Best Surprise – Robocop: Rogue City

Diego: This game has no right being as good as it is and Teyon needs to be investigated for how hard they were cooking in the kitchen with this one. Robocop: Rogue City perfectly captures the vibe of that original Verhoeven film from the overall grimy aesthetics of dystopian Detroit, to the sound design and even lumbering feel of Robo himself. I found myself absolutely engrossed in patrolling the streets of Detroit, stopping petty crimes or even helping my fellow officers whenever I was at the precinct. You’d think playing as a slow moving tank like Robocop would be dull in this era of fast-paced shooters, but it totally works and really makes you feel like the guy. Seeing junkies uselessly shoot at me as their bullets ricochet back at them, then picking them up to toss out a window or blasting their limbs off with Robocop’s signature Auto-9 and all while Robo himself is shooting off some of his classic lines; top to bottom this is a Robocop ass Robocop game. I genuinely can’t think of a better game that embodies “best surprise” than Robocop: Rogue City.

Spencer: After a couple of the games I was really looking forward to in 2023 ended up disappointing me a bit, I was cautious about RoboCop: Rogue City. For once, I did not need to be, as it rocked so hard that I had to tear myself away to cover other games for work. It’s everything I want from a RoboCop game: blasting the brains out of evil people with cool quips and ridiculous social satire turned up to 11. The world feels like a natural extension of the films’ rather than a clumsy attempt at emulating it, while the characters feel right at home in that world. I have less of a connection to the Terminator franchise than I do to RoboCop, but I will absolutely be trying out Teyon’s previous game based on that franchise, as the studio has made me happier than most others did last year.