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Preview by Al Giovetti
Price: $50
Genre: graphic adventure game combined with vehicle simulator
Format: Windows 95
Release: July 1996
Developer: 7th Level (Distant Thunder)
Designer and Producer: Todd Porter
Associate Producer: Kelly Hoerner
ART DIRECTOR: Jerry O'Flaherty
Publisher: 7th Level
Phone: 800-884-8863
Website: www.7thlevel.com
Requirements: IBM PC, Pentium 90 MHz, 16 MB of RAM, Windows®95, 4X CD-ROM, Mouse (or Joystick in final version), 256-color display, running at 640 X 480, MPC-compatible sound card and amplified speakers, DirectX (TM) version 2.0 (included), 30 MB of hard disk space

Summary: G-Nome is a real-time, three-dimensional, texture-mapped, polygon game. G-Nome benefits from the gaming abilities of Windows 95, such as DirectDarw and DirectAccess, to increase speed and provide resolution from 320x200 to 1280x1024

History: Designer Todd Porter has worked with Penguin, Origin, SSI, and Distant Thunder, before coming to 7th Level. Todd has worked on

Plot: The G-Nome adventure takes place on the planet Ruhelen of the Omicron Reticuli star system in the year 2225 A.D. Retired Union Sergeant Joshua Gant must assemble a team of experts and penetrate the heavily defended Scorp Republic to destroy a secret bioweapon laboratory suspected of creating the ultimate genetic soldier: the G-Nome. thumb6.gif - 2.9 K

As the adventure begins, war is imminent between the Union nations (human) and the Scorp Alliance. The discovery of the mineral-rich Phygos system nearby has upset the tenuous strategic balance between the warring factions in this part of the Galaxy. The flashpoint of the pending conflict will be the planet Ruhelen where the four major civilizations, human, Bendian Mercenary, Darken, and Scorp all coexist in a fragile peace.

Union intelligence has known of the secret Scorp genetic research for years, but has now decided to destroy the effort before the G-Nome creature can be replicated and deployed in battle. The mission must be covert, for war has not been declared and the Union does not want to be seen as the aggressor if the matter comes before the Galactic Court.

Union Intelligence turns to retired war hero Joshua Gant. For the last ten years Gant has been drowning in bitterness over a mission that resulted in the capture of his best friend, Pearl, and in hatred of the man that led that mission, Jack Sheridan.

Against his will, Gant is reinstated into service and ordered to assemble a team of experts that includes his old friend, Stephen Kylie, Union's most accomplished scientist, Dr. Victoria Thane, and the best expert on Scorp military customs and tactics: Jack Sheridan.

The adventure unfolds in four grand campaigns. In the first, Gant must traverse the Darken Republic to meet Kylie who has been undercover deep in Darken territory.

Together again, Gant and Kylie embark on the second campaign in Bendian Merc territory as they race to the rescue of Dr. Thane who, unaware of her situation, is on a peaceful mission in the sparsely populated steppes and valleys of the Mercs. Thane realizes the importance of using special technology to capture the G-Nome, and the small team must battle their way to the Merc citadel of Mesa Caracon to obtain the technology, then escape into the Scorp frontier to meet Sheridan.

The third campaign takes place in Scorp territory. The secret base is defended tenaciously by the Scorp Imperial Warriors, but with the help of clandestine Union "orbital ion-strikes," the team finally battles its way to the laboratory. Disaster strikes and the entire mission disintegrates into chaos. The G-Nome is stolen by a new and even more dangerous foe than its Scorp creators. jbot.gif - 12.9 K

The fourth and final campaign finds Gant and what's left of the team pursuing the G-Nome and its captors through the desolate and war-torn Shalten Frontier. After the climactic confrontation at a secret cloning facility, Gant must finish the mission by terminating the G-Nome creature. Does he do it?

Game play: You can leap from one mech to another which is a Digital Image Design’s Martin Kendrick trademark.

You pilot:

Interface:

Graphics: Support for 3-D accelerators

Animation: Traditional cartoon-like animations

Voice actors:

Music score:

Sound effects:

Multi-player: For two teams of up to four players each over internet, network, null modem (serial connection) and phone modem

Preview Reference:
Next Generation, volume 2, number 18, June, 1996, pg. 105.
Shane Mooney, PC Games, volume 3, number 9, September, 1996, pg. 40.
Download demo: www.7thlevel.com/gnome/demo/demo.htm