G-Police

Developer: Psygnosis

Publisher: Psygnosis

Genre: Shooter

Players: 1

Difficulty: Hard

Rating: K-A

Memory Card: 1 Block

Analog Compatible: Yes

 

G-Police is a new Sci-Fi shooter from the development powerhouse that is Psygnosis. While G-Police pales in comparison to Colony Wars, G-Police has some interesting elements which keep this game from being simply mediocre. You are a member of the G-Police, or Government Police. You must protect the innocent citizens from the corrupt corporations that are fighting with each other over Earth's remaining resources.

 

  You pilot a Havoc, it is kind of like a Helicopter, except without the blades. Your jet powered Havoc must be successfuly navigated through the fully 3D environments while taking out the enemies of society. You must complete missions ranging from escort missions to assasination missions. The environments that the game is set in are gigantic domes linked to one another by some sort of warp tunnels. You have many different weapons at your disposal, just like every good shooter, such as missles and lasers.

 

The graphics are great for the most part. G-Police uses all of the PlayStation's graphical goodies, like transparancies and lighting effects. The explosions and afterburners look exceptional. The huge, expansive cities are well designed and give the feeling that you're actually there. You can choose to view your Havoc from many views, but in my opinion, the cockpit view is the best because you can see what you're doing a little bit better. The part where the graphics really suffer is the dreaded draw-in. You literaly can only see about a hundred feet ahead of you, which makes manuvering at high speeds very difficult to say the least. The darkness seems to envelope everything, really hurting this games overall look.

 

The music is only mediocre. I'm getting tired of developers putting only so-so Electronica music in their games, but it does fit the futuristic feel of the game. The sound effects come across clean and clear. The explosions boom and all of the other sound effects of battle are well represented. One thing I really liked was the dispatcher who gave you helpful information instead of just babbling on and on or repeating the same frases over and over again. The mission debriefs are also read to you in clear audio, which is great if you don't feel like reading a bunch of text.

 

The control is another area where G-Police fails in. The Havoc controls too loosely, especially at high speeds. And that's another thing, the speed control. Instead of having to keep the button pressed to maintain speed, you simply hold it until the speed gets to where you want it, then you let go and it stays there, kind of like cruise-control. But it can leave you mashing buttons trying to slow down to turn a 180 and pursue an enemy jet. That kind of control works well with Flight-Sims, but the domes just aren't big enough for it to work in this game.

 

G-Police is a solid buy for Sci-Fi shooter fans, anyone else will only want a rental of this game. This game would have been a lot more fun if I could of just seen where the hell I was going. This game is just too flawed, keeping it out of the PlayStation hall of fame.

 

With over 40 missions spanning over two discs, G-Police offers plenty of missions to keep you busy for quite some time. The problem is that some of the later missions are so difficult, you may just want to quit and play some of the earlier missions.

 

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