SUPER GAME GUIDE
Following on from last month's frollicking funderland of fabbo games still available for the Speccy, Mark 'Cor Blimey Guv' Patterson gives us the lowdown on another batch of game greats from the pages of the world's most SU-per Speccy mag. The sheer number and variety of games is bewildering but since bewilderment is Marky's lot he's definitely the best man to give 'em a go...
ROBOCOP 3
LABEL: Ocean
MEMORY: 48k/128K
Price: TAPE £11.99 DISK £14.99
Reviewer: Mike Patterson
There are five levels in the game, the first of which is a simple shoot against the drug crazed splatter-punks. On level two there are corporate warriors and even more splatter-punks to contend with. The difficulty increases with each level, leading to a final showdown with the Otoma Nina Robots!
The graphics on Robocop are all mono but having said that the animation is of a very high standard indeed. Robocop 3 had a lot to live up to, Robocop 1 spent an incredible six months at the top of the official Gallup sales chart. It does, however, measure up quite well to its predecessors and makes for a very exciting and engaging game. If a little samey.
Label: Ocean
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £11.99 Tape, £14.99 Disk
Reviewer: Ed Laurence
Pah! You can't trust those OCP people can you? They're never satisfied - no sooner have they built one mass killing machine than they're off building another. It's fortunate for the general populace that their first creation, Robocop, has enough social conscience to try and knock off all his successors - it certainly beats the hell out of relying on a union to provide job security.
Sadly, OCP themselves don't take kindly to this sort of profit damaging behaviour by ex-employees, so they have enlisted the help of the Splatterpunks gang to help deal with Robo, as well as throwing their own army of death robots into the fray!
Thus runs the plot of Robocop 3, the latest shoot up from Ocean. In each of the five levels that make up the game, you, as Robocop, must put a stop to the evil machinations of both the OCP Corporation and the drug-crazed Splatterpunks by shooting everything you see.
The first level is an Operation Wolf style shootout with the Splatterpunks. It takes place on an otherwise deserted street where you must fend off the Splatterpunk attacks and blow the gang members into oblivion. From here, Robocop moves on to the abandoned Rocket Motors factory in the first of the platform levels where he fights against both Splatterpunks and Corporate Warriors.
Robo also has his first brush with the new OCP 'bot - a deadly black-clad ninja, who refuses to die! After this, if you manage to get any further, Robocop dons his jetpack for some airborne blasting thrills against the armies of OCP in an effort to destroy the prototype OCP Super Tank! He must then hike it back, once again, to the OCP Tower (avoiding a deadly ground-strafing helicopter gunship along the way), before scaling it to take on the remaining Otomo Ninja Robots - all at once!
As you may have guessed, Robocop 3 is very similar in its implementation to its predecessors, no doubt playing on the HUGE success of the first game (which spent more than six months at number one in the official Gallup sales charts!). However, a few novel twists have been added to the gameplay to prevent the formula from becoming staid.
The shootout level makes for a pretty good start, packed as it is with (pads of death and an interesting targeting system (you have to lock on to your target before firing). From here, things move on to the more familiar platform format, although Robocop 3 is definitely a lot tougher than the previous games in the series.
Unfortunately, some of this difficulty is contained in the fiddly control method which forces you to use space for jump - surely up and fire would have been easier? That aside, the platform levels are still pretty entertaining, with an ever-present sense of purpose adding some atmosphere to the proceedings. The horizontally-scrolling shooting section is quite standard fare, but it does add some variety. Level five is easily the best though, as Robo struggles against impossible odds against the Ninja - you really have to team their tactics and Robo's capabilities to beat them.
Robocop 3 has some very nice graphics (even if they are all monochrome), especially on the first level. The animation is also of a high standard and the backgrounds are atmospheric and detailed. The sound isn't so bad either, with plenty of blasting and squelching sounds to accompany the action.
Although there's no doubting that Robocop 3 is a fun game, it doesn't really make much of an advancement over the previous offerings in terms of looks or general gameplay. The platform levels may look different in general detail, but they play the same as the ones in the first Robocop game. The slightly iffy control method and the annoying instant-death traps (although they are few) detract from the overall playability of the game as well.
Overall though, Robocop 3 is a worthy successor to the series, it is a lot more difficult than the second instalment and, although the plot is wearing thin, it has to be said that this game is worth getting.
ALAN:
Robocop 3 is an enjoyable and challenging blend of genres, featuring decent graphics and pleasant sound. However, it is very much like Robocop 1 and 2, so if you own either (or both) of these games, it's best to consider whether you really want to go through it all again before you part with your cash.
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