Rogue City – Unfinished Business review — A breath of fresh metal
I was our lead reviewer for RoboCop: Rogue City when it launched in 2023. If there was ever a game that let me take a step back and just enjoy myself, it’s Rogue City. Stomping around Old Detroit as RoboCop is just a blast and a well earned respite after a tumultuous 2023 gaming season. With Unfinished Business dropping this year, it was time again to don the polished chrome helmet, and after rolling the credits, I’m yet again thrilled by the results coming from the talented Teyon team.
Let me start by saying this: You don’t need Rogue City to play this. Unfinished Business is a standalone title, able to be purchased and played on its own. While the game occasionally references events and a few characters from Rogue City pop up, this can be enjoyed completely separate from it. I’d still suggest playing Rogue City, but Unfinished Business is a full game at a fantastic value.
RoboCop: Rogue City review — “I’d buy that for a dollar”
While it may not have seemed so from my score, I really liked Teyon’s last outing in Terminator: Resistance. It had its shortcomings, but underneath was something completely unexpected. I mean, this was a first person shooter combined with light RPG elements and dialogue choice, in a spinoff story
The story begins with a bit of a bang, that being RoboCop finding the Metro West police station in shambles. With only a badge as a clue, our chrome champion has to head to the OmniTower, one of OCP’s projects, to find out what’s going on. That, and commit massive amounts of justice on the mercenary crew inhabiting its many halls.
Right away, Unfinished Business seems a bit cramped compared to its older brother. This is in level design, where the OmniTower is a lot more straightforward than the streets of Old Detroit and some of the larger locations you explored in Rogue City. It’s also bookended by a slow start, with the linear choice making the opening levels seem somewhat lifeless compared to interacting with citizens in the streets. Thankfully, this eventually is alleviated with some great sections in the mid to latter part of Unfinished Business. Still, it takes a moment to get going in contrast to the bombastic start of Rogue City.
If the journey you make is the friends along the way, then I’m happy to say that Unfinished Business follows up Rogue City with a fun cast of characters. As mentioned above, there wasn’t much more than the explosive gameplay in the beginning, but as you move through the OmniTower’s floors, you eventually meet different people with problems you need to help them solve. There’s even one moment where RoboCop assembles an orderly line of the residents of a level to hear their issues, which is just like the police station queue you have to handle in Rogue City.
I love every side mission in Unfinished Business just like I did in Rogue City – half the time they’re ridiculous and campy, and make for a good laugh as you complete them. Peter Weller is again outstanding as RoboCop. While there are a couple of good performances from the voice cast, the mouth animations are truly horrid like they were in Rogue City; it’s disappointing that Teyon hasn’t figured that out yet.
Following the cadence of the opening, the main story takes a moment to get going as well. RoboCop is forced to get a helping hand from a voice on his radio that he doesn’t know, and it of course ends as well as you’d expect that to end. Even though I enjoy Teyon’s take with this very original tale, I feel like there’s a few missing emotional pieces to make me care about some of the integral characters.
The main villain is properly villainized in both his introduction which is a bit overtly “bad guy is bad”, along with a backstory extrapolating his motives. I’m not sure, however, that the short time we get with him makes me actually care about his plight. Similarly, the voice on the radio gets some heartfelt characterization, but in the end I wasn’t as attached to that cast member. I’m trying to get through this without giving away too much, but the side stories lift the cast of Unfinished Business, while the underlying narrative is simply okay.
While the slow beginning may plague the level design and story, that doesn’t apply in the slightest to the combat. It’s still as flashy, heavy, and brutal as you remember from Rogue City; a masterpiece in immersion for the RoboCop character. I also appreciate that the team didn’t feel the need to cause RoboCop to undergo a “power-down sequence” where he loses his abilities. You have every cooldown at your disposal from Rogue City immediately, and while you’ll still need to upgrade your skill and Auto-9 pistol (along with still finding new motherboards for further configuration), it doesn’t weigh the game down artificially. My only qualm would be that there isn’t much in regards to new abilities, with a few new weapons to pick up being your main additions – the cryo gun is epic – along with takedowns that show off the power of RoboCop.
Still, nothing beats the fury of the combat; it wasn’t broken, so there was no need to fix it. The aesthetic is perfect, built on Unreal Engine 5 to provide some really killer visuals. Ripping and tearing aren’t just exclusive to Doomguy in a first-person shooter; I watched as limbs came off of mercenaries and bodies flew across the room as I grabbed and threw them. There’s something about the ballet of violence that’s just a blast; Teyon has captured RoboCop’s ferocity flawlessly. There are also a decent amount of new enemy designs, along with one I hate more than anything: the roll-y drones. They don’t pop up too much, but shooting at bombs that come at you sucks.
All of these elements together make Unfinished Business feel the same, yet different. If you’ve played Rogue City, you aren’t going to be surprised by what makes up the gameplay, with super solid first-person shooter elements, largely linear levels with a few off-the-beaten-path tasks, and some really great characters. What differentiates Unfinished Business is in the way the story is told. Where the Rogue City relied on RoboCop’s perspective, Unfinished Business occasionally moves to another character. I don’t want to say much more than that to avoid spoilers, but it works well, adding layers to what’s going on – even if they don’t all pay off in the way Teyon probably hoped they would. It’s an admirable effort that makes Unfinished Business stand out even being attached to Rogue City; it’s a proper extension of a game that was already great.
Another standout moment for Unfinished Business is in the final levels, with some truly remarkable gameplay occurring in the third act. Finding out what caused the voice on the radio to go down the path they did is paralleled by an over-the-top mission to free RoboCop; I want you to discover this one for yourself, it’s arguably even better than anything in Rogue City. This dramatic shift over the ending of the game elevates it past what is a bit of a soft finale with the villain. My enjoyment of the Unfinished Business continued to grow until the conclusion, a pacing goal that should be commended.
What keeps Unfinished Business from climbing higher are the plethora of bugs that frustrated me throughout my playthrough. Even on a PS5 Pro, stutters were apparent when I’d transition from hallways into more open areas or to places filled with NPCs. I had an odd visual bug where textures had some weird lines in them. One of the most infuriating, and nearly gamebreaking, moments was when I went to pick up a weapon, and it seemed to recognize it as a health pack. Because of this issue and the section I was in, I had no weapon once I ran out of ammo, and couldn’t pick any up off the ground. Thankfully I somehow managed it, but it made me sour in some of the best gameplay moments of Unfinished Business. To end this paragraph, there were also a few audio issues in mixing where a lot of explosions were going on, but this is most likely an easy fix.
This is more of a bonus take, but Unfinished Business works because of the vibe behind it. Often, you go into a game and feel stressed out by the amount of effort you have to put into it. With RoboCop: Rogue City, I was able to sit back and enjoy it like a popcorn flick. That same feeling is present in Unfinished Business and makes it such a worthwhile experience, especially if you’re like me and just wanted a break from a busy summer.
Review Guidelines
80
RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business
Great
While it starts slow, RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business finds its groove and keeps going. The gameplay is as ferocious as ever, with some great character work balancing it out with several heartfelt moments. If you liked Rogue City, you have no excuse not to grab Unfinished Business, and if you’re new to Teyon’s take, prepare to have a heck of a time.
Pros
- Ruthless FPS gameplay
- Campy performances that fit the series perfectly
- Third act rocks
- Side missions are the star of the show
Cons
- Facial animations are terrible
- Bugs galore
This review is based on a retail PS5 copy provided by the publisher.
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