There’s a new gameplay trailer out for the upcoming cyber-cop shooter Robocop: Rogue City, and unfortunately for those looking forward to it, there’s also a new release date: Instead of being out in June as expected, publisher Nacon said today that it won’t actually be out until September.
That’s a relatively minor delay as these things go, but what I’m really more interested in is the trailer. I can’t say it knocked my socks off: Knowing that Dick Jones, Bob Morton, and Clarence Boddicker are all dead obviously takes some of the fun out of it, but I have practical concerns too. The gun sounds and robo-footsteps are just a little off, and Peter Weller’s voice is missing the metallic reverb that’s so distinctive in the films. The hand grabbing the creep’s throat at 1:18 is notably unconvincing to my eye, even though it only appears for a second. And it just doesn’t feel Robocop, which I admit isn’t the most specific bit of criticism ever.
It’s also a very subjective statement, in case there’s any doubt. My Australian colleague Shaun Prescott said the trailer looked fine to him, and many of the comments on YouTube are positive too. And when Rich Stanton wrote about Robocop: Rogue City last year, he said it “might be the first decent Robocop game since the ’80s.” So it’s entirely possible that I’m being unfair, or have my expectations set too high—I just really want more from it than a conventional mid-tier FPS set in an ’80s action movie backdrop.
A specific release date hasn’t been set but Nacon said Robocop: Rogue City will be out sometime in September 2023. It’s available for wishlisting now on Steam.