RoboCop for DOS (Ocean/Astros Productions version)
7There are two different DOS games based on the original RoboCop film from 1987. The more common one is a more-or-less faithful conversion of an arcade game from Data East. A playthrough of this DOS version, with correct Tandy 1000 sound, can be found here ( • Robocop - PC Game 1989 with Tandy 100... ). The less common version is a CGA-only conversion of a ZX Spectrum game from Ocean, ported to DOS by Astros Productions. No complete playthrough of that version exists so far on YouTube, and it is not difficult to see why. Apart from its limited availability, this version suffers both in the audiovisual and gameplay departments.
The CGA-only graphics will show the correct background color only when running on a 100% register-level-compatible graphics card, not on (emulated) EGA or VGA. The game itself is not machine-speed-sensitive, though its joystick reading routine is. No music of any kind is played, and the sound effects are the typical "bleeps and bloops".
The gameplay, apart from the low frame rate, suffers from excessive difficulty:
* enemies are too numerous, require several hits to kill, and shoot from the most unlikely positions, including through ceilings and walls;
* getting hit completely stuns the player for at least three and at most six frames;
* the mugshot-matching puzzle has an excessively-tight time limit and requires you to distinguish facial features that differ in only a few pixels;
* getting hit by ED-209 causes instant death;
* unlike the original ZX Spectrum version, ED-209 must be defeated using bare hands during both encounters; doing so requires deliberately running out of ammunition during the second encounter (at 09:55).
A negative 1989 review in the UK magazine "The Games Machine" noted that, "Purple is the predominant colour in the PC version, and RoboCop cripples around as if his armour has rusted. Add to this the sheer weight of numbers which attack poor old Murphy, it's a wonder he even has time to clear his gun from its holster. Ocean's PC conversion have generally been pretty hot, pity this one isn't." We, on the other hand, would not indulge in such praise for Ocean's other PC conversions of the time.
This playthrough of the Ocean version for DOS was only possible through the excessive use of an "infinite energy" cheat. This cheat required that one death at the hands of JD-209 at 06:24 be edited out for brevity, since it otherwise would have taken until the clock ran out.
00:04 - Level 1 - Patrol 1
01:38 - Level 2 - Hostage 1
01:53 - Level 3 - Patrol 2
03:29 - Level 4 - Mugshot matching
04:03 - Level 5 - Drug Factory
06:04 - Level 6 - Arrest Mode - Directive 4
06:43 - Level 7 - OCP Building
08:02 - Level 8 - Junkyard
10:30 - Level 9 - Hostage 2
10:42 - Ending