Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf

This is one of my favorite action strategy games as well as video games in general. This is the first in the Strike trilogy, the game is pretty much like "Choplifter" but instead of a two-dimensional field you're working with an open isomorphic field.

There's not much to the plot as its simplistic where you simply must stop a psycho warlord's operations to end the war. That's it in a nutshell, which is fine by me as most action strategy games aren't known for deep story, were all it in for simply the action and strategy.

However, one thing I like is as you are playing and get further in the game there is a sense of plotline development. I really like some of the cut scenes, it's true some of them might look a little cheesy today as some of them are the use of photorealistic rendering. But I didn't mind, and you must realize photorealistic rendering was a novel concept at the time, and this really helped in making the game not feel cartoony but have sort of a cinematic feel. It also helped in contributing to the games hard, gritty, and war atmosphere, making you feel that what your doing should be taken seriously and what you do in the game counts.

The graphical presentation I think is great as it really goes for gritty realism. From the chopper you fly, the enemy vehicles, but also the background itself. I really like the miniaturization of the structures, roads, and other decorations, it sort of looks almost like some of those realistic miniature landscape models you would see for Train Sets. Which makes it all the cooler as its sort helps in giving you that fun feel of flying your R. C. Chopper over that model set and pretending your blowing things away.

Most importantly the gameplay is great, the control for you Chopper may seem a little strange at first, but you get use to it quickly and it becomes natural. It's based more on the kind of controls for an R. C. Chopper as your utilizing the same physics of going forward and reverse along with turning. You have three kinds of weapons to use, from guns which are useful in dispatching enemy soldiers, doing little damage to structures, but also mostly helps in aiming. Hydra missiles that have short to mid-range and medium stopping power, and the best ones the Hellfire missiles which are extremely powerful and have a long range to them. Each of these weapons you have a limited stock, you can still reload by hauling up ammo crates but there is not in heavy supply so don't waste your shots.

What I really love about the game is you just have the freedom in both going where you want but also in carrying out your mission however you want. You can do the missions out of order, work a little on one and the other to reduce your tasks, though it's still a better bet to do them in order; just whatever works best for you.

Let alone it's fun to blow a lot of crap up, as there are lots of building structures that are just made for you to destroy. There are also plenty of enemy vehicles and other defenses the demolish, that is if they don't demolish you first; it's true alone they're not too big of a threat however this is an enemy army you're dealing with, so the numbers really do help them. And each of the enemy defenses aren't totally pushovers as each have different functions and strengths and weaknesses so you still must fight to survive.

The key in the game is in prioritization, this is a game that causes you to think while in the battle zone. You have a map and status computer, really like the function of it as its accessible and best of very useful as your going to be using this computer a lot. You constantly must check up on your supplies like Ammo, Fuel and Armor.

There is a GPS function to use which I thought was cool as it helps point out and narrow down where each of the resources you need are located from fuel drums, ammo crates and M. I. A. S (Missing in Action Soldiers) who actually refuel your armor which I'll get to in a minute.

The GPS also tells you the location of each of the objectives and when you completed them their completely off screen and you have a message that tells you. It also has the location of some landing zones which are very helpful in unloading the passengers, if you unload enough of them then your armor gauge goes up. Sometimes they even have fuel and ammo crates for you which can be sweet relief.

The game is also on the hard side, but the difficulty is manageable and fair. It's the kind of game that operates on the principle of "if at first you don't succeed, try try again." In each mission outing you can't expect to get it right the first time, this is a game that causes you to constantly practice, figure out the best course/s of action to take, even make some changes as you figure out what works and what doesn't. There's a very rewarding feeling once you've completed the mission completely because you know it was your own strategies and actions that made it possible.

"Desert Strike" flies high and hits the target.

Rating: 4 stars.