Robocop Rogue City combat is like murder: the first time I punched someone, I completely lost it when Robocop's fist shot out with the force of a particle accelerator, instantly atomizing the opponent's skull. A few minutes later, he picked up a trash can and used it to shove the four men into a corner for a breather. It looked like a malicious hydraulic press adorned with Oakley and Punisher skull stickers. While RoboCop: Rogue City is an absolute blast when it comes to taking down hordes of trash on the streets of Detroit, its brutally slow-paced, coma-inducing plot keeps it in the same mediocre league as the film's sequel

"The film is a bit of a mess.

"Rogue City" has a phenomenal physicality. Grabbing an enemy by the scruff of the neck and throwing him against a wall rains down chunks of rubble on his battered corpse. Bullets scatter stacks of paper, turning the clutter into a hurricane of plastic and metal debris. When Robocop grabs something with his giant metal glove, it retains its physical properties. Thus, a computer monitor that tries to smash into someone's head will get smashed into a wall or, as in "Gary's Mod," into a doorframe. The environment is littered with explosives that behave in comically different ways. Propane cylinders hit the heads of those they throw at them and fly around the area like rockets before exploding. Robocop can pick up land mines and whip them around like a Frisbee.

I liked the way Robocop handled his Auto 9 machine pistol. It's a modular, burst-firing SMG that spits out a ridiculous stream of small-caliber rounds with pinpoint accuracy. I would love to have another campaign where I could dominate someone with a full burst and watch their body rumble backwards in slow motion. There are other weapons, but I'm not sure why I want to use them. The few weapons, such as Cold War automatics and shotguns, are situational at best, unnecessary at worst, and only effective when you invest heavily in the corresponding "combat" skill trees.

Yes, "Rogue the City" has a skill tree system, but it is far too bloated. The only way to make Rogue City combat less repetitive is to get the first level of any ability as soon as possible. There's the "Max Payne"-style bullet time, the flashbangs in the eyes, and my favorite, the forward charge in which Robocop stomps his feet and charges like a freight train, knocking down anyone in his path.

This is made better by a disjointed system that seems to prioritize interesting outcomes whenever possible, such as an enemy clutching a chopped up stump and shouting "My hand." He is also magnetic like a rag doll, and when he shoots an assassin standing by a ledge, he tumbles down, swinging his arms and legs. The combat is similar to that of the MechWarrior, as Robocop is nearly invulnerable to small arms and his movement speed is sub-zero, but his targets are more meaty. [There's a godforsaken boss fight early on against the malfunctioning ED-209, but since they're both huge, slow-moving tin cans with nearly the same amount of heat, Robocop has to awkwardly climb the arena while hiding behind too-small pillars... Not as bad as ED-209, but still Detroit's It doesn't have the personality (and hilarious screams) of a street gang.

In between missions, they return to the station for periodic psychological assessments, to help fellow officers with paperwork, and to dabble in the cinematic landscape. In the middle of a mission, he receives crime updates from headquarters, but they are nothing short of tedious. The first part of the film is visited by the abandoned industrial park that appeared at the climax of the first film, but it is too open, flat, and similar a space to sustain interest for more than fifteen minutes.

In a side mission, Robocop scuttles through piles of trash and knee-high pools of dirty water with no HP-draining mines in sight. It's a lot of hard work and little reward. Too often, you deposit stolen wallets or fake IDs and get bonus experience points on the final ranking screen.

For fans of the film, that is, all living people, much of Verhoeven's acerbic tone is carried over, but the story is meandering and does little to complement the film. The antagonists in Rogue City are the brothers of Clarence's gangster friends from the previous film, who try to fill the power vacuum left by Clarence and Cain. Early in the game, "Rogue City" has the audacity to put the ebullient and hot-headed Anne Lewis into a coma and have Ulysses Washington appear in her place.

The most human character is, ironically, Robocop himself, voiced by the returning Peter Weller. Rogue City begins with RoboCop suffering from PTSD from a hostage situation. There is a stark contrast between the absurd, over-the-top power fantasy action and the totally unmanly experience of being restrained and yelled at by his idiotic boss. These are interwoven with dialogue options that explore the gulf between Robocop and Alex Murphy, expressed through a strictly legalistic or by-the-book approach to policing, or through displays of empathy and forgiveness. These dialogue choices are supposed to have consequences, but they rarely manifest themselves until the conclusion of the game.

Technically, Robocop: Rogue City is fine, hovering around 60 fps on high settings on my mid-grade build. It doesn't look great, but even with bullets flying and dozens of bodies piling up, "Rogue City" holds up strongly, rarely dropping below 45 frames. Character animations range from "good" to "bad" (a man playing swinging jazz drums in a hardcore show deserves a special mention, as does a man playing a "jazz drum" in a hardcore show).

Ultimately, "Rogue City" can never transcend its status as a B-movie game, just as "Robocop" transcended its B-movie origins. Too often the fun of wasting time with gangsters and goons is cut short, interrupted, or delayed by tedious police work that does little to showcase the game's unexpected strengths: character writing. I can only recommend "Robocop" to true enthusiasts: everyone else should check out the Frank Miller comic on which "Rogue City" is based.