Robocop 2 - Amstrad GX4000

Review comments

Life is never easy for a cyborg cop having to carry out the fight against crime all by his lonesome.
Four months have passed since Robocop's epic confrontation with Clarence Boddicker and his corrupt OCP official pal, Dick Jones. Old Detroit is being systematically destroyed by a combination of a colossal crime wave and the fact that the rest of the police force are on strike! Add to that the emergence of a new drug baron, Cain, and his new super-designer, hyper-addictive drug, Nuke, and Old Detroit seems totally doomed.
Being the righteous robotic rozzer that he is, Robocop decides to take on Cain and his empire of sin and dish out some Robo-style, autopistol justice to the punks of the city at the same time. But there's a problem. Robo's mind has been reconditioned and not only has he got saving Old Detroit from impending doom on his agenda, but he also has to contend with the feelings, memories and emotions of Alex Murphy fighting to re-surface...

Staff comments

Robocop 2 shows GX4000 owners just what their machine can do. The graphics are superb, with excellent presentation screens, great sprites and colourful backdrops. However, the game's a real swine to actually play. On the platform levels, there's hidden traps aplenty that'll have you rapping your head against a brick wall with annoyance. Progression through the game doesn't seem to rely on skills of any description. Although Robo is a graphical treat, the game itself is only really recommended to avid Robo-fans.

Robocop 2 features some brilliant graphics - the backgrounds are excellent, and the intermission screens are superb. However, there are some very annoying gameplay features in the platform sections which had me literally screaming with frustration. The collision detection is very dodgy - Robo often dies when it seems that he's well clear of a deadly obstacle, and he also has a habit of falling through holes in the floor when he turns around too close to them. Another annoying feature is that some harmful objects are so well blended into the backdrops, you don't actually realise they're deadly until you've walked into them - aaagh! It's a shame that these features are present, because they let down the excellent puzzle and shoot-out screens. Robocop 2 offers a considerable challenge which only hardened gamesplayers will get the most from.