When yet another mad dictators plans on taking over the Gulf
you and your Apache helicopter are sent into the fray to defuse the situation.
It's up to you through a series of campaigns to bring down the madman and
restore some much needed peace to the region.
Desert Strike is a 3D isometric shooter in which you control
your deadly Apache helicopter over the deserts of the Middle East. You only
have your guns, hellfire's and hydras with which to take out targets and these
are in limited supply so aim carefully. Missions are varied and while most
consist of blowing up missile silos, supply depots, installations or vehicles
you also have to rescue hostages and free prisoners. Resistance comes in the
form of tanks, SAM missile sites and a whole host of other terrorist vehicles,
all lethal to your helicopter. Besides armor and ammo that you have to keep an
eye on, you also have fuel to worry about that makes things even more hectic. This
makes things very strategic as you have to balance all your options to get the
job done with the least amount of waste.
The campaigns in the game are huge and consist of multiple
objectives. Although you get a password after each campaign, for the individual
missions you are one your own and if you lose all three your lives it's back to
the start. This can be especially frustrating if you die on the last objective
of a campaign some hour and a half into the campaign and have to do it all over
again. Even if you make it through with your entire stock of lives, one
careless shot or failed objective can cause a critical mission to be undoable
and back to the start you go. This makes for some very tedious gameplay and at
times the game is more frustrating than fun.
Enemies also waste no time in bringing you down and with
limited armor and fuel available this game is really going to test your
patience. The graphics are not too bad and your helicopter looks pretty cool.
The various terrain your fly over is pretty large and although it's all in the
desert there are some towns and to provide some variety. Rescuing people
consist of lowering a winch to pick them up, no easy feat while they are
running around like headless chickens and enemies are firing at you. Some
enemies also take huge amounts of hits to go down while they can literally
bring you down in two shots. There are also some parts where you cannot destroy
an object like in the third campaign where the madman escapes in his yacht. I
wasted eight hellfire's and 20 hydras trying to destroy him yet the speedboat
he was traveling in just calmly went on sailing offscreen. Not only was this a
huge waste of ammo but also completely destroyed the sense of realism the game
tries to maintain.
The game has almost no music and instead you have to listen
to the rotation of your helicopters blades and the sound of gunfire. This makes
things a bit more suspenseful but a bit of atmospheric music would have been
good too. Controls feel a bit sluggish at times and the helicopter was never as
responsive as I wanted it to be. You can choose between a few different
controls styles and button configurations so there is sure to be one to suite
your style. Your chopper can also strafe but this is so slow as to be almost
useless.
If you like your games tough and challenging then Desert
Strike will give you hours of entertainment. The missions are varied and
interesting and the various copilots have an effect on the way your missions
play out. Despite the frustration the game can be quiet compelling and although
not for everyone there still is lots of fun to be had.
[8/10]
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