GROM: ...Terror in Tibet!

Of the many, many war video games based on World War II, few are like GROM: Terror in Tibet, or even similar. Released in 2003 by polish developer Rebelmind and published by CDV Software Entertainment, the not-so-popular didn't shine bright.

Nowadays the Polish developers have been releasing pretty interesting and original indie games. And some of the best AAA titles such as The Witcher series come from CD Projekt Red, another Polish developer. But GROM came before all that, in a time when Polish game development was still far behind in development. But, let's start talking about GROM already.

About this game

Grom: Terror in Tibet! Marketed as a new action-adventure/role-playing game, with new exciting mechanics, original gameplay and more. But it wasn't.

Set in 1942, Hitler's Third Reich searched around the world for some evil ancient artifacts that would help them control the world. And it just so happens that 12 of these artifacts are located in Tibet. Now it's time you take the role of Colonel Grom, and together with your soldiers, you are tasked to stop the Nazis and save the world.

That's about it in the plot department of this game, now back to the game itself. Even though it was advertised as a new action-adventure/RPG title, at the end of the day it is neither of those. At least not a good one. Most of the gameplay is a clone of games like Commandos or Baldur's Gate. Clicking on the objective several times to attack, the game is more of a real-time strategy game.

One of the most predominant elements of the gameplay that would make it a little different from the other games mentioned is the stealth element. The tactical combat with guns is the basis of the entire game.

Review

GROM is a very interesting-yet-failed experiment. Combining a ton of elements from different games and delivering in such a disappointing way. The combat is pretty frustrating, thanks to a huge learning curve that asks a lot of the players without rewarding much. Even though it is pretty hard, as soldiers usually pass out instead of dying, it's too punishing.

And it's not even that the game's unfair, but the terrible controls and artificial intelligence make the game a painful experience. It tries attempts to implement different elements from RPG games, but probably the only one it successfully uses is the decision/dialogue trees. But even the dialogues present a vital problem.

Remember that early on we mentioned many times that the game is Polish? Well, the English dialogues are poorly translated, which ends up making the plot confusing. Often nonsensical, dialogues are long and tedious. The game has some positive things to it, but it seems unfinished. Impossible to recommend, interesting to look at

• Graphics and Visuals: The graphics are pretty dull and lack of great art style. Not pleasing or interesting to the eye. Not to mention the awkward game interface

• Gameplay: We've talked a lot about this already, but defined in just one word it would be: painful

• Sound: Pretty average, nothing special on the soundtrack or sound effect of this game

Grom Is a Polish refugee with a passing resemblance to Stalin, and it's . him you guide through this thoroughly linear RPG telling of Nazis searching for god-like powers in Tibet. There's no walking off the beaten path into sub-plot territory here, meaning there are few real decisions to be made and no extraneous detail to explore. This is RPG-lite, with no worry towards statistics. Even the infamous juggling of useless objects in your inventory is kept to a minimum. It's uncluttered, but also insubstantial. Not to mention bastard hard.

This is mainly due to the less-than-effective interface, which works through a combination of pause-planning and real-time shooting. While it improves over time, this is more down to you having to lump it, rather than any sudden revelation of usefulness. Your character is astonishingly weak, too, and the self-serving Al of your team-mates doesn't help much in a tight spot either.

What this all boils down to is wandering around sparse villages, shooting a few people and reloading a lot of times. No hidden depth. A bit grom, really.