G-LOC Air Battle

Overview

Designed by Yu Suzuki as a spiritual successor to the After Burner games, G-LOC: Air Battle was released in arcades and on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis in 1990. In arcades, the game was released in three cabinet variants; a standard standup version, a sit-down version and the custom sitdown R-360 cabinet. The R-360 was able to rotate freely on two axes, allowing the cabinet to mimic in-game action, including turning the cabinet completely upside down. Due to the impressiveness of the R-360 cabinet the home computer versions (Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Amiga) were named G-LOC R360.

Some ports of the game included features not present in the arcade version. For instance the Mega Drive / Genesis version alternates between first and third-person perspectives, the Master System port features bosses and the Game Gear port allows the player to spend points earned while playing to upgrade the jet.

Gameplay

The player controls an experimental aircraft in timed missions - the player earns more time and advances stages by achieving goals that are set in each stage. During the course of the game the player is attacked from both the front and the back by enemy aircraft. The player controls the aircraft with a joystick and has two weapons: a cannon and missiles. The player can either try to gun down enemy planes or attempt to gain missile lock by moving the crosshair over them. The game is played mostly from a first person perspective, however once locked on to by an enemy the perspective changes to third person (behind the player's aircraft) to allow for evasive manoeuvers.

Trivia

Michael Jackson owned an R-360 deluxe cabinet of this game. It was sold at the official Michael Jackson Auction on April 24, 2009.