RoboCop Versus The Terminator
Super Nintendo
Nostalgia Factor:
When I was a kid, I rented the Genesis version of this game for one weekend. I played through it, beat it, returned it to the video store, and never played it again. In my late 20s, I ended up buying the Super Nintendo version of RoboCop vs the Terminator at a used game store. It had been so long since I'd played the Genesis game, I didn't realize that this was a completely different version of the game. I slogged my way through it (taking note of the high difficulty level) and beat the game. I put it back into my collection of SNES games and never played it again.
This had to have been about 15 years ago. That was the last time I had played any version of RoboCop vs the Terminator. In recent years, I've been reading a lot about these two games and the differences between them. Most people seem to have come to the consensus that the Genesis version is the far superior version of the game.
Even though I had played both games, I didn't have a strong opinion either way. I simply didn't remember them well enough to say which one was better and which one was worse. So I have decided to revisit them and make that decision myself. First up: The SNES version!
I remember little about the game aside from its difficulty. I remember climbing ladders and jumping across conveyor belts and shooting enemies. And that's it. How would I feel about it now? That is what we are here to find out!
Story:
This game actually has a somewhat interesting story, which is told through comic book style frames in-between stages. In the Terminator-dominated future, it is discovered that RoboCop's human/machine design led to the awakening of Skynet. A resistance soldier is sent back in time to eliminate RoboCop to prevent the bad future from happening. Of course, an army of Terminators is sent back to stop her.
The assassin fails, and the awakening of Skynet is actually fast forwarded when RoboCop connects to the Cyberdyne network with his little hand-spiky thing. The game leaps 50 years into the future. RoboCop's mind has been trapped inside the computer network while Skynet and the Terminators have conquered the Earth. RoboCop is able to take advantage of a security lapse to rebuild his old body and put his mind back into it. Armed with intimate knowledge of how to take down Skynet, RoboCop sets off on a quest to destroy the program once and for all, and restore humanity's freedom.
Gameplay:
This is a pretty standard side scrolling shooter. Using the d-pad, you control RoboCop. The down arrow makes you duck. There is a jump button, a shoot button, and a button where you can switch weapons. That's pretty much it. You can fire up and in diagonal directions, which is a big plus. Unfortunately, RoboCop moves VERY slowly, like a battle tank inching its way through a muddy battlefield. You're going to have to destroy everything in your path, because running is not an option.
The point of each stage is to make it from point A to point B. Some stages are very straightforward. Others are more maze-like. Some offer branching paths that take you to the same destination. But overall I would say the game is very focused on getting you to your destination. Very rarely did I get lost, and I never once had to turn to the Internet for help.
Things start out pretty easy. I breezed through many of the early stages. The game does get pretty tough, quick. What is frustrating is that you have to make it through a stage without dying. Even just one death will send you back to the very beginning of the stage. And this game has some fairly long stages!
There's not much variety to be found here. You control RoboCop. You walk. You shoot things. You make it to the end of the level. Rinse and repeat. There is one Mode-7 style stage, but it is over and done with in about two minutes, and it is very easy to complete. It almost doesn't count when we are talking about variety in the gameplay.
While the game may be a little repetitive and a bit frustrating in its difficulty, I still enjoyed it for the most part. I like how in the "modern days", you can't just kill a Terminator by shooting it. You have to knock them into pits or lure them into traps. In the future, you have access to weapons that can take them down pretty quickly.
The whole game is somewhere between ten and fifteen stages long. You can easily beat this in one playing session - unless you find the difficulty a bit too much. Luckily the game has a password system. I used save states as I played through this (I know, I know, don't judge me). So I was able to beat this with relatively little trouble. I refuse to apologize for this, however, because as a dad who works full time, I have very little time to game.
It would have taken some time and some trial and error, but I'm sure I could have beaten this "the right way", just as I did when I first played it back in my twenties. I just chose not to.
Graphics:
This is a good looking game. It's not phenomenal looking or anything like that. The presentation is a bit drab, with the generic menus and boring title screen. The comic strip story sequences are nothing to write home about either.
The actual stages themselves look good though. RoboCop and the Terminator enemies look good. Everything looks good, but not great. It's a passable game. I suppose my biggest complaint is the fact that many of the levels have the same mechanical/industrial feel to them. I would have liked to see a little more variety and a little more color. But I understand it is hard to be colorful when most of the game takes place in a drab, desolate future.
Sound:
There is nothing special about this game's music. I just finished playing it earlier today, and I have already forgotten most of it. If middle of the road, futuristic techno is your thing, maybe you'll like it. I am indifferent.
Sound effects are relatively weak, too. For a game full of guns and explosions, nothing really gets the heart pumping.
Overall:
Like I said before, I had a fairly decent time playing this game. I definitely say it an above average title. But I can also see why I had such a tough time remembering it from when I had first played it. It is just so very basic. There's nothing here that makes this game stand out from the crowd. It's not bad, but it is not exceptionally strong either. It's okay. It's good. It's aiiiight. But I can't muster up any more enthusiasm than that.
Should you play this game? Sure. Will it leave a lasting impression on you? Probably not. I can pretty much tell you that in another year or two, I will think back on this game and not be able to remember anything about it. And that's okay. The game is good for what it is. A slightly above average shooter. Will I be returning to it in my life at any point in the future? Probably not.
THE GRADE:
C+
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