Ground Zero: Texas

Ground Zero: Texas puts the player in the role of an agent who must uncover an alien infiltration of a small Texas town from a secret base before the preparations for an invasion are complete. Gameplay takes place at a panel with several camera feeds spread across the town: you switch between views, watch for a disguised intruder to appear, and take aim and eliminate them at just the right moment. The tension arises from the fact that the scenes play out simultaneously — while you're watching one street, something is brewing elsewhere and your people in the field may get hurt. Longer cinematic passages run between the action sequences, developing the plot and introducing the characters.

In production terms, this was an unusually expensive project for its time: the game was shot with a professional crew, features elaborate exteriors, stunt scenes, and pyrotechnics, and in terms of video volume it was one of the largest titles in the entire library. On the Mega-CD, this means the usual compromise — a small window, coarse compression, and a limited palette, causing night scenes to collapse into noise. The sound side, on the other hand, is strong, with recorded dialogue and a rock-tinged score that drives the action sequences forward. The atmosphere leans toward a paranoid sci-fi thriller with a dusty American small-town backdrop.

At the time, the game was presented as proof that interactive film could reach the level of genuine television production, and reviews indeed praised the production values more than those of the studio's previous titles. Criticism, on the other hand, targeted the limited interactivity, since the player's role shrinks down to watching and aiming. The influence can be seen mainly in how the FMV format exhausted its credibility even before the technology improved. Today it's a period curiosity worth seeing for its production values — and for how confidently the whole thing takes itself seriously. The playtime is short, but having to watch several cameras at once gives the gameplay a surprisingly brisk pace.