When I first installed
Divided Ground , I really had no intentions of a graphical masterpiece reaching out and grabbing me by my Hawaiian shirt (the one with the little boats and trees). So when I first got a taste of the graphics, I wasn't overly disappointed. Turn-based strategies aren't really expected to have sizzling graphics, and
Divided Ground is no different. In its defense though, some of the individual units look pretty good, like the helicopters, tanks, etc. It also has some nice, crisp desert-like colors that saturate your screen, blending quite well into each other. The ground is mostly a sandy type of look with scattered oases strewn about. The elevation in terrain is visible, and the different terrain types are distinguishable which always makes things a lot less frustrating. I was disappointed at the way the ground looked after a huge explosion, resulting in a few poorly shaded craters that looked more like Spanish moss than craters. I did have a really hard time trying to find any 'hidden' units in forests. It just seemed like I could never find them. It could be a direct result of me being colorblind, but whatever the reason, it's no fun spending minutes trying to find one regiment amongst the trees. Again though, it is a Turn-Based strategy, and the graphics are definitely more than adequate enough to keep the gamer glued to the screen for hours.
The sound is kind of a catch-22, if you will allow me to say. I absolutely love the music. It has a definite Middle Eastern feel, following Divided Ground's namesake. It's a light, beautifully trapping kind of music that you can feel snaking its way around you. For the first few nights I went to bed, I had the tunes fluttering in my head still. So was there a down side to all this beautiful scitar-founded music? No, except that the sound effects were particularly weaker. Sure the tanks did appropriate 'booms,' while the helicopters 'whirred,' but it was nothing that truly mesmerized me. And while the omnipresent sound of battle sang around my head, even that little novel idea became monotonous over time. I guess I really am a music person, as the wispy Middle Eastern chant I mentioned earlier kept my blood going for weeks on end. If you happen to not be a music person though, you might not want to have the sound on for much past the first couple of missions.
