A platform shooter developed by
Virgin Games for the
Sega Mega Drive, loosely based on the
comic book crossover of the movies
Robocop and
The Terminator. The basic gist of the game is that
CyberDyne (and therefore
SkyNet) are interested in
OCP's
Robocop project because it is the only successful merging of human and machine
consciousness. More directly, it's about
Robocop setting out to kick time-travelling
Terminator ass.
Each level of the game presents a simple objective (such as 'dodge the bullets' or 'rescue the hostages'), and involves Robo traversing a platform environment full of hostiles. Along the way there are a wide variety of weapons to collect, only two of which can be carried at one time. As well as his standard pistol, there is a flamethrower, various mini-missile launchers and a strange grenade launcher, the projectiles of which change direction in midair depending on which way you're facing.
Battles with armed thugs on the early stages are ludicrously gory, with hapless villains exploding in a shower of blood. After a while more substantial threats turn up, starting with a T-800 and taking in a small prototype Hunter Killer and ED-209. Lives are plentiful, but later hazards can sap energy at a ridiculous rate, requiring a careful approach to exploration.
The animation is top quality throughout, but the movement of the Robocop sprite outshines most of the rest of the game - the walking and ladder climbing animations in particular are excellent.
While certainly not the best game in the genre, and feeling very 'Amiga-like' in places, Robocop vs. The Terminator is a pretty cool game. The controls are intentionally a little awkward (Robocop walks slowly and is a big target), but can be mastered with practice. It's not in the Gunstar Heroes / Contra league, but viewed as an extension of the old-skool Robocop coin-op it works well.