed the game yesterday, maxed out all trees except two (one ended up with 6 points in it), and all you have to do to find side content is to look for it. Hell, I might have even missed a bit here or there - but the game rewards exploration rather than just "here is a ubisoft style checklist of everything available to do". If you like following checklists to the letter without exploring, then sure you might not enjoy this as much - but if you enjoy exploring even a little (because honestly, the levels aren't that open) then you will be rewarded.

You're fair to say it rewards exploration. But the XP payout does need to be tweaked. Remember, RoboCop is a COP. He's supposed to uphold the law, not cater to criminals, no matter how minor the infraction. Having the game force you to abandon that duty if you want additional XP was criminal in iteself. And keep in mind, this is coming from the guy who obsessively explored every inch of the maps to get every objective, ocp chip, note, and criminal evidence article during their EXTREME play through.

Prime Directive 1 is Serve The Public Trust don’t get mad that the creators understood the lore better than you

[AnOldMan]

Messaggio originale di Mr Fantastic:

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

By the mission you described, I had my Vitality maxed, and all but psychology were AT LEAST at lvl 3. Yes, I collected items. Yes I did side quests. The problem is, if you pay attention, how many side objectives pay out XP. You get more for public trust selections, than you do from upholding the law selections. This forces you to choose to do things such as let criminals go, hack OCP data illegally, and buy-in to the "OCP is Evil" propaganda in your dialog options, unless you're OK getting lesser amounts of XP.

You don't get enough XP to max out more than two, maybe three, areas in a single play through. Given that you have eight fields to upgrade, and, again, that you cannot re-use your build, that's a big fat negative for me.

One final thought...I find it laughable you are trying to indicate I must have done poorly at exploring and picking things up, or must have screwed up in some other fashion when I already explained how I got an 'A' on all but one mission, on EXTREME difficulty.

This is fake news though, I'm meeting the old man now and already have 3 maxed skills and 4 points to distribute.

If you want to use your head you should max deduction as soon as possible, it's a huge XP boost.

My apologies. I did not realize you started your build with maxing out your deduction. When I played, I noted the extreme damage incurred on my character (hence, why I feel they called the difficulty Extreme, not Hardest, or Elite, or some other crap), and built my character to survive by focusing on vitality.

On normal difficulty, Robocop is already a tank. The need to survive is not as great in early levels.
On extreme, quite the opposite is true. He's more like a glass cannon. So for those of us without super quick reflexes, focusing on things like armor, combat, or vitality are like as not to take priority.

This, in effect, means MOST casual players, trying extreme difficulty for the hell of it, will not be focused on a Max XP build by using deduction or psychology. I certainly didn't. What I said was not "fake news" as you coined it; it was a difference in decision making.

I scored better in my levels than most people, who're solely focused on main objectives, might. However, with a build focused from the get-go on surviving, and making up for a lack of rapid reflexes, myself, and others, will find themselves gypped on xp, unless they're willing to compromise their play style.

[AnOldMan]

Messaggio originale di Grunch:

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

You're fair to say it rewards exploration. But the XP payout does need to be tweaked. Remember, RoboCop is a COP. He's supposed to uphold the law, not cater to criminals, no matter how minor the infraction. Having the game force you to abandon that duty if you want additional XP was criminal in iteself. And keep in mind, this is coming from the guy who obsessively explored every inch of the maps to get every objective, ocp chip, note, and criminal evidence article during their EXTREME play through.

Prime Directive 1 is Serve The Public Trust don’t get mad that the creators understood the lore better than you

There's a difference between understanding the lore, and making following the lore exactly the primary focus.

I understand the lore, and, yes, the directives. However, the game was made with the ability for decision making. Why should I be penalized for more highly valuing the law, and not letting some pretty big crimes, like criminal trespass, grand theft auto, and illegal seizure of confidential financial documents go unaddressed?

[Naijiro]

Messaggio originale di maloce:

I think it is time we start becoming critical on one and done single player campaigns that have an upgrade system and no new game +. We should consider that more often when reviewing games.

Even boomer shooters that come out, they generally let you level select and you have your stat upgrades on ones that have stat upgrades. I can't imagine why someone wouldn't care if their game has replay value or not.

Whoever is the, "Eh no new game +, this will do" people in the dev industry, it's time to boot them. New game + is becoming a standard more and more, and with fps games, even doom 2016 and eternal, you can pretty much replay all missions with all your upgrades.

I get where you're coming from, but it's very likely they'll just update the game and add it, so PERSONALLY it's no biggie. But I understand.

[Roadwarrior]

Messaggio originale di matthew:

While only partly through the game, I'm also not a fan on the XP system, And also, I have issues finding side quests, not all show up on the map, so you have to aimlessly walk around trying to find stuff. so it's really easy to miss side quests, especailly if your playing blind. Unless your following a guide for max XP, not finding all options, or upgrading the right skills, I can easy see it screws you over.

decent game, but the XP system could have been a lot better, and more forgiving.

If you put 6 points into deduction it adds the locoation of the side quests and the serve and protect quests on the map. Also the location of some containers.

[Imposter]

Just use a cheat or hack to have all points in the new game, after you beaten the game... What is the harm in that? You mastered Extreme... I think it qualifies for a "Fun" go-round.

Though, I failed to mention to agree that there could be something nice after winning. A.. "Thanks for playing" send-off, type of game-mode.

[Pumpkinhead jack]

I would buy the game again and play it again. Mucho amazing especially the last boss battle!

[Warwitcher99]

Agreed it needs NG+ and that is unforgivable. Deduction has been OP after following the youtube tutorial and maxing it out! Needs to be maxed out before putting points into anything else! The challenges are annoying but I guess thats part of it. The game really takes you back to when Robocop first became popular. I just wish it wasnt so linear. Ive just started playing but Im in love with it so far.

[EmmaKat]

Messaggio originale di Mortal_Kasi:

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

You're fair to say it rewards exploration. But the XP payout does need to be tweaked. Remember, RoboCop is a COP. He's supposed to uphold the law, not cater to criminals, no matter how minor the infraction.

You know Cops are Humans too right? And i bet there are some Cops that let a Graffiti Tagger of the hook in real life if he has a clean File. And i think it is made that way to show that the Huma Murphy is still there and he is more then a Machine.

This is even addressed in the films such as where robocop shuts off a hydrant kids are playing in after OCP messed with his programming in the second film. That is portrayed as him acting odd even though he was enforcing the law, and one of the things to lead him to decide he'd rather risk dying if it gives him a chance to not be like that.

[recursor]

First off, don't take any of this as saying that a New Game+ and difficulty above Extreme wouldn't be welcome.

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

By the mission you described, I had my Vitality maxed, and all but psychology were AT LEAST at lvl 3. Yes, I collected items. Yes I did side quests. The problem is, if you pay attention, how many side objectives pay out XP. You get more for public trust selections, than you do from upholding the law selections. This forces you to choose to do things such as let criminals go, hack OCP data illegally, and buy-in to the "OCP is Evil" propaganda in your dialog options, unless you're OK getting lesser amounts of XP.

I think you may have missed some things, as you have some of that exactly backwards. For the most part you do gain public trust for issuing warnings. But you actually get a direct XP bonus for upholding the law. Keep an eye on the XP display on the upper right and watch for the +25.

Public trust is mainly for influencing the election, but it ends up being unnecessary. You can still decide the fate of the election by going for every single ticket, then publicly supporting the candidate that you want to lose at the Expo.

The area where there's a choice is the bank, as you won't get the favorable ending for Samantha if you turn her in there and can't recover from that without an investment in Psychology. Letting her go does lose out on the 400 XP bank intruder objective. Hers is the only ending where you need to make that sort of choice.

As to whether letting her go would be in character for Robocop, there probably is a reason that the preceding secret that you can find is documentation that the bank has seized Alex Murphy's property. If you view yourself as human, this is evidence that OCP and their bank are committing injustices that the police can't hold them accountable for.

If you're looking to maximize XP, you should pay attention to the fact that every kill that Anne Lewis or OCP steals from Robocop is 5/6 XP lost. Then aim for getting all of the kills in the news station/slaughterhouse and scores of ~30 and ~80 on the efficiency challenges. That and nabbing deduction early makes much more of a difference.

I was curious about some of this myself, and was able to test it out and max out the 7 combat-impacting skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxEI0MdJ3BI

[Lardo]

Messaggio originale di ksanoldman:

Messaggio originale di Mortal_Kasi:

You know Cops are Humans too right? And i bet there are some Cops that let a Graffiti Tagger of the hook in real life if he has a clean File. And i think it is made that way to show that the Huma Murphy is still there and he is more then a Machine.

I'm not saying cops aren't human. Nor am I saying there are not other ways to dealing with a tagger. For example, one of the options, instead of arresting or ticketing the tagger, is to assign him community service. That is a real-life option many LEOs and justice personnel have utilized.

I'm saying, releasing a reporter, who broke into a bank, during a crisis, placing herself in jeopardy, as well as officers of the law, and viewing/stealing confidential legal documents in the process, is not a real world option. Hell, it wouldn't have been an option in any of the RoboCop movies. Why, then, does the game push such dialog options by awarding you XP and public trust points if you release her? Shouldn't it be the other way around, since she both broke the law and placed others' lives in harms way? Shouldn't arresting her, no questions asked at that point, be no only the correct way of dealing with the scenario, but also the way with rewards you most both with upholding the law points, and public trust points?

The game shoves criminal pandering dialogue on you 2/3 of the time. Even when you choose a clearly upright, and correct, choice, it often twists your characters words and intentions to extremes as well. I just don't find that, and the fact that it's penalizing my XP for that choice, enjoyable at all.

you think your choices are "clearly correct", because you don't understand the story and the lore. What you call "criminal pandering" is actually giving people a break in a city that's gone to ♥♥♥♥. Yeah, imagine that, in a city where there are more gang members than civilians, giving a ticket for littering or smoking is absurd. And yes, helping a reporter to uncover why the city has gone to ♥♥♥♥ is serving public trust. While the are obviously parallels to the real world, we're clearly not remotely there yet, so your comparisons are ridiculous.