G-Police Retro Review (1997)
Our new flashback series begins with one of my favourite games of the nineties. Developed and released by Psygnosis in 1997, today I’m taking a look back at G-Police for our retrospective flashback review. This retro game has been in my collection for some time, and I’m playing it on the original PlayStation One disc.
The Basics – What was G-Police About?
In G-Police we took the role of Slater, a newcomer to the Government Police forces in the year 2097. Far from a law-minded idealist, Slater has joined to investigate the death of his sister, believing that the official verdict of suicide was a cover up. G-Police gave a great deal more story than a lot of retro 90s games, and the opening cutscene alone would be a lot more than I expect from a standard 1997 title.
At the start of the game you take control of the dated Havoc gunship, and you’ll begin with some fairly regular patrols through the domes of Callisto. In the far future, mega-corporations have taken control of cities after stripping governments of military power. As a member of the G-Police, Slater soon gets drawn into a lengthy battle against one of these corporations in particular and you’ll spend the game battling against a variety of small and large air and ground targets in order to put them back in their place.
The Retrospective Run Down
Gameplay – 4/5: G-Police was and still is great fun to play. The controls pre-date analogue joysticks, so the flight can be a little jerky and hard to get used to, but overall it’s still a huge amount of awesome. There’s a lot to get your teeth into with G-Police, and the variety of enemies and weapons give you the chance to mix things up. The only minor drawback is that G-Police is incredibly hard, and it’ll take a lot more than luck to get into the later levels.
Visuals – 2/5: In their heyday the visuals for G-Police were widely complimented, with the exception of the incredibly short draw distance. While the bulk of the visuals themselve hold up well, the draw distance does mean that when played now it feels incredibly dated. The ships still look good, and the options for camera angles is great, but it can sometimes feel like you are simply flying around a sea of black every time you lose sight of the floor.
Audio – 4/5:There is some great music here, and in the huge number of quite long cut scenes there’s also some great voice acting. Things generally sound pretty great, although some of the music tracks do noticeably repeat, especially when in elongated combat situations.
Narrative – 5/5:It was relatively rare at the time for a game like this to have such an intense narrative, and for me this one one aspect where G-Police truly shone out. In a number of cut-scenes worthy of Metal Gear Solid you’ll be taken through a significant backstory to set the scene, as well as a well thought out and executed plot throughout the title.
Replay – 4/5: G-Police has 35 missions spread over two discs on PlayStation One. While the title doesn’t have collectables, the huge number of levels does give you a significant amount of game to get your teeth into. It’s an exceptionally tough title, and in order to get through to later levels you may well need some cheat codes but, being a 90s PS1 game, those are available too.
The Verdict – How has G-Police held up?
Overall the Pixel Bandits Flashback Replay Level for G-Police is a respectable 7/10. This was a title I absolutely loved back in the day, and I’m still fond of putting it in for a playthrough when I get a chance. It’s hampered still by an incredibly tough campaign, and the exceptionally short draw distance does nothing to help. Overall though, it’s definitely playable today and if you have a copy lying around, it might be worth taking a fly through the opening levels.