Hi All,

We played and reviewed Gruntz back around 2000. We loved it and quoted the little guys often in our daily lives. It is a puzzle game from Monolith Productions (1998) where strategy is key to getting through the 32 levels. It is also a humorous game where the little guys quote TV and movie characters and get after you, the player, if you're not playing the way they think you should be playing. Anyway, since back then people have gotten it to play on XP and Vista and I believe someone even got it to play under 7. Well I wasn't very good at this type of game then and we were playing a number of other games and writting more reviews, so I quit about half way through, or less. Since then I completed Time Keepers and got better with these types of games. Thus one day I came across it again on my older machine and Lela said "why don't you install it on the XP machine and play it again?". I am now on the 27th level and having a great time. I would love to see this game become available again say on GOG.com. People who love this type of game should definitely experience it.

What was your take on it?

Take care,

Mr. Bill

Wow, when casual games were casual but didn't have a name! I had the game also, it was alot of fun. Unfortunsately it is probably too simple for most these days.

Ana

Ana, not simple if you want a perfect score so that you can collect all the codes to get a chance to play the last secret level. I'm losing my hair in clumps now.

I must have had one grunt die 20 - 30 times last night before I lucked out and got him through that spot. It was time for a Schnapps.

Mr. Bill

Sorry, I didn't mean in difficulrt, I meant simpler as in bells and whistles. All the old games had me tearing my hair out. I enjoyed playing the same game for months instead of feeding the game a day habit people have now.

Ana

Sorry I misunderstood Ana.

I think there are a lot of folks out there that will love this game, if they love a good challange, some cute and sometimes annoying little gruntz and the fact that a portion of a level or a full level can be accomplished in an hour or 2 or 3 depending on their skill. It is very satisfying to go to bed knowing you got past that #!&^%* spot in the game. Also there is a lot of help available now. On one level I had to rely on a You-Tube Gruntz Video Walkthrough. It helped me immensely see someone else do what words and still screenshots couldn't really explain. I sure wish it had been available in 2000 when I first played it.

There is a patch for it also. I know that the 64 bit installations on windows 7 is questionable. I am going to look further into that because one person supposedly did it.

I'm playing it on XP with no problems at all and I know others have played it on Vista. It was originally designed for Windows 98. Some are available at Amazon.

Anyway, this crazy old man is enjoying the game.

Cheers,

Bill

Gruntz with 64-Bit Windows Vista and/or Windows 7?


The following are comments from Goorooz Gruntz Forum: (Each post between lines are followups to resolving the problem)



Gruntz usez a 16 bit installer, which is incompatible with 64 bit. I'll research this,

and try to come up with a workaround.

___________________________________________


One of our young genius Gruntzerz mentioned in another thread that Gruntz could be

installed manually, bypassing the 64-bit problem. The Gruntz installer works on 16 and

32-bit computerz, but not on 64-bit. Scan through recent postz in this Board for more

info about it.

http://gooroosgruntz.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=GMOlio&action=display&thread=1690

___________________________________________

Gruntz WILL start and let you play a full game under the RC version of Windows 7!

However, there are two catchez. First, I have only been able to get it running in 640x480

resolution. Second, I tried this under the 64 bit version of Windows 7, and since the

installer is 16 bit, the installer will not run.

I will continue to examine the operating system and create another resolution patch. The

installer is easy to work around: simply copy the contents of the D:\GAME folder and the

D:\DATA folder to C:\Games\Gruntz. Note you only have to do this if you get the 64 bit

version: the 32 bit version will run the installer as normal. (I may even create my own

installer for 64 bit versions.)

__________________________________________

Good luck on trying to fix it for the 64-bit operating systemz. Hopefully there is a fix

so it isn't so stretched in playing only in 640x480 rez...

__________________________________________

It was easier than I thought All the Gruntz files are just sitting there on the CD - the

installer merely copiez them.


Installing Gruntz on 64-bit versions of Windows


1. Create the folder C:\Games\Gruntz.
2. From the CD, copy the contents of the GAME folder to the newly created folder on your

hard drive.
3. Also, copy the contents of the DATA folder to the Gruntz folder.
4. Create a shortcut to GRUNTZ.EXE by right-dragging to the desktop and clicking "Create

Shortcut Here." Rename it if you want.

Now launch Gruntz! It will automatically create the required entriez in the registry.

Moviez work, and levelz are playable.

(Tested in a virtual PC running Windows XP.)

EDIT: It seems this method doesn't create a Gruntz.sav file, and therefore unable to save

games.

_____________________________________________

As a follow-up to this message :

Installing Gruntz on 64-bit versions of Windows


Something worth noting.... after installing with the files from the CD, you want to go

ahead and install the 1.01 patch.

And, if you think you're a little smarter than you really are (like me), and are

transferring a previously patched executable file instead of from the CD.... you also

need to get the updated Gruntz.zzz file..... or once you get to level 6-4, you'll be

unhappy......



Hope someone tries this and lets us know.

Mr. Bill

Hi All,

Well six months later (or maybe more) I have completed all 32 levels of Gruntz with a perfect score and loved every minute of it. I will take a look at and try the secret level, but have not found anyone who has completed it. The guy named Paul (who wrote the best walkthroughs for this game) mentions that he did not succeed with this level.

What a wonderful challenge. I'm going to ask GOG to see if they can bring it back.

Bill

Congratulations on your accomplishment, mrbill!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! (as Mr. Bill takes a long grateful bow to the multitudes of folks giving him a standing ovation)

WEll done mrbill!

Ana