Callisto Colony

Lore & Background

G-Police is set during the year 2097 in a dystopian science fiction future. The depletion of Earth's resources in 2057 results in increased efforts towards space exploration. By 2077 the various nations of Earth had begun to lay claim to resources throughout the solar system. Disputes over these ever-declining resources escalated into a catastrophic war that ended with the governments of Earth being stripped of all military power in 2087. Powerful corporations stepped into the resulting power vacuum and began to exert their control over Earth and the burgeoning space colonies. The Government Police (G-Police) were formed by Earth's remaining coalition government to maintain order in these colonies. The main protagonist is Slater, a war veteran who has joined the G-Police to conduct his own investigation into his sister Elaine's apparent suicide, suspecting that she was instead murdered. Slater describes the G-Police as lacking in authority and accuses them of turning a blind eye to corporate crime even while attempting to maintain order. He describes the Havoc gunships as outdated and the pilots as a mixture of desperate war veterans and naïve idealists.

In Their Own Story

After joining the G-Police, Slater is tasked with combating gang warfare. The G-Police suspect the Krakov corporation is supplying the gangs with weaponry. This is thrown into doubt when Krakov's president is subject to an assassination attempt by the gangs. During this attempt, Hiroshi Tachikawa—a pilot whom Slater describes as flying his gunship 'like he was born in it'—dies when his gunship crashes after mysteriously malfunctioning. In the interests of morale, the nature of his death is covered up; Slater notes this incident is reminiscent of Elaine's death. After numerous assaults on its personnel and property, Krakov blames rival corporation Nanosoft and begins openly attacking them with its private army. Lacking evidence for Nanosoft's involvement with the gangs, the G-Police protect the corporation, ultimately destroying Krakov's military power. In the aftermath, the G-Police begin to investigate the reasons for Krakov and Nanosoft's conflict. The investigation triggers an attack by Nanosoft's own private military forces seeking to end the investigation and eliminate any loose ends associated with the G-Police. In the unfolding plot, Slater learns that Tachikawa and Elaine's gunships were sabotaged so that Nanosoft could procure microchips implanted in the pilots' brains. With the ability to record a pilot's knowledge and combat skills, Nanosoft planned to use the chips to power their artificial intelligence equipped weapons. An additional microchip is retrieved by Nanosoft when Slater's wingmate, Ricardo kills the G-Police commander Horton. It is further revealed that Ricardo had introduced the virus that resulted in the deaths of Tachikawa and Elaine. Nanosoft's plans are eventually thwarted when Slater destroys a large spacecraft that the corporation had planned to use to exert military dominance over other corporations.

Reader's Guide

G-Police is a combat flight simulator game in which the player pilots a VTOL aircraft, described by critics as 'jet helicopters' or 'a helicopter without the rotors'. The player can choose to view the action from a variety of first- or third-person perspectives, including views from within the cockpit, a variety of 'chase' perspectives, including directly from above the craft (for use when bombing). Combat in G-Police involves both dogfighting with other aircraft and dropping bombs. The player is often required to 'scan' suspect vehicles to determine if they are criminal or hostile. The game's aircraft comes with numerous weapons which are upgraded as the player progresses to more difficult levels. An improved version of the basic 'Havoc Gunship' aircraft (the 'Venom Gunship') is also available later in the game. Missions include seeking out and destroying enemies, escorting friendly ground units, preventing smuggling and bomb disposal. The player receives updates and new instructions as the mission proceeds. The main game mode features 35 missions and an additional training mode. Most of the game's missions take place in urban 'domes' filled with large buildings; some, however, take place in the 'outer domes', with other themes such as agrarian settings.

Did You Know?

• G-Police was backed by a reported $2.5 million advertising campaign, part of a wider $6 million campaign which also included Formula 1 Championship Edition and Colony Wars.
• Psygnosis partnered with the Diesel clothing company, who designed the police's uniform and produced their jacket as a limited edition piece.
• A television advertisement was created featuring an animated sequence by Peter Chung, creator of Æon Flux, done entirely using traditional hand-drawn methods.
• The game's development studio in Stroud consisted of around 70 people and was also responsible for developing Overboard! at the same time.
• Critics noted that the PlayStation version suffered from poor draw distance, with GamePro describing it as 'one of the worst cases of draw-in since 32-bit gaming began'.