RoboCop Versus the Terminator (1994)

Beat. This game ran very poorly on my main emulator, being too dark to see. I managed to get past the 1st level with a lot of trial and error to find out where the gaps were for jumping. Took a little while to figure out that there was hanging onto pipes and such. Upon seeing that the 2nd level also had the darkness problem, I started over on my other emulator. I could actually see what I was doing! The respawning enemies annoyed me but they were not too difficult. I did not realize the other guns also had infinite ammo, and kept using the pistol until the ED boss. Then I busted out the rocket launcher, blew off its machine gun and switched to that to finish it off. By the 3rd level I realized I should be spamming the better weapon, and that the rocket launcher was better. The terminator bosses were not difficult, though I don't think they would be able to survive that many rockets; especially the one that has to be killed by knocking it into a pit. The 1st future level was a massive difficulty spike because the terminators become regular enemies. They take so much punishment, especially factoring in the invincibility frames they seem to get while knocked down. I got lost in that level and had to look up a YouTube video to find the exit; all because the level was too dark with a lot of pure black screen, which made it very difficult to see. Not nearly as bad as the other emulator, and it was maybe more about playing in sunlight. The rest of the game was intense; I can only imagine how many tries it would take to beat it without save states. I liked the tank boss because it had multiple parts to destroy. The 1st person vehicle level was ok. It took me 2 tries and I was on 1 hit with an enemy projectile incoming when I beat the level. The death animation began but I got the victory screen. The flying boss was annoying because it only took damage while releasing a little drone. I hate bosses that are invincible until they perform a specific action. Makes no sense. If I was a boss like that I would just never use that vulnerability move and then auto win. Final boss was good, incorporating platforming, dodging and regular enemies. Then there was the Super Metroid style timed escape from the self destruct. I messed up the 1st try, and made the 2nd with 2 seconds to spare. The combo was the best weapon, firing both plasma shots and grenades.

The platforming in this game seemed far more realistic than in most, like they were real hazards a real warrior might face in those circumstances rather than something arbitrary made for a game. Shooting diagonally was very difficult to do without also moving. Would have been better to use L and R. It felt weird having infinite ammo for the good guns, and I think the tactical considerations of limited ammo would make the game more enjoyable. Solid story, gameplay and production values.

7.5/10