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Dystopian Capitalism and Gothic Science Fiction in a Video Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

G Police was released in 1997 by Psygnosis, a company owned by Sony at the time. Psygnosis was responsible for many of the great games and also partly responsible for causing the first Sony PlayStation to be the first video game console to enter the mainstream. It made some of that console's best and most remembered games including G Police, WipeOut XL (a.k.a. Wipeout 2097), Colony Wars, Destruction Derby, Formula 1, and Rollcage Stage 2, all of which were titles that would either start a series of sequels, or were sequels in an existing franchise. And, this company was one of the first to popularize sequel franchises in the video game medium.

The great thing about a few of these titles were how complicated some of these games' plot lines were. This is especially true for G Police. G Police is one-part game and one-part movie, and both parts have a lot of suspense. It spends over ten minutes in telling its Blade Runner-esque plot before the first mission starts.

Not all of these games had plots with any depth, and the popularity of one of these games, Colony Wars, can mostly be attributed to its Star Wars clichés.

Luckily, G Police is the opposite: it is an original story feeling like it's right out of a detective story in the best noir film, and so it really applies that same genre of Blade Runner which is sometimes referred to as "future noir" or "gothic sci-fi." The imagery of the game reminds me of "the steel-and-microchip jungle of 21st-century Los Angeles" that gives Blade Runner it's look, although this game is set in another place and even further into the future than that film. Also, a few of this game's images additionally evoke the essences of The Terminator, the first Robocop film, and the action film Blue Thunder--about a NYC police helicopter pilot who is told to test a military attack helicopter in NYC, a vehicle with state-of-the-art surveillance and a cloaking silence mode. Blue Thunder, with its conspiracy plot, is a thinking-man's action story; and, so is G Police.

Actually, the story is the highlight of the game: I had to know what would happen next and where it would go. And, the game never disappointed me there, except in how fast those few intermittent scenes would unravel. To me, the missions were slightly too long and a little too hard and sometimes interfered with my loving desire to continue the plot. At one point, I would only play the game with the GameShark codes for unlimited ammunition; and, by the time I would get to see the inter-cut plot segments, the story seemed to unfold in too short a timespan. I actually recorded all of the segments on VHS so I could re-review them, because that's how quickly they move. I wanted a chance to study them, and by the time I got there, they were already over. To my recollection, there is no way to review those segments outside of the normal game play. So, if you play this game and have a keen interest in its worthy story, have your recorder ready!

The actual game play is very good, especially considering how obsolete the processors of the PlayStation would be now. The game has a lot of complicated three-dimensional landscape graphics: it's like the megapolis of New York City. Of course, I suggest playing this game on the PlayStation 2 with the Texture Mapping on Smooth. You can change the settings to this by turning on the PS2 and clicking the triangle button twice from that first menu, which will bring you to the place where you can change Texture Mapping to Smooth. Doing this helps the visuals drastically! If you don't do this, the frame rate will drop severely during the action. But, how you would use GameShark codes for a PS1 game in a PS2, I don't know; but, maybe it's possible.

Also, a lot of the story line unfolds during the game play, which is one of the more interesting elements about it. The movie plot developments reflect the in-game plot developments, and vice versa.

Also, the game play is extremely innovative in adapting the story. Each planetary city is contained within a bubble of air, and these bubbles are connected through gates that act as interstate highways. Some subroutine missions will lead you to other areas, yet the focus is always maintained on the current mission. But, the affair is usually linear despite the freedom of movement you are given.

I give this game a five-out-of-five stars. The only problems to me with it are based on the graphic limitations of the PlayStation and the game's difficulty which occasionally inhibited my interest. However, this game is extremely playable: the maneuvering controls feel great. The map system is intriguing and fresh because of the way the cities interconnect.

The plot is probably THE BEST of any PlayStation game: a classic. The story and theme of corporate rule and the extinguishing of the government is an Orwellian theme which is reflected by the plot very closely. One of the main characters gets killed, and I remember how regretful I was, how much hope I lost in finding out if justice would ever be served in humanity's future, or if it would be dictated by corporate interest. It was like the death of a martyr: the regret is in the loss of universal justice, and of truth. It concerns all things, especially in a capitalist community. Games may have seemed childish before, but this game is one landmark of adulthood.

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