The G-Police environment, set in the Blade Runner-esque cities of 21st century Callisto, is a site to behold. There are towering buildings, moving traffic, smoke stacks spewing flames and vapors, brightly lit billboards, and even flying traffic a la “Fifth Element.” The airborne enemies are simply gorgeous. From the design of the craft to the light sourcing that result from their glowing white exhausts, this game is an artist’s dream come true. The ground threats are equally impressive, ranging from trucks laden with high powered explosives and weapons, to mech-like robotic people vaporizers. Enemies abound in this game, and you can target the guilty as well as the innocent in your pursuit of justice.

After watching, what is in my humble opinion, the finest, longest, most engrossing CG introduction in console gaming history, you learn that you are playing the role of Slater, a Government Police (G-Police) officer on a personal mission to solve the mysterious death of his sister, a former G-Police member. The patrol vehicle de jour is the DASA-Kamov HAVOC gunship, a pseudo-helicopter type vehicle propelled by jets (much like a Harrier Jump Jet) as opposed to rotors. The jets are mounted on the sides of the HAVOC at approximately the same point of balance found on standard choppers; approximately midway between the first and second thirds of the overall ship length. These jets rotate fore and (principally) aft using variable thrust to propel the craft upward and about. The craft can rotate much like the average helicopter, but is unable to move laterally; otherwise known in copter-speak as “jinking.” There is a reason for the omission of this strafing-type maneuver. The manner in which the jets move does not accommodate them tilting outward from the body of the HAVOC. Therefore, there is no “bow thruster” type effect applied during flight. This does create what some may consider a limitation or disadvantage; but one must remember that this is a fictional craft designed to resemble a modern day helicopter, not perform like one. So what does this mean? It means that you can expect a relatively steep learning curve when attempting to familiarize yourself with your new HAVOC. But, the time spent will be well worth it in the long run.

The heads up display (HUD) in G-Police is one of the finest I have ever seen or used for that matter. The layout is clean, classy, and intuitive. The radar display performs double duty serving as an altimeter while at the same time easily identifying friend and foe. There is a waypoint indicator that is constantly in view that keeps you from having to make frequent trips to the map screen for directions. The indicator frequently updates as mission objectives are met. In addition to all this, there are multiple camera views of which most are playable in one way or another.

Now, despite the extensive coding libraries available to Psygnosis, all of this on-screen glitz and glamour comes with a price, and that price is clipping. The one drawback to the entire splendor is what we commonly refer to as “draw-in” or “pop-up.” G-Police has a limited viewable horizon with which to work. This anomaly compounds itself at higher altitudes, where buildings only a few hundred feet in the distance pop in front of your HAVOC. Fortunately, what I have found, after having played the game extensively, is that the rate of speed at which your HAVOC travels, does not seem to cause the clipping to hinder your ability to properly negotiate the terrain.

Speaking of negotiating terrain, this game is programmed to make use of the Sony Analog Controller, which is the recommended method of flight for those wanting to achieve the most control of their ship. With it, you will be able to nose your HAVOC around with pinpoint accuracy. Also, when using the Analog, the right stick serves as a 180 degree rotating viewpoint in the cockpit views. This is very useful when on escort missions for surveying the airspace around your HAVOC.

It was September 9, 1995, and I had just purchased my brand-spanking-new Sony PlayStation from the local mall. Besides picking up both Ridge Racer and Battle Arena Toshinden, as well as a memory card, I purchased a magazine published by the folks over at “EGM” that had a plethora of gaming information on all the upcoming releases and those to be released further down the road. One title that really caught my eye with its lone screen-shot was G-Police. As skilled writers are very capable of doing, the one paragraph caption managed to capture a segment of my imagination; keeping hold of it until the next wave of information on the Psygnosis title began to surface... almost one year later.

After what definitely was a very long wait, G-Police has actually made it from idea to concept to product relatively unchanged from the description printed almost two years ago. I have to say up front that it was a very wise choice to delay such an ambitious title until the “third coming” of software was in development. With the minor limitations that Psygnosis encountered in bringing this product to market, I would be hard pressed to believe that they could have made this game as playable as it is on first run development libraries.