I'd like to talk about Robocop, briefly about the film, and then about the games which followed.
Because, Robocop had a huge influence on my adolescent youth.
Now, being an 18 certified film, that may sound a little crazy, but this was the 80s,
and therefore to not watch a film underage would have been a betrayal of the time.
Besides, look at all the toys which followed.
They expected kids to be knee deep in this sh*t.
Observed from a high level, Robocop is simply a raw action film.
Many people still write it off as that, but it has so many layers of complexity, that
it's really like watching several films in one, and for me one of the best feature films
ever made.
Whoever thought it a good idea to create a 12 certified re-boot was a complete buffoon.
Because under that veneer of action, is a truly visceral and deep film, with a incredibly
clever and tense story line.
It's also littered with satire, parodies and quips on real life, which adds yet another
dimension to this complex cocktail of emotional excitement.
At it's heart we have a young cop, new to the police department, who wants to kick some
ass.
Obviously he decides to kick the wrong ass, and suffers the ultimate consequence.
Except, he's brought back from the brink of death, only to merge with machine and become
neither one or the other - what we'd call a cyborg.
A concept I was already quite fascinated with, thanks to this poster of the Spectrum game
Cyborg, which sadly never materialised in finished form.
This is the concept which fascinated me.
Not only do we have moral implications here, where death migrates to a different kind of
permanence, but we get down to a dark visceral dimension of merging something we consider
to have a soul; a living breathing emotional human, with something cold, mechanical and
unchanging.
I used to lay awake at night thinking about that these very notions.
How would it feel?
What does it mean to the concept of being alive.
Is this cyborg the same person, or has the programming seeping into his mind made him
something new entirely?
The concept and those questions bugged me all through the film, and lay at the core
of the action as you witness this new creation slowly come to terms with what he is, before
finally connecting to what he was before.
Remembering that, although he's Robocop, he was, and indeed still is, Alex Murphy.
On top of this concept is a very clear view of right and wrong, of justice and injustice..
your typical cops and robbers affair, and Murphy's view of that, although sculpted through
the film, remains unwavering.
Watching the film was intense and emotional, and I was left needing something more to appease
my thoughts.
I wanted to get an idea of what it felt like to be Robocop, and so the subsequent video
games of the time came to my rescue.
Robocop, the arcade game.
I'll start with the arcade experience.
The foreign setting of the arcade cabinet, deep in the arcade and away from the safety
of home, combined with it's impressive visuals, felt more connected to the film than anything
else at the time.
The attract mode, depicting key elements of the story, combined with the cold harsh serving
of the title screen, managed to instigate those visceral feelings of the film perfectly.
Of course, without the robotic, surreal music, adapted from the movie then this experience
would have been far less intense.
But as we'll discover, the music of the games, much like the film, is an essential part of
re-creating that almost operatic feeling of Robocop.
Of course, for the casual player, the arcade game is a tough cookie, and the levels don't
seem to bear a strong connection to the film-plot.
We get to wander through the streets, smashing thugs and motorcycles, before having a brief
confrontation with a huge ED-209.. and this is largely how play continues.
You might think that the lack of cohesion to the original story would be a negative,
but it worked well.
It was giving me something extra, on top of the movie experience, and after all, that's
exactly what I had hoped for.
Of course, I wanted to bring this experience into my home, and thankfully Ocean Software
had served up the goods, with their own take for the 8 bit home micros.
Seeing that mesmerising iconic art on loading was something special, but even more special
was the title screen music.
I would load this game up, simply to listen to that music.
In fact, I probably spent more time listening to that music than playing the actual game.
It just seemed to fit so well.
Composed by Jonathan Dunn, it aligned with the story of the film; the transformation
from man to machine back to man again.
It almost brought a tear to my eye.
Now the game itself, was incredibly well written as well.
Because, believe it or not, not all film tie-ins were pieces of unrelenting crud back then.
The Ocean games stuck to the film much more faithfully than Dataeast's arcade cabinet,
and followed the well loved Ocean format of a platformer, sprinkled with mini-games capturing
key points of the movie.
It's a really well thought out package, and although it fairs better on some formats than
others, it mostly still manages to bring the film atmosphere directly into
the living room.
Now, as the early 90s panned out, this desire to play Robocop games didn't go away, and
playing Robocop on my mate's Atari ST was another moment of epiphany.
But this time, having had a year or so to get over the trauma of the film, I was more
concerned with the graphics.
To my 10 or 11 year old eye, they looked almost identical to the arcade machine.
Now clearly a side by side comparison now-days shows us otherwise.
But having come from a Spectrum to the ST, the difference was staggering.
Gameplay wise, it still doesn't hold a candle to the Ocean versions, but it gave me that
Robocop hit, at home and for free.
Of course, during those years, the second movie came and went, and although it was a
reasonable attempt, it was half the film of the original.
Still, it managed to conjure the same feelings of disconnected dred from the first, with
Kane now taking the place of the Robot, in a suit which resembled even less of a man.
Here we had simply a brain, trapped inside a metal can, with a screen seemingly it's
only human like contact outside of the cold, steel structure.
The second movie, despite its flaws, re-ignited my need to engage in the Robocop universe,
and just like before, I went to the arcades.
Now, Robocop 2's arcade experience is a very different kettle of fish from the first.
It's another outing by Data-East, but this time the experience is much more action orientated,
like beat'em ups emerging at the time.
Being a big fan of Final Fight, this was actually exactly what I was hoping for, especially
being able to share the action with a friend.
My brother and I, would often try and battle through these levels, each one controlling
a differently coloured Robocop, blasting whatever was in sight.
Again, connection to the film script is tenuous, but enjoyable... and just like the first,
home ports would follow.
I remember that my only experience at home this time around was from a cover tape of
Your Sinclair magazine, and for a demo it was hard.
I was also a bit older and potentially short on cash, so my the enthusiasm for the game
petered out and I neglected to play the full version until recently.
Of course back in the movies, Robocop 3 came and thankfully went again, and although the
game for the likes of the Amiga and ST is incredible, it's one which completely passed
me by.
Maybe I was still in denial about how atrocious the film was.
It would take a new and exciting title to re-invigorate my senses, and that title would
come in the form of Robocop vs. Terminator on the Sega Mega Drive.
But these are titles I'll be exploring another time, because despite my interest in Robocop
not diminishing, at the time, these latter games didn't connect with the original films,
and are thus unnecessary to this monologue.
I'm not sure if the interest I hold stems from watching the film when I was young, or
whether it would occur watching it afresh today...
I mean, at it's core the original film is asking what it is to be alive, and this concept
indulges to a very deep thirst, or maybe fear in my psyche, which I'm sure others share,
and I think that's why the original film and the moody, atmospheric games which followed,
were so captivating.
It's a similar story with the Alien films and even to a certain extent, the Matrix.
I often hear the question, is the game better than the movie, but it's a question I've always
found a strange one.
A game is a very different medium to a movie, and although you can enjoy one more than the
other, they trigger different feelings, and pander to different areas of your psyche.
What the Robocop games brought to the film franchise, especially with the original was
a sense of completion.
I don't think I would have felt satisfied watching the movie without a decent and engrossing
interactive experience to follow it up with.
Something to really trigger the imagination.
These games allowed me to explore a universe which I found captivating and scratch an itch
which needed scratching.
This is why it saddens me deeply when game adaptations of other great films are just
flushed down the pan, because it not only leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but it
also takes something away from the film experience.
Any imagination or suspension of disbelief you may have held to enjoy the film is snapped
back to gritty reality, when a crappy film tie in slaps it's cash grabbing hands around
your face.
Presented devoid of love or passion for the cause.
But Robocop was a movie and game experience which felt complete, and where-ever that beautiful
combination occurs, it's bloody amazing.
Although there are exceptions to this rule.
Stay tuned for more memories from youth, more Robocop and indeed, added Terminator, and
I'll be back.