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Gromada

Score: 70%
ESRB:
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Media: CD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Shooter

Graphics & Sound:

I can say one thing for the artists at Bethesda Softworks, they do know how to animate fire and smoke in their game Gromada. But fire and smoke by themselves do not make or break a game. In today's day and age, the public's taste for realistic graphics and simulations raises the standard. The 3D environments are certainly colorful, but lack variety. While maneuvering around, the artists have even been nice enough to put markers on the ground so that you know which way to go, but that kind of takes away some of the fun for me. The soundtrack is your typical digital techno sounding canned music that you forget as soon as you turn off the game.

Gameplay:

In Gromada, your mission is to find and destroy the evil android Anna, destroy some planet-invading aliens along the way, all while using your updateable and modifiable tank named Kassandra. You will start off at the Stand where you will test the durability of the military machinery. In this beginning level, I did notice that to destroy one of the modules shooting at you, you have to fire at it an average of 10 to 15 times before you can destroy it. If they fire at you, they kill you with their first shot that makes contact. Methinks this does not sound fair, especially in the first level. Luckily, after finishing the first level and progressing throughout the game, there are more things to hide behind. Beware of the floating bubbles and pincushion looking things, as they, too, do not need multiple hits to kill you. Destroying various modules will release more ammo and health packs. Wouldn't a tank need a repair kit more than a health pack? Just a thought. You will need the health packs more than you think because even if you are not hit by the enemy, shooting multiple shots tends to over heat Kassandra. Funny, the same thing happened to one of my ex-girlfriends.

Difficulty:

There are two difficulty settings in the game, Easy (my favorite), and Normal. After each mission, the game will study your performance, and if you're just as lame as you can be in the game, it will make it easier for you. If you kicked some royal tail, it will make it more difficult. It's nice to have a game that considers my inner game playing needs.

Game Mechanics:

Ok, get out your 35-button digital force feedback joystick that takes a year to learn. Are you ready? Are you ready to learn some highly complex button pushing sequences that if you do not learn, you will have no chance whatsoever in winning the game? Cool, now throw it out the window, because all you need for Gromada is your trusty mouse, of the two-button variety. Now, the left mouse button will move your tank in the direction of where you click. Your right mouse button will fire your weapons. Use keys 1 - 4 on your keyboard to cycle through your available weapons. You will be tested in the morning.

-Wickserv, GameVortex Communications
AKA Eric Wickwire

Minimum System Requirements:



133 Mhz Pentium or faster running 95/98 (233 Mhz Recommended), 16 MB RAM (32 Recommended), 2MB SVGA Video Card, DirectX 5.0 or higher (6.1 or higher recommended), Mouse
 

Test System:



GX-450xl running Windows 98, 256 RAM, Creative Sound Blaster 64CPCI with Boston Acoustic Digital Media Theatre, STB Velocity 4400 with RIVA TNT chip, DirectX 7, 32 Mb RAM, 6X24 DVD-ROM.

Windows F1 2000 Windows Interstate '82

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated