Grom Preview

If there is one thing that the gaming world has long been sorely lacking it’s a Polish role-model. Someone who Polish children around the world can revere as an example of how to keep their noses clean and live the good life. Well, no longer, for now we have Grom – Poland’s answer to Indiana Jones.

Colonel Grom is a former officer of Polish Special Forces. After his family was murdered by the Nazis, he then escaped from a labor camp and made his way to Tibet. Now, far from the chaos of World War II, German troops have invaded Tibet searching for the Lost City of King Arjuna; a repository for twelve miracle weapons that have the capability to erase entire cities in a split second. Now only Grom can stop the Third Reich’s quest for world domination.

Grom is a hybrid adventure/action/strategy that will appeal to the daring adventure gamer. Much like the Indiana Jones movies it features a strong storyline sprinkled with elements of fantasy set against a historical background. There are more than 40 characters with which to interact in an epic game spanning almost 100 locations and 7 chapters.

The action elements are mainly strategic shoot-outs that can be played at your own pace. In what is a welcome addition, the game can be paused mid-battle without fear of repercussion from your enemies, to allow for tactical planning. All movement and menus are controlled with the mouse (though you can, if preferred, use the keyboard).

The large downloadable demo gives a good feel for the game as you are guided through a tutorial, fight bandits, chase a yak, banter with some English soldiers and much, much more. One thing I could have done without was the soldier hocking a lugey, what’s next in the search for realism, snot rockets?

Grom is very addictive much of which can be attributed to the colonel’s gruff, wise-cracking personality and though I can’t claim to be an expert on RTS games, the easy-to-learn interface helped me ease into those portions of the game without feeling as though I was playing a separate game.

Download the demo in preparation to help Grom thwart the Nazi menace this spring.

System Requirements:

• PIII 800Mhz
• 256 MB RAM
• Windows 98/ME/00/XP
• 12x CD ROM
• 800 MB HD Space
• DirectX 7 or higher