The classic game: Robocop (Spectrum)

Released in 1987, the film of Robocop has stood the test of time, not only as an enjoyable, violent and action packed movie, but as a social commentary, with it's Tongue in cheek and dark humour, but the news broadcasts that were interpersed inbetween. It, of course, spawned an enjoyable second sequel, and a very shit third sequel that should not even have been a) made and b) aknowledged. So, the first game, then. Let's look at the first directive.

You start off on the streets of Old Detroit, cleaning up the scum who wield guns, chainsaws and even ride motorcycles. Some appear at the windows to shoot at you. But, you can shoot back (oh, yes!) but you have limited ammo, but more can be picked up along the way, even for a three-way gun as well, plus health comes in the form of baby food jars, but these are few and far between. And that's part of what makes the game hard. Another thing is that you don't get a respite at all, as you have a time limit of 2 minutes to complete the level. It is a challenge, though, and it has that one more go factor.

The whole game doesn't follow the walk, shoot theme, as you also have a shooting gallery game and a puzzle element, which is a staple of Ocean's games back in the day. And, it gave the game a bit of variety (the Amiga and ST games were two thirds walk and gun and one third puzzle), which I feel is sadly missing in this day and age. The music is another thing that's awesome. The theme might not be the actual Robocop theme, but it was influential enough to be used in the Ariston advert. The sound is great, with some excellent spot effects and, in the 128K version, some sampled speech. They really went to town on this, and I can't imagine it any other way. Ocean were the EA of their day, but what they did, they did with passion and heart, and not for the money. And this game had lots of passion, heart and soul put into it.