Robocop: August featured game
Robocop is known for being somewhat a classic on almost every system of the time. The Atari 8bit is no different… Nah! I’m kidding. It’s the worst version I’ve played.
Oh dear. What to say about this game? I was expecting something along the lines of the ZX Spectrum version but this is nothing like it.
Growing up in the 8bit era I know that although there were some amazing games around there was also some right old tosh. The Atari 8bit family does have some great games, Star Raiders II being a great example of what the machine could produce but Robocop slips firmly into the right old tosh category.
Gameplay
I’m not entirely sure of the aim with Robocop, it’s certainly not the Ocean version I’m familiar with. You control Robocop as he walks alongside a building getting shot at. There’s a caption on the screen telling you to look for a grenade. I couldn’t find one, I wasn’t even sure how to find one so I just keep shooting at the people popping up until eventually I had a tank in my face. The caption then told me to blow up the tank, presumably with the grenade I had no idea how to find.
At this point I found my highlight of the game. I decided to move back away from the tank but, instead of turning around, Robocop moonwalked back along the screen. After spending the next 30 seconds or so moonwalking around, unsuccessfully looking for a grenade, I moved toward the tank and it fired on me. I lost a life. The cycle then repeats twice more and the game drops back out to the title screen.
Graphics
There wasn’t a lot to examine graphically but I did like the Robocop sprite and the firing effect from the guns. The rest of the screen was plain black and white other than some windows and big holes in the wall to emphasis where windows may have once been. Everything moved smoothly but there wasn’t a lot going on to cause any slowdown anyway. A little more detail and maybe a bit of colour could have made a difference.
Sound
There was no music and very limited sound effects. The sound effects were OK, gun firing, noise of the tank rumbling, it worked I guess.
| Gameplay: |  (2.0 / 5) |
| Graphics: | (2.0 / 5) |
| Sound: |  (1.0 / 5) |
| Final Score: |  (1.7 / 5) |
Publisher: Fulco Games
Release Year: 1990
Players: 1
Genre: Arcade: Shoot ’em Up
System: Atari 8bit Family
Controls:
-
- Joystick
