One of the Better Sega CD FMV Games, but still little more then a bad movie
The plot line of Ground Zero: Texas is fairly straight forward, a small border town called El Cadron Texas, has been occupied by an alien race known as the Reticulans, and the player assumes the role of one of the members of a government task force (presumablly US Army Special Forces) tasked with repelling the invasion before the town and surrounding area are nuked. The story line seems sound, except for one contradiction. In the opening cut scene, the character Reese states that "our best weapons can only stun these creeps." This raises the question if the best weapons in the US Army's arsonal can only stun the aliens, how is dropping a nuclear bomb going to stop them?
Once again the game suffers from the same flaw that every other Sega CD FMV game suffers from, cutting the player out of the action, and reducing the player to little more then a supporting role. Through out the course of the game the player is placed in command of four battle cameras, that are scattered through out the town, or a battle camera attactched to Reese's helmet, and not once does the character leave the motel he/she is based at. There are points in the game, where full scale battles erupt between the soldiers and alien troopers, however the player isn't permited to take part in these battles, instead the player is treated to simply dragging the crosshair across the screen, and shooting random enemies that pop up, while the characters in the movie actually can run around and shoot at the enemy.
Over all the acting in Ground Zero: Texas is a vast improvement over such Sega CD games as Night Trap and Sewer Shark, owing to the fact the game was directed by a Hollywood Director, however that's not saying much, owing to the fact that the actors still sound as though they're reading from que cards, rather then a script, yet the better acting doesn't make up for the lousy gameplay.
The gameplay is very repetivie, with the player simply dragging a crosshair across the screen, waiting for an enemy to pop up, and switching between the four different battle cameras. There is usually no way to tell who is an actual alien and who is simply a passer by, until the alien actually draws his/her weapon and fires at the player, while this does add to the game's challenge, it can be quite confusing and can result in the player accidentally shooting a bistander.
Over all Ground Zero: Texas is probably one of the better Sega CD FMV based games, owing to improved special effects.However the game once again is little more then a bad movie, and that's exactally what it should have been, a regular movie. Ground Zero: Texas suffers once again from the same flaw that doomed the interactive movie to an early grave, it cuts the player out of the game. An interactive movie should allow the gamer to take control of a character from the movie and participate in the actual live action cutscenes, not simple point and click, and watch the actors do something the player didn't want. In the end, Ground Zero: Texas will appeal to fans of Science Fiction, FMV and Sega CD collectors.