Conflict: Desert Storm II - Back to Baghdad

"The United States continues to dominate the Iraqis"

In Conflict Desert Storm 2: Back to Baghdad, John Bradley and his team continue to dominate the Playstation 2 with it's sequel to CDS:1. Mick Connors, David Jones, Paul Foley and Bradley brings the battle back into Baghdad through intense force and earth moving effects. This review should hopefully give you the information needed to get a sense about this game.

Gameplay: 10/10
CDS:2 is extremely addicting. You can choose to either be U.S. Delta Force or the British SAS in which you control a team of 4 players through 10 extravagant levels. Of your four players, your team consists of a leader, sniper, a weapons specialist and a combat engineer. Through each of the 10 missions, you press forward into Baghdad, battling your way through the Gulf War as one of the two forces. You can roll through the land in realistic military jeeps and tanks or arm yourself to the teeth with new weapons and the all new air-strike support. Outsmart the enemy using squad
tactics, stealth, vehicles, and high powered combat. Multi-player option is still in use in the newly improved CDS as there are sharper graphics, improved environments, new inventory and fast reload.

Graphics: 10/10
The improvements in the graphics are phenomenal from the previous game. The much more improved environments allows the creators to expand the levels in the game in which allows more gameplay in each level. Even when in crosshair mode, the close up graphics aren’t choppy at all and allow for a clear shot at your enemy. Other than that, the weapons are a lot more cool looking and when fired into an enemy vehicle, the explosions intensify the screen.

Controls: 10/10
Controls are identical to the first CDS. You tend to use every button on the controller, and it may seem like it would be hard to figure out, but I guarantee it isn’t because you have Training Mode in the game to teach them to you if you haven’t experienced any of the two games. Controller buttons are used to cycle characters, fire weapons, cycle through weapons, or even give your party a command.

Sound: 9/10
The sound of Conflict Desert Storm 2 has greatly improved from the first, which was a flimsy little background music that you could barely hear. In the second game, the music from the opening menu to the voice of your characters to the sound of your weapons firing, is loud and crisp as surround sound for the Playstation 2 includes Dolby Pro Logic II, which provides the needs for true war crazy gamers.

Re-playability/ Play Time: 9/10
Though this game has improved in every area from the last CDS, it has ceased to impress me with it’s play time. The game, only having 10 missions, is short, making it possible to beat in a week or less. Play time can range between 3-10 hours. As for re-playability, CDS:2 never gets old. With the options of playing as the United States or the Iraqis, and selecting through 4 difficulties, it is extremely fun to test your skill by playing over and over again on harder difficulties to see how far you can get. I can admit that it is extremely hard on medium mode, thus urging me more and
more to keep playing in order to prove I am the best. You will feel the same when playing.

Overall: 9/10
With me being a huge fan of war type games, I knew after playing the first Conflict Desert Storm that the second would be one of the best war games I ever played. It has never grown old on my shelf nor the shelves in stores. Whether you decide to buy it or not, I definitely recommend renting it because it unlike other war games, is based off a true story and is one game that is fun to play with a friend. I have seen it in stores for $49.99, but I purchased it off the Internet for under $35.00 brand new, and it was definitely worth it. I hope this review has encouraged you to give the game a try, because I know it is one that the majority of people like.

“Most addicting war game of the year.” -OP Magazine

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/04