Ground Control is a top-down squad-oriented real-time strategy game where you control a number of squads through a series of highly linear missions. Inbetween each mission is a briefing and during the missions there is some form of storyline with corny dialogue.

I've played through a few missions and although the game was obviously very pretty back in the day, you're constantly zoomed out so everything becomes really small and you just watch a bunch of red triangles shooting at green circles while the game constantly harasses you with "SQUAD THREE IS UNDER FRIENDLY FIRE, SQUAD TWO IS UNDER FRIENDLY FIRE, SQUAD ONE IS UNDER FRIENDLY FIRE, SQUAD THREE IS UNDER FRIENDLY FIRE" or "YOUR APC IS TAKING DAMAGE, YOUR APC IS TAKING DAMAGE"

You will literally hear these things for minutes at end. Maybe it's my strategic skills but the APC constantly moving in front of my units when told to follow them with the guard command was nothing short of annoying. Why is the very same vehicle that's meant to repair units also the vehicle that you're not allowed to lose? And what's with the friendly fire? Can't these bumbling fools figure it out among themselves that if someone is ordered to move in front of them that they stop firing until the friendlies have cleared?

The designers expect you to change the behaviour of units on the fly but this means using the clunky, unresponsive interface with the clunky, 90's mouse pointer but since the interface isn't smooth enough, you end up not using it unless you absolutely have to.

I'm not an RTS-gamer at all, there are only very few RTS games that I enjoy (Starcraft, Warcraft, Red Alert) and Ground Control isn't one of 'm. I was misled by all those praising the game, thinking it was as good as the aforementioned titles.

If you want a game that does everything Ground Control does but better, go play Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. It gives you more close ups, better control and a storyline that's actually worth writing home about.

Great game that really challenges your strategies rather than how fast you can click or scroll. While a lot more games have pushed toward less resource collecting, Ground Control was doing it while they were still in diapers. Check it out!

Ground Control is one of the strangely undiscovered gems of the strategy games genre.

Which is strange, considering, that this really is a strategy game, unlike most other games, which are more about tactics than actual strategy.

In Ground Control, you are given a number of squads (two at the beginning, more as you progress), which you can equip the best you can for the upcoming mission, and that is what you get to complete your objectives. No reinforcements, no base building, just the squads, your commanding APC (which is the only thing for a time what can heal your men) and the enemy who stands in your way.

The game is hard: you can't save, only between missions, your lost squads won't get replenished (but the soldiers in them will, even if only a single man survived the slaughter) and the enemy units and defense structures have exactly the same firepower you do. It is all about using the terrain to your advantage, listen to the briefing, scout, position, diversion tactics... you name it. And to support it, you get a quite easy-to-use interface and command system.

To support it, you get a storyline told in a somewhat StarCraft style (with talking heads before missions). The plot is not mind-boggling, but still quite strong, with conspiracies, betrayals, and a few twists here and there.

The graphics are very good, considering the age of this game. The view is zoomable to the point you can almost see a foot soldier in a first person view, the units are detailed, and so is the animation. The camera system is easy to use and quite flexible.

The not-so-good aspects of the game are usually centered around the difficulty and the lack of saving during missions. Later levels can be really hard with huge amounts of enemies and gigantic maps. It is not uncommon to spend two or three hours on one level if you're playing it slow and steady. So no, it's not a casual game, it is for hardcore RTS fans. Also, the second campaign in the basic game is not that coherent and fleshed out as the first one, that second seems a bit rushed. And some people may not like the fact that there are only two factions in the game, and most of the units are interchangeable. The expansion fixes it somewhat with a third faction with an almost completely different set of unit types, but to play that campaign, it is almost required to master the base game on harder difficulty first. The expansion really ups the ante, but at least gives you the two best units in the whole game, so it keeps that careful balance which really characterizes the whole game altogether.