That psychic shockwave you just felt was the result of my brain registering the words “Yeah, G-Police was definitely an inspiration” on the Steam forums for G-Rebels, an upcoming cyberpunk combat simulator. Have you never heard of G-Police? My God. Come here, prancing summer child, you daughter of chaos, you straw son of a gun. Sit down, damn it. Now everything will be fine. I'm going to tell you about G-Police, the only good video game ever made.
Lately I've been plagued by suggestions that I'm a pathetic bastard who hates video games. As evidence for the defense, take Exhibit A: I was so obsessed with G-Police as a kid that I'm pretty sure I convinced an older boy that I was a serial killer, or about to become one. “THE CABIN ON THE BACK OF THE BOX IS NOT THE LIKE IN THE GAME, SEAN,” I explained to him as he backed toward the stairs. “THIS IMPLYS THE EXISTENCE OF ANOTHER WARSHIP.” Where is Sean now? I haven't seen him for decades. I have to let him know about the G-Rebels. I have to climb into his window at night and whisper good news in his face.
G-Police is a bit of a challenge to like, since it's a game about cops in refurbished military hovercopters who aren't punished for accidentally shooting hypersonic missiles at taxis, The Fifth Element style. But to be fair, the cop storyline is a corny piece of noir rather than boot fetishism. The main character, Slater, is a badass madman who joins an underfunded force on Callisto to search for his missing sister. Additionally, G-Police spends most of its time fighting evil corporations. One of the buildings is called “Nanosoft”. You see, I knew I could convince you.
The game's star quality is without a doubt its setting: a network of forgivably cubic habitat domes containing crowded cities with ground transportation, holographic billboards and swirling ghosts. True, the trade-off for this complexity and hecticness is an incredibly short draw distance, but I'd say the darkness is entirely in keeping with Bladranny's theme. I'm not one of those CHARLATANS who wants Sony to somehow resurrect the developers of Psygnosis solely so they can reboot G-Police in Unreal Engine 5.
So what initially turned me off about the G-Rebels demo was that I can see all the way to the horizon. I'm not sure how I feel about it being so bright either – the new game takes place not on Jupiter's sun-scarred moon, but on Earth, albeit a dystopian Earth where most people live in floating metropolises.
However, take the controls and fly low over the heaving roads and it's like you're back safely on Callisto, especially when you bounce off a low bridge and embarrass yourself. The city in the demo is beautiful, with a touch of Coruscant in the skyscrapers rising above the clouds and little details like the advertising chimes that become audible as you drive by.
While G-Police was mission-based, albeit with random missions that gave the ability to move from dome to dome, G-Rebels is more of an open world upgrade with the ability to go from being a bit (hovering) cop (ter) to being a “bounty hunter, racing pilot, bodyguard, mercenary, pirate” or “lost hunter” artifacts.” Perhaps we too can be rebels? Even rowing? The story's synopsis suggests you may end up reconsidering your loyalties: “Are you fighting for the right side or are you part of a dark conspiracy?”
I'm not sure how this stacks up in a dogfight simulator – in belated revenge for all the innocent Bruce Willis I blew up in G-Police, I lost the first random battle I started. But the handling feels like a good base for plenty of airborne kicks, with the ability to hover and strafe, and a nice, slippery weight in the turns.
The fly in the ointment is that the developers at Reakktor Studios have seemingly limited use of generative artificial intelligence. “Some intercom dialogues use/modified AI voiceovers,” they write on Steam. “Parts of marketing assets, including store texts other than English or German, are modified/localized using AI.” I hope they think twice about it when it comes to the full version, which will be released sometime this year. Thanks to reader Galactic Man for mentioning this in Latest Maw News Roundup.
