G-Police

G-Police was a shooter video game developed by the now-defunct Psygnosis and released in 1997 for the PlayStation and PC. The game is set in 2097 in Blade Runner-eqsue cities set in domes. Then player pilots a futuristic helicopter type aircraft (known as a Havoc Gunship) around these cities and upholds the law by raiding bases, destroying enemy aircraft, keeping corporations in check, bombing targets and generally bringing justice down on those who deserve it using a huge arsenal of various weapons. The game world was slightly free-roaming, in that players could choose to fly around cities as they pleased, although there was generally nothing to do unless you fancied blowing up civilian vehicles. Some missions even required you to get to a location as quick as possible before the target was lost. It was known at the time for taxing the PlayStation systems to their limit due to graphics strain from the free-roaming world it created. This meant the draw distance was set low to help compensate for the processor-heavy game.

The plot centers on a war which was fought over resources in the solar system, in which there were heavy losses. The game takes place on a colonized Callisto, where you take on the role of a veteran known as Slater, who signs up to the G-Police due to suspicious circumstances surrounding his sister's death. Slater decides he has to find out the truth behind her death.

The game received strong reviews on release, but never reached the popularity of other games out at the time, such as Final Fantasy VII. However, it was popular enough to warrant a sequel called G-Police: Weapons of Justice, which focused on the aftermath of the first game. Despite positive reviews, it was less popular than the first game and the proposed third game in the series never materialized.

Tropes used in G-Police include:

• Ace Pilot: Tachikawa, your wingman. He dies when his ship is sabotaged
• A Space Marine Is You: To a big degree in that you could play the game from a first-person perspective, you were in the military during the war as a pilot and the game is definitely science fiction.
• Airstrike Impossible: In the first game: fly inside huge capital ship, find it's reactor, bomb it and get out. Sounds easy? It isn't.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: You play as a member of a police force, equipped with a variety of countless weapons handing out countless asskickings and destruction to countless other enemies and factions for over 35 missions.
• Armies Are Evil: In second game. Commander of space marines who come to help you decide to conquer Calisto and Earth
• Awesome Personnel Carrier: GP are fond of these. In bonus mission in 1, you can race with it. In second game, few missions involve you driving people from place to place and blowing shit up.
• Badass Decay: The Gunboats, the first one you meet looks terrifying, then destroying them becomes routine.
• Bottomless Magazines: Your cannon, laser and plasma cannons never run out.
• Charged Attack: The Plasma Cannon, and so worth it.
  • You have a few seconds to live, enjoy them while you—ah, never mind.
• Cool Starship: GP carrier. Doubles as supply depot.
• Critical Existence Failure: Subverted, after losing certain amount of health enemy fighters go spiraling down. If you hit them during this time, they explode.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Blowing up the Nanosoft capital ship from the inside, then hauling ass out of the massive ship as it explodes around you.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Most of the game has fantastic music, and check out the intro to the game for some of the best.
• Death Is Not Permanent: If you got killed or failed a mission (which would happen!) then you just started the mission from the beginning.
  • That's kind of standard in video games, though. More significant is that you have three different wingmen throughout the game. Any time they're killed in combat, they reappear the next mission good as new. Expect this to happen constantly.
  • But it's Fridge Brilliance though. Tachikawa's last words were repeated screams of "EJECT!" Indicting that there was eject systems but they also sabotaged to ensure his death. Therefore the other pilots simply do eject when the ship is damaged.
• Escort Mission: Several of these made an appearance, sadly your vehicles would always move very slowly and unless they were equipped they were easily killed. The ground vehicles never made evasive maneuvers and usually you would have to break off to finish one enemy off, only to return and find three more blasting away at your men.
• Fog of War: Due to how processor-intense the games were, the draw distance had to be reduced sharply to help, this means where there should be buildings there are just stars until you move closer.
• Frikkin Laser Beams: Lasers in this game are very powerful and can take you down quickly, it's wonderful when you finally get them and can deliver some payback.
• Humongous Mecha: The Raptor MK II Ground Assault Vehicle. It could jump and glide, but not fly.
• Hollywood Tactics: Averted. When on defence, GP tries to stop enemy movement by harassing enemy supply lines. When on offense, many missions involve destroying enemy communications and sensor networks.
• It's Personal: This is the half of the premise of the first game. The introduction of the game combines general backstory with Slater talking about how he'd come to join G-Police. Slater signed up for the G-Police on Callisto because that's where his sister had been stationed before her mysterious death.

Now, she's dead. Another good cop among many. They don't keep count anymore. But Elaine Slater was different. She was my sister. The inquiry gave a verdict of suicide, linked to stress and depression; I didn't buy that. Elaine had won commendations for closing a couple of cases, and had even hinted at romance. Depression just didn't fit the picture. If I didn't believe the suicide verdict, that left only one option: someone had murdered her and went to the trouble of covering it up. I had to find out who.

• Lost Technology: Or more precisely, banned tech. Mega Corps are not allowed to build capital ships. Gunships are OK, but building of military grade capital ship is strictly banned.
• Mega Corp: You WORK for these guys. "Government" is a group of Mega Corps pulling together. In first game, you fight against one Nano Soft who tries to tip balance for itself.
• The Mole:Ricardo in first game. You get to shoot him down later.
• Nightmare Fuel: Did anyone else find that in the mission Where you need to breach that dome with the Cruiser in and realizing you were outnumbered, outgunned and with the traitor Ricardo bearing down on you to be utterly terrifying?
• Oh Crap: The first time you see a Gunboat. The final mission too.
  • For the final mission, "Look at the size of that thing!" is an appropriate response to what's hiding in the sealed off dome.
• One Name Only: Slater is just Slater. He has no first name.
• One Star System Under Copyright: Earth is ruled by coalition of Mega Corps.
• One-Man Army: Averted and played straight. Player has wingmen and several missions include ground based troops, but without player GP forces get their ass handed to them.
• Urban Warfare: Well, you fight in heavily populated domes. Several mission demand you to protect buildings from attacks or destroying them.
• Storming The HQ: In first game, both Krakov and Nanosoft, in second game, your own after it's taken over
• Space Fighter: Second game has these, along with Old School Dogfighting
• Space Marine: Guys you try to call for help in first game and the guys you fight in second game
• Space Police: In first game you are restricted to a colony. In second, you get to space itself.
• State Sec: Surprisingly, you. G-Police(Govermental Police) are government sponsored police force, with it's own combat vehicles, military grade weapons, air fleet etc. etc. They job is to keep balance between MegaCorps. Sometimes they need to level half of the dome to do it.
• The Syndicate: Gangs in second game.
• The Wall Around the World: The domes. In the second game you leave them behind to fight some baddies IN SPACE!
• Wide Open Sandbox: Somewhat averted in that you had a wide open city to fly around but due to most of your missions requiring you to reach a destination quickly you never had time to explore anyway, although all you could do if you did explore was shoot civilian vehicles.
• Wing Man: Useless sort, unless you are attacking gunboats. Then they provide nice distractions.
  • The skill of them seem to vary in the three you get. Tachikawa was more of the Maverick and used more maneuvers, Ricardo was the veteran and the most experienced while Kreyzig was more of a newbie and less useful.
    • You have Kreyzig for the longest, though, and she starts feeling kind of like a Kid Sidekick.
    • Actually you have Ricardo the longest, the game goes to lengths to make him feel like a Brother in arms, untill he turns traitor.
• Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Averted. If you want, clear the skies! Although some missions involve protecting civilian buildings. The game also keeps track of how many civilians you kill throughout the game.
  • Like in most games with high civilian populations, it's really hard not to kill them! Especially since, unlike newer games such as the Godfather, these civilians have absolutely no survival instinct. For instance, if your mission requires you to blow up a bridge, the vehicles traveling along that road don't stop. Instead, they drive right off the bridge to a spectacular demise in the chasm below. So you can imagine that they think nothing of flying right through a vicious dogfight.
• You Killed My Father: Sister, in this case. Though it's never explicitly stated who was responsible for Elaine's death, it's implied to be your traitorous wingman Ricardo. Gunning him down in the second to last level is immensely satisfying.