Desert Strike

"You Thought Desert Storm was Over? Guess You Never Met General Kilbaba..."

My Uncle one day had 2 new games for me to try (they were his girlfriend's brother's games, and he had to give them up because he had, "contracted," epilepsy), those being Desert Strike and Jungle Strike. The latter I didn't play because of my wanting to finish the prequel first. This game is superb with a capital S. Like many of Electronic Arts/High Score Productions joint gems, this one is perfect (or almost perfect) in all categories. Game play will show you its (near) perfection.

Game play: 9/10

This game is so easy to play, and it takes 2 minutes to learn. It is however, one of those games that takes a second to learn, and a long time to master. I have mastered the game, always get to the last mission, and I fail every time. It is just one of those games. Anyway, there is one mode, and four levels. It is a unique game in that you can pick a co pilot to use (you do not have always the same gunner and winch man), and that each one has their own strengths and weaknesses. After this stage, you start your campaign. Basically, you fly your Apache helicopter around, destroying various targets, and winching up certain people. This game is realistic though, and you have to fuel up, repair your armor, and stock up on ammo if your are to be successful. There are 4 campaigns in all, and the enemy and difficulty levels increase as the levels go on. Each campaign takes either a long time, or a short time, and if it takes a long time, and you have to quit, what are you gonna do? Quit then come back and resume with the password (you are probably thinking what's the point, its just a normal password feature), but not only that, you can combine passwords. For example, you can input the ten lives password along with your level password. To my knowledge (this isn't to say that this is THE only game with this feature), this is the first and only game with this feature. Its too bad other games do not have this feature. Superb game play, and a top notch story.

Story: 10/10

This is such a realistic story, it isn't funny. Basically this game is meant as a video game sequel to the real life war, Desert Storm. A madman by the name of General Kilbaba has taken over a small country in the middle east (for oil and scud purposes, sound familiar?), and is killing those who do not obey his orders. You, a professional Apache pilot , are sent to the Persian Gulf to eliminate Kilbaba, will you succeed, or fail? The graphics sure didn't fail.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics in this game are fantastic, and they are superb for a Genesis game. The Helicopter looks realistic, as do the enemy weapons, heck the Frigate looks fantastic, by far the best looking object in this game. The water looks realistic, and it flows. The people look realistic (hey, you can't see their faces, but the move normally), as do the buildings, from one thing to the next, the game looks great. If there is anything to gripe about graphics-wise, its that the, "day changes," (from morning to afternoon, to evening and night time) are simply color swaps (the ground gets a bit darker, or changes color). Is the sound this good?

Sound: 10/10

THE BEST Genesis soundtrack ever (along with Jungle Strike). If the title track doesn't get you into the game, than nothing will. It is fast paced, edgy, and well, it gets you into the game. So what if it is looped, its amazing. The gunfire sounds are great, and the warning sounds are great also (the beeps and alerts sound superb). Can it be played over and over though?

Replay ability: 9/10

This game will keep you playing for a long time. That fourth level will frustrate you, and test your abilities past their limit (if that is even possible). Plus, if you want to complete certain tasks (such as find every extra life, or beating the game with every different co-pilot etc.), you will be playing this game forever.

Buy or rent?

No joy for renting, buy buy buy. Ebay and local game shops have plenty of copies of Desert Strike available, thus go out, and buy this game.

The Strike series is one of the best, underrated series of games ever made. These games are fantastic, and they deserved to be remade over and over, but that was a pipe dream I'm afraid. Desert Strike will always be one of my favorite games, not just because of its fantastic game play, or its tremendous soundtrack, it will be one of my favourite games because I accidentally left my Genesis on, and it had this game paused for a record 39 hours. The Genesis still to this day works perfectly. "Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo..."

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/21/06, Updated 09/11/09

Game Release: Desert Strike (US, 06/04/92)