The Wonder Years 2.28.07: Week 44 - Desert Strike

Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 02.28.2008

A geopolitical action-thriller... with explosions!

Welcome to the column where all gamers of a certain age come to wallow in 16-bit nostalgia. I'm your host, Owain J. Brimfield, and I'm returning from a brief hiatus after the fortnight from hell. Computer reformats, unexpected leaves of absence, selfish employers and broken fingers have all had a hand [pun intended] in making this the Fortnight From Hell, so apologies if there ain't too much substance to be found this week. Let's take a trip to:

DESERT STRIKE

(Electronic Arts, Genesis & Super NES, 1992)

The early 1990s saw a period of intense political instability in the Middle East as the US embarked upon the beginnings of the Gulf War, in which they attempted to bomb Saddam and liberate some oil from somewhere or other, or at least so is the depth of my understanding of the subject. The war continued until last year, when some people found Saddam living in a hole in the ground and cut his beard off, thus rendering him eternally humiliated and subjugated to the Western Empire. But you're not here for a history lesson, no, you're here to learn about one of the finest depictions of the conflict set down in cartridge form, in the shape of EA's Desert Strike. Of course, video games being video games, geopolitical and intellectual subjects tend to be either sent up or turned into action shooters, and in the case of Desert Strike, both these things happened.

The story goes that evil General Ibn Kilbaba (no relation to General Kielbasa and his European sausage army) has overthrown a minor Arabian state and plans to launch World War Three with his army of endless goons and other ground troops. Naturally, the only sensible means of thwarting this maniac is to send in a single strike helicopter to launch a series of daring raids and destroy all opposition, rendering the path clear for the eventual US military intervention that makes all the badness go bye-byes. There is, as you might expect, not a whole lot of time spent on the political ramifications of said actions, nor any consideration at all made for the bureaucratic nature of things. Nope - just one gamer, one helicopter, and a shload of missiles and offensive weapons.

The game itself plays from an isometric perspective, a once-familiar sight now largely lost to the nineties. Taking control of a pleasingly chunky helicopter sprite (which takes up a fair chunk of the screen, a gameplay trait that becomes irritating in later stages when visibility comes at a premium and the lack of controllable camera makes things harder than they should be), it's your mission to fly across a series of pleasingly numerous and diverse campaign missions - twenty five or thereabouts - blowing the everloving crap out of anything that moves. That is, until you realize that the little blokes on the ground aren't all gun-toting terrorists and you have to save some of the civilians by winching them to safety... and then you've run out of fuel. Yes, despite its pretences there's a fair amount of strategy to Desert Strike, with a little more substance than simple arcade shootery on offer. New co-pilots can be rescued from enemy prison camps, sustained damage can be repaired, and little foreign blokes can be blown to hell by giant missiles. OK, so some of it does appeal to one's baser desires.

There's not a whole lot more to the game than that - despite the landscapes daring to get repetitive from time to time, mission objectives are suitably varied to keep you entertained, and the sight of a wide blue ocean at the start of each level always encourages you to see what else could be out there (answer: not much). Sophisticated it may not be, but launching hellfire missiles at bazooka-toting Asian-Americans (at least I think that's the current PC term for middle eastern folks) is a simple pleasure that never gets old. Although the game was released simultaneously for both the 16-bit consoles, it's the Genesis that gets the better deal, with some significantly higher quality sound effects and a smoother framerate, making for a slightly more pleasant experience when you're in the midst of General Kilbaba's armed hordes. The title has decent lasting appeal too, with a password system making up for the fact that some of the later levels will undoubtedly prove tricky for the casual gamer.

Desert Strike went on to spawn a surprisingly successful franchise, with a further four games appearing across various consoles up until 1998. For some reason though, the mooted fifth sequel Future Strike never appeared, and the series has lain dormant since the turn of the century. Personally I think a reinvention of the Strike games could go down really well on the modern generation of consoles - maybe even a 3D update of the first three 16-bit games, EA? Huh? Well, my pleading will probably fall on deaf ears, so in the meantime you'll have to avail yourself with attempting to track down the original cartridge. It's pretty tricky though (although for some reason I'm always finding copies of the N64's Nuclear Strike in bargain bins). Despite the viewing limitations mentioned earlier, there's not a whole lot wrong with the game per se - it's a straightforward enjoyable shooter and, as the first in a (relatively) long-running franchise deserves to be played for historical value as much as for fun-ness value. Of course, it's my natural instinct to close with some sort of insightful witticism regarding the current geopolitical situation and Desert Strike's topical relevance, but I'll forego my instincts and instead rave about how American gamers will undoubtedly love a gaming experiences consisting entirely of blowing up Johnny Foreigner for the good of the West. Or... will I??????

Desert Strike trivia

• The helicopter that takes the leading role in the game is the AH-64 Apache, and no, I don't have any interesting facts about that.
  
• There's a rather unexpected (to say the least) cameo from the King of Rock n' Roll himself, Elvis. Keep an eye out.
  
• The game made the impressive feat of having a whole fourteen years elapse between its original release and its port to the Playstation Portable.
  
• Desert Strike is an honorable mention in my official all-time Top 100 games.

The Videosphere

Let's take a look at this week's video highlight. I couldn't find any Genesis gameplay movies of Desert Strike in action, so here's a look at the Super NES iteration, with its admittedly inferior sound quality (and a slightly jerky video).




General indulgences

Every week in this section I'll endeavor to provide you, the faithful readers, with a fascinating insight into the various forms of entertainment currently dominating my spare time.

Unfortunately due to this being, as I mentioned before, the Fortnight From Hell, I haven't had the chance to do much. I did check out Smackdown vs Raw '08 on the Wii though, and thought it was a big pile of wank, so that's something for you!


And finally…

As always, reader feedback and suggestions are welcome, I respond to everything so just drop me a line or leave a comment. You can also check out my science fiction column "The Flux Capacitor" over at 411 Movies. Next week in "The Wonder Years" - a gaming experience you can truly mould to your liking. Until then - keep it real, keep it retro.