Conflict: Desert Storm

"A Very Worthwhile Action Game"

It’s probably only known by a select few, and I stress the word select to all extent. I’m speaking of the Spec Ops series that debuted about two years ago on the Playstation, retailing at the as low as the ugly hooker in Las Vegas price, a mere $10, tax included. Yes, no denying Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol sucked, clean and simple, it was impossible, it was ugly and after nearly three hours of playing my friend and I barely managed to beat the first level with one man down. Ah ha, but what made me play it for three hours? What also made me purchase Spec Ops: Ranger Elite? Clean and simple, 2 player co-op. In an age where deathmatch reigns supreme give me co-op any day for it opens up a new window of replay for the unfortunate gamers who can’t dig up four people enough times to make a 4-player deathmatch game worthwhile or a game that doesn’t include bots as well. I always find myself referring to GoldenEye which was a blast with enough people, when I did rarely happen to have them all over at once.

Conflict: Desert Storm runs in the same vein as Spec Ops, but with some huge differences, first of all it doesn’t suck, second its graphics are realms beyond the original three (Your butt doesn’t look like a backpack for one thing) and finally, now not only is 2-player co-op still alive and kicking, but so is a new 4-player mode. Desert Storm obviously revolved around the short lived war during the early 1990’s when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the result was President Bush ordering thousands of U.S. soldiers to make Sadaam Hussein pull his forces out of Kuwait. In no time at all the war (If it even qualified as one) was over and Sadaam after having his ass kicked fled with his tail between his legs. Conflict revolves around a four man squad of U.S. Delta Force and Britain’s SAS commandos, the group consist of four specific soldier types’: reconnaissance, sniper, heavy-weaponry and demolitions.

The game plays just like a commando/squad game should, players can flip between first and third person views on the fly as well as the ability to switch between party members too. The game’s squad base interface is very similar to X-Squad, a sleeper action game on the PS2’s debut list that I loved despite its terrible reviews. Orders can be issued to individual members or to the entire group, with the push of a button your soldiers will follow your lead, head to a designated position or open fire on enemy forces in the vicinity, (Ditching any stealth measure you may be trying to take and turn into an offensive assault). Luckily for Conflict’s sake the orders work and ordering your soldiers isn’t like trying to give orders to Helen Keller as well. You also won’t find that they get stuck trying to follow you and you find them running into a wall endlessly like so many others. Normally here would be my first complaint in a game like this, one simple feature, A.I., but it isn’t a complaint, Take 2 Interactive has really polished their Spec Ops system because your members fight like they mean it, your sniper will pick off enemies you can’t even see you as well as toss grenades at clusters of enemy soldiers.

The game also implements an experience feature that allows you to earn medals and increase your soldier’s stats for excellence in missions. Your auto-aiming will be moved up a notch, or you may become more skillful in using weapons not associated with certain characters. It’s not needed, but it doesn’t necessarily hurt in adding replay either and for those who complain about the auto-aim, hear me now you have to at least beat the first two levels before you can make an assumption about the gameplay mechanics, do you complain when your characters suck on RPG’s? No, just like any game with experience, you won’t be spoiled right off the bat, you’ll have to work at leveling up your men.

Action wise Desert Storm has lots of features, some of which are fantastic in creating a war atmosphere, this comes as no surprise being Spec Ops had a very good military feel, it may be old school gameplay and overly simplistic but all the reasons it was easier to get into. You can find missile launchers to take out patrolling panzers by hitting their weak spot, use your demolitions expert to set C4’s on SCUD missile launchers or bridges. Need some enemies cleared on a battlefield? Radio in an artillery strike to blast them all to hell or use a laser guidance system for air support. Amazingly you’ll also find vehicles here that can seat all of yours members, by no means are these anywhere near the same level of Halo, the steering is a bit awkward and trying to move around the battlefield with two or more player will probably result in blowing yourself up or driving off a cliff due to one person steering left and another moving right and so on (I only recommend that one person uses a vehicle). The jeeps and tanks are extremely scarce throughout the game but hey, at least they added them in, and it’s the though that counts, right?

Of course Conflict’s best feature by far is the multiplayer, no it’s not Halo, but it’s still a lot of fun. Two or more people playing with you allows you to truly strategize on missions, players using the sniper may provide cover while the other two infiltrate an enemy camp, or one man can be a decoy to distract an enemy tank while another destroys it with a missile launcher. It’s a great addition to an already solid game that will easily keep you and your friends occupied for weeks. It’s the kind of game that if only a single player mode was available you would’ve said to yourself “I wish it had multiplayer”, and luckily it does. For action fans or even a casual gamer looking for some great co-op fun this is a definitely worth your money.

Graphics-
There’s a phrase my friend always tells me “Graphics don’t make a game” and for Conflict, he’s right. For PS2 this game looks a little better than average but pushes no limits, for Xbox owners it looks a little below par but the bump-mapped textures are always a bonus. The animations are very smooth however, and despite some break-up and body parts phasing through walls the game doesn’t suffer any pop-up or annoying “fog effects” nor does it look sluggish or choppy in any areas. Its graphics don’t break any barriers, but fortunately, it doesn’t need to.
Rating- 7.0

Gameplay-
Old school action gameplay spanning 15 some missions from various locations of the Middle East including war-torn cities, deserts, castles and canyons. Long and involving missions with an adequate variety of objectives throughout not to mention a long game by its own means clocking in at around ten hours. A fantastic multiplayer mode with a steady difficulty and non-cheap playing enemies which is the first in a long while of recent games, especially from the same company of Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol which is synopsis with the word cheap.
Rating- 8.5

Sound-
Believe it or not the sound is quite good in Conflict: Desert Storm and I’m not counting the rarely heard and painstakingly average background music (For Xbox owners the game includes ripped soundtrack feature, which may not fit unless you own the Rambo 3 soundtrack, but fortunately, I do). The sound effects are superb, these have to be some of the most realistic sounding weapons I’ve ever heard in a game; the AK-47’s sound is picture perfect as well as the majority of the other weapons that make an excellent sound package.
Rating- 8.5

Overall-
I was nicely surprised by Conflict: Desert Storm, its one of those games that has no true weak points, but doesn’t push the limits of its own barrier either. Multiplayer wise, PS2 owners shouldn’t miss out on this, the best co-op available for the Playstation since Dynasty Warriors 3 and for Xbox owners; this will perfectly tide you over until the very ambitious looking Brute Force. I can’t imagine why Gamespot crucified Conflict with a harsh 4.5 rating that will no doubt detract most gamers from setting one step near it but to me, perhaps a more open-minded person, this is one of the years sleeper hits, check it out.
Rating- 8.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/03, Updated 07/04/03