Playstation Reviews G

Having just reviewed Colony Wars (Psygnosis, 1997), I wasn't keen to tackle another Psygnosis space ordeal - I mean odyssey! G-Police follows the same formula with its boring exposition and endless mission briefings. Fortunately the game itself is a little more interesting. Instead of fighting in deep space, you're a law-enforcement officer patrolling a dark, futuristic city.

You pilot a propellerless helicopter while attempting to root out gang activity in a Blade Runner-like world. By default your view is first-person, with a reticle that not only helps you aim but also serves as your waypoint. Enemies mainly come in the form of flying vehicles you shoot down with your cannon or missiles. The bright, jarring explosions are among the best I've seen.

G-Police excels on the audio/visual front, beginning with its ominous skyline. The city is alive with activity including air-taxis and vehicles on the streets below. Buildings in the distance initially appear as green frames that "fill-in" as you approach. I don't mind this effect, as it has a slick VR quality.

I found the missions confusing and the 3D "map" incomprehensible. The briefings are displayed in a weird, tiny font that's hard to read. In retrospect it's amazing I was able to complete any missions at all! Typically they involve scanning cargo containers, destroying transmitters, or escorting transport vehicles. But most of the time you're just wiping out bad guys in the air. I like how you can sometimes direct other police units to attack specific targets. These guys don't hold back.

The controls feel strangely awkward, using X and the triangle to speed up and slow down. No analog controls? It's the 90's for crying out loud! Targeting enemies is equally problematic as your reticle has the annoying tendency to lock onto friendly craft or even vehicles you're trying to protect.

The open screen mentioned something about Dolby surround sound, so I took the cue and cranked up the stereo. In fact the game sounds pretty terrific with crisp explosions and the sound of aircraft buzzing around. The ominous music has an acidic edge, reminding me of something by The Prodigy.

G-Police was growing on me until I made the mistake of dialing down the difficulty to easy for one particular mission. Would you believe it would not let me revert back to normal for subsequent missions? G-Police does a good job of setting the atmosphere but its gameplay is a bit of a mess. © Copyright 2024 The Video Game Critic.

Set in an underwater world teeming with monstrous fish, this side-scrolling shooter boasts slick 3-D graphics and a two-player simultaneous option. G Darius is impressive to behold but chaotic to play. The number of objects on the screen is excessive at times, making it difficult to tell what the heck is going on. Capturing enemy craft is part of the game's strategy, but that just makes things more cluttered and confusing. The game offers selectable branching stages, but you'll still need to replay the first stage every time, which gets old. G Darius isn't bad, but it has a certain disposable quality. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

Okay, I think it's about time for someone to tell Hasbro to knock it off with the 3D "updates" of classic games. I've been a Galaga fan since 1982, but I hate Galaga Destination Earth! In the process of incorporating modern 3D graphics and fancy sound effects, Hasbro has inadvertently sucked every last bit of fun and excitement out of the franchise!

This new Galaga is mission-based (yawn), which means having to sit through the endless obligatory CGI cut-scenes (Zzzz...). The first stage is much like the original shooter, except with some very mediocre 3D graphics. Unfortunately, this stage doesn't capture an ounce of the fun of the original. After that, you're off to a series of horrendous first-person stages with graphics so cluttered that you can't even tell what's going on.

Other elements of the original Galaga, like the double-shot and challenge stages are included, but these are so poorly executed you'll wonder why they even bothered. With Galaga Destination Earth, Hasbro has taken a classic and watered it down with every boring modern game cliche known to mankind. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

Gekioh: Shooting King is a forgettable, low-budget shooter imported from Japan. Like most modern-day shooters, there's a heck of a lot happening on the screen at any given time. Still, Gekioh is more forgiving than most, limiting the number of projectiles and letting you retain your weapons upon losing a life. The multi-layered backgrounds are attractive but not spectacular, and enemies consist of planes, tanks, battleships, and large robo-warriors.

Your weapons definitely pack some punch, and my favorite is the lightning bolt that moves from one target to the next. Also cool is how enemies go down in flames instead of exploding into nothing. Two-player simultaneous play is supported. But easily the most interesting aspect of Gekioh is the extra modes.

Mainly intended for laughs, these have little play value but are worth checking out nonetheless. There's the Pocket Mode, which presents the game in blocky black and white graphics like the original Game Boy. The Comical Mode features wacky sound effects and an irritating laugh track. The Slow Mode includes eerie music and sound effects. The Ancient Mode resembles an old black and white film, complete with distorted sound, a jumpy screen, and even an occasional hair in the frame!

As you would imagine, these tend to be fun for the first few minutes, but have minimal replay value. The game has no options menu despite the urgent need for a screen adjustment option and a high score save feature. Fortunately you can switch off the unbearable vibrate function. All in all, Gekioh serves its purpose, but please don't ask me what that purpose would happen to be. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

Sometimes less is more. This early polygon soccer title has no season mode and minimal options. The players look like faceless mannequins up close, and I'm pretty sure their names are made-up. But if you're looking for some pick-up-and-play fun, Goal Storm is hard to beat.

This is a fast-paced game that's easy to play. When making long passes, a teammate is often there to receive, and shoulder buttons execute headers and special kicks. To jar the ball loose on defense you can perform slide tackles all over the place. The animation is smooth, giving this a leg up over its 16-bit brethren.

A radar display on the bottom indicates player locations, but it's unnecessary. The camera is usually pulled back a comfortable distance, but occasionally zooms in for no apparent reason. This happened to me once as I was dribbling the ball down the sideline, causing me to be caught totally off guard when a defender suddenly bolted onto the screen and stole the ball.

My main issue with Goal Storm is that scoring is like pulling teeth! You'll have the goalie dead-to-rights, only to watch him magically gravitate to your shot like a magnet. The CPU doesn't have this problem, oddly enough. When playing friends, expect a lot of 0-0 ties to be settled via shootouts.

It's a little rough around the edges but Goal Storm remains one of the most playable soccer games around. It was actually the first entry in what would become Konami's long-running Winning Eleven franchise. © Copyright 2022 The Video Game Critic.

My buddy Shawn used to own one of those big, full-sized Golden Tee Golf arcade machines. I think he needed a freaking crane to lift it into his house. In my years of playing that game I gained a certain appreciation for this "beer-friendly" brand of golf. Oh wait - all golf is beer-friendly. They serve it right on the course. I'll drink to that!

The arcade Golden Tee Golf used a trak-ball to swing, which was quite the novel approach. This Playstation version supports both digital and analog controls. When using the default digital controls, I thought "man, this can't be right". It was just too simple. You just adjust a line on the overhead map to indicate the distance you're going to hit the ball. Once you get on the green, it seems like every putt goes in, no matter how hard you hit it.

The analog controls are more realistic but strangely designed. The left stick is used for your backswing and the right is used to swing forward. During your backswing, a distance indicator moves up and down over the map of the hole, indicating exactly how far you're going to hit it. You can dial it up and down, causing your golfer to awkwardly raise and lower his club before the swing.

These controls work fine under favorable conditions, but once you reach the more serpentine holes with blustery conditions it's a different story. The problem is, you can only aim in coarse increments. To compensate you need to apply draw or fade using the most counter-intuitive scheme ever devised. Basically you must angle your backswing and forward swing in specific combinations. I was constantly reaching for the manual.

Golden Tee looks good, combining the best qualities of polygon and sprite graphics. The digitized players look sharp and I like their expressive reactions. Commentators chime in with sporadic lines like "watch the wind" and "he's on the dancefloor". I love when he goes into a hushed "whisper mode" during putts green ("golfer one lining up for the par").

The pacing is brisk, especially since most putts go right in. When playing the CPU opponent, he doesn't mess around. I think he has ants in his pants! You can play a whole round in fifteen minutes or so. Golden Tee does a respectable job of bringing arcade golf home, but it's a shame the controls got lost in translation. © Copyright 2023 The Video Game Critic.

When Gran Turismo first hit the scene, it knocked my socks off and set a new standard for realism in racing games. The graphics are remarkably lifelike, especially when viewed through the multi-angled replays. The cars almost look nearly photographic and the depth of gameplay is unprecedented. Over 140 actual car models are available, and they are customizable down to the smallest parts. Two thick manuals are included with the game, including one dedicated solely to driving techniques!

Money is earned in races and used to purchase new cars and soup up the ones in your garage. Yes, this was the first time the "garage" concept was used, and it has been adopted by dozens of racing games since. I would sometimes take my car over to my friend's house (via memory card) to challenge his souped-up ride. Gran Turismo's play modes include tournament, two-player split screen, arcade, and time trial. The ten tracks are realistic but not very interesting. The rocking soundtrack features several licensed songs, including a track by my favorite band - Garbage.

Gran Turismo was one of the first games to support vibration feedback, and it feels amazing as you roll over grass. Although the controls are supposed to be ultra-realistic, it's hard to steer rear-wheel drive cars in this game without fishtailing all over the place. Otherwise Gran Turismo is a landmark title for the Playstation that took the world of racing to a whole new level. © Copyright 1999 The Video Game Critic.

The first Gran Turismo set a bold new standard for realistic racing, and Gran Turismo 2 (GT2) effectively builds on that solid foundation. You'll find more cars, more options, better tracks, and even off-road rally racing! This may be the best racer ever released for the Playstation. The handling is improved substantially (especially with regards to rear-wheel drive cars), and the rally tracks provide some much-needed variety. The scenery is more exotic this time around, although there are some draw-in issues.

GT2 comes on two CDs: One for ultra-realistic simulation, and one for pure arcade action. Both are jam-packed with unlockables. Like the first game, Garbage is featured on the soundtrack, but I was less thrilled to hear Rob Zombie's "Dragula", which seems to be in every video game (enough already!). If you're looking for realistic racing on the Playstation, this is your game. © Copyright 2001 The Video Game Critic.

This obscure baseball title turned out better than I expected. Grand Slam is baseball without all the boring parts. The intro features an announcer yelling stuff like "alrighty then" so you know this is going to be a little bit zany. Grand Slam has a Major League Baseball Players Association license but not the MLB. That means you get all the players but teams are only identified by cities and strange logos. It looks odd how in player photos the symbols were removed from their hats. I wonder how long it took some guy to do that?

The game itself offers two pitcher-batter views. When batting you get a behind-the-batter view and when pitching you are behind-the-pitcher. Both work great. The players have a digitized appearance and seem to assume their real-life stances. The batting feels different than most baseball games. Instead of swinging ahead of the pitch, you need to hold back until the ball floats in. It's easy to hit once you get the timing down.

The pitching controls are solid. You get a list of pitches to choose from and an inset window lets you view the catcher's signal. After choosing a pitch a two-press golf-style meter is used to throw. It's both quick and challenging. Once a ball is put in play the fielders chase down fly balls pretty much automatically. The commentator says goofy stuff like "Line drive! You could have hung your spring laundry on that one!" It's fun to whip the ball between the bases.

Unlike real baseball, the players exhibit a sense of urgency, quickly scurrying back to the dugout after being called out. The only person not in a hurry is the announcer who tends to drag out each batter's name. "Now batting... Rooooobertooooo Alllllomar!" I guess they wanted to get their money's worth from that player association license. The semi-digitized stadiums are good approximations although they could be sharper. The pixelated crowds look awful. Overall I enjoyed playing Grand Slam. It's all the excitement of baseball but without the major time investment. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) was controversial due to its criminal violence, blood, and profanity. It wasn't a best-seller however until Grand Theft Auto III (Playstation 2, 2001) gave the series its third dimension. The crude, flat graphics of this game are a far cry from the virtual 3D world of GTA3. The overhead perspective doesn't always give you a good angle, since buildings and overpasses often block your view.

The graphics aren't particularly good, with tiny people and pixelated scenery. The sound effects are amusing however, especially the "splat" of running over pedestrians. There's a car radio, but it doesn't play anything worth hearing. GTA's action is a mix of car driving and on-foot mayhem, and you receive mission instructions from pay phones across town. You'd be wise to carry out your dirty deeds without generating much commotion, because once the cops swarm they will drag your criminal-ass right out of your vehicle.

A handy yellow arrow always points to your next destination, and it's absolutely necessary considering there's no map or radar display. As you can imagine, constantly following this arrow starts to feel tedious after a while. The missions are somewhat challenging, but that's mainly due to the controls. The directional pad controls your direction, but you need to hold down buttons to run forward and backward, which is awkward to say the least. The driving is even worse.

Not only does it seem like you're always turning in the wrong direction, but your car constantly gets stuck. It also doesn't help that the layout of the city is so poor. I've never seen roads that zig-zag through town (except that one in San Francisco), but in this game they're quite common. In light of the frustrating gameplay, the blood and profanity seem more silly and gratuitous than offensive. GTA2 was a slight improvement, but the series didn't grow teeth until its third installment. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.

Critics largely wrote off this fighter in 1998, mainly because it was a 2D game released at the height of the 3D fighter frenzy. Little did anyone know this series would actually prosper on the next generation of systems. Guilty Gear conforms to the tried-and-true formula popularized by Street Fighter II, with basic attacks, special moves, and blocking by holding the joystick "away" from your opponent. Certain Guilty Gear characters tend to wield weapons, giving the game a Samurai Shodown (Neo Geo, 1993) flavor.

Despite its derivative mechanics, Guilty Gear's artistic style is all its own. The bizarre characters and unconventional backdrops tend to defy description. There's the hot blonde Milla with her killer hairdo (she will literally kill you with it), the heavy-metal inspired Axl, an anchor-swinging girl named May, and the hulking behemoth Potemkin. The imaginative locales include scenic palace courtyards, the wings of a flying plane, and mysterious occult sanctuaries.

Guilty Gear's graphics are stylish but somewhat pixelated. Contests inexplicably commence with the words "Heaven or Hell!", and conclude with "Slash!". Players with an arcade-style joystick will love this game as they execute crazy, satisfying combos. Guilty Gear's gameplay is slower and less chaotic than most modern fighters, so you can actually tell what the heck is going on.

Guilty Gear has some interesting original features, like special moves listed on the load screens (great idea), health meters that "peel off" layers (not so great), and eye-popping "instant" kills (ouch!). I like how this game retains its original Japanese voice samples, but that grinding guitar background music has got to go. I was also disappointed that high scores and rankings are not saved to memory card. Still, Guilty Gear is fun to play, and 2D die-hards will certainly want this in their collection. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

In recent years light-gun games have been the exclusive domain of Namco and Sega, but this entry from UbiSoft is also worth a look. Gunfighter adopts a style of play like Time Crisis, where you constantly duck behind obstacles to take cover. Unfortunately, the action isn't quite as smooth, the graphics are rougher, and the control isn't as accurate.

But Gunfighter has other things going for it. First of all, it supports any type of Playstation light-gun available. Also, this game has atmosphere, making you feel as if you've stepped into a western movie. Even the voice acting is good. The action is non-stop, and shooting certain destructible items reveal bonuses and power-ups. You even man a stationary gatling gun, allowing you to mow down bad guys by the dozen.

The Gunfighter's one big misstep occurs at the beginning of the second level, where your partner is about to be hung. You only get one shot to break the rope, and even with the best light gun, it's hard! You may find yourself blowing through your continues quickly at that point. It could have been better, Gunfighter is a rather pleasant surprise for light-gun fans, especially with its low price tag. © Copyright 2002 The Video Game Critic.

This amazing 2D shooter was never released in the States because the overlords at Sony Corp Entertainment America (SCEA) initially banned 2D games for the original Playstation. I only recently discovered Gunners Heaven (aka Rapid Reload) through an old issue of Game Players magazine highlighting the Japanese PS1 launch. A rapid-fire, run-and-gun shooter, Gunners Heaven is the spiritual sequel to Gunstar Heroes (Genesis, 1993).

You select between two characters: Axel Sonic (?!) and Ruka Hetfield. Gunners Heaven truly lives up to its name with non-stop shooting that obliterates every soldier, cannon, and mech in sight. As with Gunstar, you can dangle off platforms, firing around in all directions. The over-the-top explosions reminded me of Metal Slug (Neo Geo, 1994) but with no hint of slowdown. Your default weapon is so potent it seems downright gratuitous to power it up! You can toggle between other weapons on the fly and you'll discover uses for each one. The electricity gun is great when fighting two foes at once and the flamethrower is ideal for concentrated attacks.

The level of destruction in this game is exhilarating but the generic stages feel more like an afterthought, with enemy clones attacking in the same repetitive patterns. Ascending upward is awkward because the controls make it difficult to jump and fire at the same time. But hey - you don't throw away a Cadillac just because it has a dent in it.

Oversized bosses like a mechanical knight have digital health counters and it's fun to wear them down. You only get one life in this game and there's no save. You do however get endless continues. The game's upbeat soundtrack embodies that exuberant, feel-good spirit of the 90's. Playing Gunners Heaven is pure joy and it's a crime this was never released in the States. Note: This game only runs on a Japanese (or modded) PS1. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.