Sega's sleeper hit comes to home consoles! (Sega Genesis Gain Ground (Amiga))

Member Name: sagat

Product:	Sega Genesis Gain Ground (Amiga)
Date:	17/03/09 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great replay value, wonderful pacing

Disadvantages: Rock hard end boss, makes you despair when you lose your favourite warrior

Gain Ground is a funny old game to say the least. Before playing it, I had never played anything similar and I cannot think of anything I have played like it since. It is based on Sega's original arcade game, but has a couple of interesting tweaks over that version.

In the future, a supercomputer has taken over control of the world. You have to take your elite force of troops through its carefully constructed worlds and destroy it! Or something like that anyways. It doesn't really matter in the scheme of things if I am honest.

The game starts with you looking down on an arena in a birds eye view. These arenas vary in theme, becoming increasingly futuristic as the game progresses. The battlefield may be split over different heights, meaning some enemies can fire down at you, or over gaps in the playing field that you cannot walk over.

You start with a team of three warriors, each with different skills. Your standard attack is a projectile weapon which varies between characters. These can be fired in a 360 degree direction from your warrior. Each character's weapon has a different property. Some may fire rapid arrows, others slow but damaging missiles. Additionally, each character has a unique attack. For example, some can throw spears which will hit enemies on high ground, others may fire out twin sideshots.

You clear an arena by either getting all your soldiers to the exit points in the screen or by killing all the enemies on a level. You have a counter telling you how many enemies remain so you can be prepared for hidden attackers. A time limit is also in effect, and if this runs down all you will lose all of your troops who have not made it to the exit.

As mentioned earlier, you start with three soldiers. On certain levels, you will see a small avatar, which if you collect it and take it to the exit will reward you with a new character for the next level. As a result, you can build up quite a collection.

If however, you are killed on the battlefield, you can collect your dead characters avatar and bring them back to life by taking them to the exit. However, you can only have one avatar at a time in the arena, so if you are killed before collecting a new character, you will not be able to get them!

Putting the game on the hard difficulty setting will ramp up the challenge considerabley. The main difference is that you will start the game with every soldier available, meaning the best way to win is to kill all your enemies which can be extremely troublesome if you do not plan your attack properly.

Each level is a set piece, allowing you to replay until you perfect them. Every so often, you will face a boss. These can be extremely challenging and do not always allow you to collect fallen soldiers, meaning that if you are not careful, they can decimate your ranks.

Gain Ground is extremely addictive and has excellent replay value. You can spend a great deal of time playing through, or just have a quick five minute bash, both are rewarding experiences. The difficulty level is a good challenge. Trying to rush through the first few levels may result in losing a fair few troops due to carelessness!

The graphics are nothing to rave about, but they do the job and are functional. It is clear to see what you have to do on each level and you are rewarded for smart play.

My only complaint is the final boss of the game. To this day I have still not bested it and cannot even figure out how to start damaging it. His missiles seek you out, and it seems impoosible to get anywhere close. Apart from this frustration, this game is a real gem, so try it out!

Summary: Not the most famous, but deffo worth checking out