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.

[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.

[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.

[maloce]

This is what I was saying on my post! It NEEDS a new game +.

[matthew]

Agreed, it would help to get another go through, especailly for those that want to enjoy the story.

[AnOldMan]

Origineel geplaatst door 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.

[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.

[MrSharpobject]

Origineel geplaatst door 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.

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.

[AnOldMan]

Origineel geplaatst door MrSharpobject:

Origineel geplaatst door 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.

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.

[Mortal_Kasi]

Origineel geplaatst door 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.

[Niks]

Generally, yeah, XP gain could've been done better, however you can use cheat table and forget about it as long as it's single player game. Just saying.

[Reacher]

Shame it doesn't have New Game +. I would have though that was an obvious addition

[Mortal_Kasi]

Origineel geplaatst door Reacher:

Shame it doesn't have New Game +. I would have though that was an obvious addition

Yeah i hope they will add that in the future.

[Black Hole]

new game plus would be very welcome dont really want to rush back into from the beginning without all the effort into upgrading I really enjoyed the later levels due to leveling up.

[Grimdaddy]

Origineel geplaatst door maloce:

This is what I was saying on my post! It NEEDS a new game +.

This, for sure. Needs this feature to increase replay value.

[AnOldMan]

Origineel geplaatst door Mortal_Kasi:

Origineel geplaatst door 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.

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.