"A great sequel and new vehicles? Cool!"

The next from Electronic Arts in the Strike series. In this edition, they bring back great sound and real graphics. Yet, they have new vehicles and better color. If you liked the first one, then you’ll love this one (Except maybe the controls).

Gameplay: This one plays exactly like the original. To get to the different campaigns, you use passwords. You still have to take off and land at a Home Base. Veterans of this game will find the controls easy. People new to the series may have a little trouble. All of the directional buttons make you go exactly in the direction. In firing, you have to be lined up exactly with the object, unless it’s an enemy. If it is an enemy, then your copilot will hit it if you are facing in that general direction. When trying to pick something up, you have to be lined up almost perfectly to get it. This isn’t the same with other vehicles. Picking up with the Hovercraft or Motorcycle means you have to approach the item as slowly as possible or you’ll crash into and destroy it. My biggest problem is with the Stealth fighter. You can’t slow down or stop with it, and it is very difficult to avoid enemies and tall structures if you can’t do those things. Though they give you infinite ammo and fuel, I still think it would have been better if you could stop or slow down. 7/10

Sound: They are pretty amazing and realistic. The sound effects range from gunfire to explosions, all of which are life-like. All of the enemy and ally vehicles sound good, though most of the time the vehicle sounds are muted because of the explosions. The music is mostly non-existent because of the booming sound effects in the game. The only time you hear it is at the end and beginning of each campaign. It’s good, but you would probably rather hear the carnage of the battlefield than the music. If you didn’t want to hear either, then you would have to turn down the sound. There is no volume adjuster in the game, but that’s what your remote is for. 10/10

Graphics: This is another great area. They improved on all of the looks in this game. The backgrounds are very lush and colorful since it is the jungle. The only thing that bothers me about the background is that if you shoot trees or something, then nothing happens to them. I think it would have been more life-like if they allowed this to occur. The vehicles and weapons look very real because they were modeled after their counterparts in real life. Though the deaths of the single men aren’t anything to look at, the explosions of the vehicles are really good. Overall, everything blends in to make a very well designed action game. 10/10

Story: Another story that has a good military flair to it. You have destroyed the original Madman (from Desert Strike) and have returned home. His son, Kilbaba, wants revenge for his father’s death. Yet, he has no political forces to lead a strike against the people he believes should pay: the Americans. This brings up Carlos Ortega, a drug lord. He is experiencing a difficulty in his cash flow because of America and decides to join up with the Madman. The Drug Lord and Madman become partners and start planning. These plans must be stopped somehow. So, the US has enlisted you yet again to defeat these two new threats. You must complete all campaigns to cripple their efforts and soon capture them as well. This means more danger, and you are the one chosen to take it on. Goody!! 10/10

Replayability: Once again, there are plenty of reasons to replay this. One would be to try a different mission or campaign differently. You could challenge yourself by not picking up extra supplies, or you could use a different strategy against some enemies. There are a few secrets out there. Most are extra lives, but there is a great copilot that is worth finding. You might even play back to a certain level to ride in one of the other vehicles, especially the stealth fighter. Not running out of fuel and ammo is a lot of fun when you’re just playing around. 9/10

I gave this game a 10 because it increased a good bit over its predecessor. It improved on every aspect. If they could’ve made the controls simpler though, it would have been perfect. I recommend people old and new to the series buy this one, because this one is better than the last.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/00, Updated 07/10/00