Adventures in Mac Gaming, Vol. 5

It's been a really long time since RoboCop was all that relevant as a movie franchise, and its history as a licensed video game product is... rough at best. So when you uncover that someone actually had the stones to procure a license to make a game based on an outdated, mostly forgotten film series, apparently, you do it? At least Polish developer Tayon does, and RoboCop: Rogue City is the fruits of that labor. It released in November 2023 on most every other platform, but the macOS version only came out a few months ago, back in April. The Mac conversion is definitely a surprise, just because it's a really random game to bring over. The stand-alone expansion Unfinished Business is coming down the line as well, so it looks like they're going all out to find an audience here.

The Mac version of the game is only available on the App Store, which means you're paying the full $50 price, despite the game being $5 on Steam during the recent Summer Sale - you'd just get the PC version. Alas. Rumor has it that the Mac version will be on Steam eventually, but because I'm a sicko, I just paid full price, apparently just to show Apple that there is an audience out there buying this stuff. Anyway. The game comes with GameCenter support and achievements that mirror the other releases, but does not have iCloud nor any alternative support for cloud saves. Someday this will be standard, today is not that day. Probably not tomorrow either.

RoboCop: Rogue City is at its core an FPS, but one that takes inspiration from a game that is widely beloved - Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Not a surprise since both take place in a weird futuristic version of Detroit, and your main character is a human that has been... altered... to be more like a robot. The comparison goes more than skin-deep however, as the game has a large RPG flavor to it. Complete objectives, side-quests, kill enemies, find hidden items, etc. and you'll get experience points that unlock upgrades for almost everything you do. Between major missions you can wander the streets to complete side quests, issue tickets, or perhaps recall your human days by looking at, but not touching, the ladies of the night. As someone who will do everything possible before moving onto main missions, this was like catnip.

If you're unfamiliar with the RoboCop franchise, you may not know that the titular character is a dead human brought to life. Alex Murphy was gunned down in the original movie, but he was repurposed after death to become a robotic justice machine at the behest of a giant corporation funding the Detroit Police. Yes, this is far more unnerving in 2025 than it was in 1987, probably. For Rogue City, the developers got Peter Weller, the actor playing Murphy, to reprise his role, which is worth every penny just to hear him say "Pickles" again and again. Anyway, his partner Anne Lewis returns as well, along with other familar characters such as The Old Man, who of course is voiced by someone else as the original actor has been dead 20 years.

Rogue City plays well enough, but if you're used to fast-paced FPS games, this will be a slog. RoboCop isn't exactly known for speed, given his robotic nature. So when you walk around with him it's very deliberate and methodical. There is a "run" button but it's more of a leisurely jog, which, again, expected! That said I enjoyed the slower pace, because it changed my thinking from "just run around and shoot dudes" to "hey maybe I should be more thoughtful before I go run around and shoot dudes." The gameplay loop itself is solid and I really can't talk enough about how visceral the gunplay feels. Like when you land a headshot the sound effects and resulting mess are surprisingly really good and unlike most other shooters, unless I haven't played enough of them lately. It's a very playable game and perhaps the slower pace will be good for those of us olds whose reflexes don't work like they used to.

I was apprehensive about getting this game because the reviews in the App Store were not very good. A lot of complaints about controller support issues, technical problems, etc. I didn't want to spend $50 on the game if it didn't work. However after watching a few YouTube videos that showed the game in a more positive light, I went ahead. Thankfully, Rogue City runs great, at least on my M4 Mac mini. My Xbox controller works fine, and I'm able to run it at very high settings without any issues. There was a weird hiccup at the start of the game where it dragged and had massive frame loss, but this all but disappeared the more I got into the game and haven't seen it happen since. That said, I tried running it on the oldest, most basic Apple Silicon hardware - my trusty M1 MacBook Air - and it was pretty rough. I got it to run okay-ish at very basic settings, but it wasn't anywhere near as smooth as it should have been.

As a self-described Gaming Elder, I do not live for the polished, corporate, focus tested AAA games that make up the bulk of mainstream video gaming nowadays. I've usually been about the "A/B+" games that get overlooked and forgotten despite being really good! RoboCop: Rogue City fits this description, as a game that squarely fits that motif of not being this massive hit, but just a fun, solid game that's worth spending time with, especially if you're a RoboCop fan or a fan of dystopia unrelated to our current predicament. It's got a lot of variety and humor, and is quite lengthy so you get your money's worth. We don't seem to get games like this much anymore, and I'm really glad that time was spent on porting it to Macs. It's nice to get a sleeper game you don't expect a whole lot from, and get pleasantly surprised.