In 1990, the ideological successor to the glorious work of After Burner rolled off the assembly line: G-LOC: Air Battle. In technical terms, the game won (+ the third Motorola 68000 processor), but otherwise, alas. The speed of the gameplay for the sake of game goals was reduced, so that, instead of a dizzying, fast-paced action with a bunch of enemies, we got a measured flying-shooter, and even with a limited viewing angle due to the fact that most of the time we watch the battle from the cockpit. Only in cases where the enemy is sitting on the tail, the view changes, acquiring the usual rear view.
There is no reckless shooting here. At the beginning of each mission, the pilot receives a task - how many planes, tanks or ships he needs to destroy. Then a timer starts, and if the time runs out or the fighter takes serious damage, the end comes. This time we are driving the experimental A8M5, which will become the A8M6 after the upgrade. After a successfully completed mission, time is added, but still, with each new mission it is less and less, you have to get nervous and make mistakes, because there are not so many opponents and reaching out to everyone can be long and almost unrealistic. As before, the pilot has at his disposal the Vulkan machine gun, rockets and the After Burner button. At the end, you have to manage to land a fighter on board an aircraft carrier. There will also be bosses, like a combat flying ball, a bomber and another A8M6, which is more powerful and protected.
Versions: The
game is not ported to all game systems of that time, only to Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear. Due to the success of the R-360, PC games for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and of course the Amiga are called the G-LOC R360.
Arcade: The game was released in three body styles: a standard cabinet, a seated variant, and a special R-360 cockpit. The R-360 is almost like a 5D cinema - the machine reacts to what is happening in the game, rotates 360 degrees in absolutely any direction, shakes when hit, everything is like in real life. That is why, before the start, the player is asked to fasten their seat belts properly. You can watch pre-rendered 3D scenes in the game. Unfortunately, none of the console implementations falls short of the original. They even lack the most remarkable feature of the series - taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier!
Mega Drive: a boring, inexpressive action, although visually everything is very good and there are even voices. For some reason, in the default settings, they restrict our movement! There is no menu for choosing the level of difficulty that is in the original. In the game itself, another pilot turns to us and informs us about new tasks, this chip is not found anywhere else.
Game Gear: here we have a cart ride - slow, shaking, no view. Not sounds but tweeters. Levels can be selected from the menu, you can also shoot points and then upgrade the fighter for them.
Master System: There's not even a demo mode, and it's not a Game Gear version, which is weird. But, for an 8 cue ball, a cool graph and speed. There is music, primitive, special effects are more reminiscent of tweeters. Before the mission, you need to scroll through several pages with a description of the mission. Bosses. What is interesting is that the takeoff is carried out from the ground, as in the game Strike Fighter.
G-LOC followed with a sequel, Strike Fighter, known on the Mega-CD as After Burner III.
Interesting Facts.
The name of the game stands for: "G-force induced Loss Of Consciousness", which in Russian roughly means "overloads lead to loss of consciousness."
The R-360 slot machine had a special case, stuffed with safety equipment: an observer console, seat belts, shoulder restraints, an emergency stop button, safety sensors and a plexiglass screen. Michael Jackson had one at home. It was sold at the singer's official auction on April 24, 2009.