Desert Strike

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The Strike Desert: Back to the Bay is a video game recording released by Electronic Arts (EA) in February 1992 for Sega Genesis. The game was released in several other formats such as Super Nintendo Entertainment System, including a much improved version for Amiga home computers. The game was inspired by the Gulf War and described the conflict between the mad Middle East dictator, General Kilbaba, and the United States. Players control Apache helicopters and attempt to destroy enemy weapons and installations, rescue hostages and capture enemy personnel, while managing fuel supplies and ammunition.

The main designer Mike Posehn has no video game experience before developing the Desert Strike. Inspired by Choplifter , he aims to create nonlinear games with smooth animated vehicles. Posehn developed a camera system with momentum to mimic realistic helicopter movements. Three-dimensional (3D) modeling is used to generate vehicle sprites, which are then touched at the pixel level by color.

Strike Desert is a commercial success: it is the best-selling seller of the chart and at that time the highest sales game of Electronic Arts. The game also received lucrative critical responses, with some magazines giving more than 90% value. Reviewers praise the fun of games, blend of action and strategy, graphics and sound. There was some controversy over the subject matter of the game, with commentators criticizing it as in a bad sense because of its proximity to the recent Gulf War.

Video Desert Strike

Gameplay

Desert Strike is a shoot up em game in which the pilot helicopter player Apache AH-64. The game is less frantic than typical trickery, with the addition of a larger strategic element. This action occurs at the open and multi-way scrolling level seen from an isometric perspective. The player sees action from outside the helicopter, not from within the cockpit. Players are also assisted by their copilot, which they can choose at the beginning of the mission; each copilot plays differently with different skill levels. The best copilot, Lieutenant Carlos "Jake" Valdez, lost in action early in the game, and can be found and rescued during one of the missions.

The level consists of several missions, which are based around the destruction of weapons and enemy installations, as well as saving hostages or prisoners of war, or capturing enemy personnel. Apache is armed with machine guns, Hydra rockets are more powerful and Hellfire missiles are more deadly. The stronger the weapon, the less that can be taken: the player must choose the right weapon for each situation. The enemy weapons range from soldiers with small arms, to anti-aircraft missiles to tanks and armored cars.

The player's craft has a limited number of armor, which runs out when the helicopter is hit by enemy fire. If the shield reaches zero, the plane will be destroyed, sacrificing the player for life. Players must outperform the enemy to avoid damage, but can refill the armor by using power-ups or by flying the rescued person's opponent or captive into the landing zone. The helicopter has a limited amount of fuel that continues to decrease over time. Should the fuel runs out of Apache will crash, again cost the player's life. The aircraft can refuel by collecting fuel barrels: players must plan mission routes carefully to maximize efficiency. The helicopter also carried limited ammunition, which had to be replenished with ammunition boxes.

Maps Desert Strike

Plot

The game opens with a self-proclaimed general named Kilbaba (Mubaba in the Super NES version) seizing control of an unnamed Gulf fiction country. Installing itself as a dictator, Kilbaba quickly began to strengthen its position with weapons and military installations, including facilities to build nuclear bombs. The United States decided to send a helicopter, driven by an unnamed player character and assisted by a co-pilot, to infiltrate and destroy Kilbaba's troops in a series of rapid attacks.

Overall, four missions must be completed:

• In the first level ( Air Superiority), players must destroy some enemy airstrips and their support facilities, as well as free the affected pro-American spy who holds important information about the Kilbaba plan next.
• The next mission ( Scud Buster ) requires placement and destruction of a chemical weapons factory and a number of launchers that use chemically charged missiles, and evacuate non-local and American warriors and P.O.Ws.
• The third mission ( Embassy City ) spun to save the UN inspection team, destroy biological weapons factories and bio-warhead missiles ready for use, and rescue large numbers of hostages, including personnel from local American embassies.
• In the final stages ( Nuclear Storm ), players must - inter alia - prevent the destruction of major oil production facilities, disable nuclear power plants and some spare parts for nuclear weapons, and ultimately lower Kilbaba itself. Kilbaba tried to escape in a bomber plane armed with a nuclear bomb, so the player had to destroy it and his plane before leaving the runway.

The plot of the game was felt by commentators to be a vague reference to the Gulf War, while comparisons were drawn between Kilbaba and Saddam Hussein, and among the unnamed games in the desert and Iraq.

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Development and release

This game was developed by a team led by Mike Posehn. In the 1980s, Posehn had previously worked for EA as a software developer. Immediately after leaving EA, he obtained a publishing deal with the company for Deluxe Video. The success of the software spurred Posehn to expand and experiment with flight simulators titled Fly for IBM Personal Computer; However, the International Business Machine canceled the project. Posehn then met with EA president, Trip Hawkins who suggested that Posehn develop the game for Genesis, which will be released shortly. He also recommends that Posehn create games similar to the Apple II game Choplifter ; Hawkins felt flying the helicopter and rescuing the people was "cool".

Desert Strike has undergone several changes from the plan outlined in the original design document. The initial concept involved a smooth animation vehicle in the field of isometric games. The developers also aim to include a cinematic scene, similar to The Revenge of Shinobi '. The game began development some time before any discussion about the American invasion of Iraq, originally based on the Lebanese Civil War and titled Beirut Breakout; this was later changed to the Persian Gulf region. John Manley recalled, "We actually wrote most of the Desert Strike before Desert Shield happened.We were watching CNN at 3 pm and suddenly it was like, 'Oh my God - it happened!'" Special points system intended to punish players removed; the system will reduce the points of the player's score if they destroy objects that result in negative economic and political outcomes. The control scheme was not well received on an internal review of the early versions of the game, and Posehn had to change the original design to gain approval for further development.

John Manley, an EA employee, helped write a game program. He and Posehn collaborated to create a sandbox game format, which they named "SNAFU". Posehn wants this game to have a nonlinear game flow, and Manley feels having a story line and a riddle will help the player progress. Posehn does not like common game elements such as boss series and power-ups. As a compromise, the developers only include power-ups to refill ammunition, armor, and other helicopter resources. To provide players with options, the SNAFU system is designed to allow players to complete side missions in addition to the main objectives. If a player changes the game scenario so that the goal can not be completed, the game instructs the player to reset the mission by returning to the base.

Inspired by the Matchbox toys he played since childhood, Posehn decided to make the size of a game sprite resemble a toy. Posehn contacted his friend, Tim Calvin, to help design and create sprite vehicles. Although Calvin was a practicing dentist at the time, he also had experience with 3D modeling. He created a 3D model on the computer and reduced it to the desired size. Different views are obtained by rotating the model along a single axis. Calvin adds color to sprites to meet the production staff specifications; most needed black, white, red, and blue, and four shades of colors like green and brown. Calvin finally felt the rendering process was a waste of resources and attempted to create sprites at his own pixel level without a 3D model. The developers, however, prefer the sprites made from Calvin's top freestyle models.

Posehn has a hard time working on the output resolution of Genesis 320ÃÆ' â € "240. He wants to show as many game fields as possible without losing the sprite details; he feels the lack of graphic detail will make them less attractive. Posehn developed a dynamic camera system to help retain what he perceives as the right balance between the size of the field seen and the size of the game object. The camera runs on the elliptic curve as the helicopter rotates to change its course direction; this puts anything in front of the helicopter more visible on the screen. Posehn also integrates momentum into camera movement to smooth the transition. He spent several months working in physics for screens and helicopters to ensure a realistic gesture. Instead of using really accurate physics, Posehn chose to model moves that he believed would have assumed a player would have a helicopter. He believes players will be delayed by physics that do not fit the movement they feel.

After the success of the Genesis/Mega Drive version, work begins on the conversion for Amiga, with Gary Roberts (known as John Madden Amiga conversion) and David Colclough (responsible for Myths ) responsible responsible for development. The developers retouched and redrew the graphics and added additional sound effects taken from military training videos. Conversions for other systems include Atari Lynx, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Master System, Game Gear, and Game Boy. The game was also ported to Game Boy Advance, ten years later in 2002, such as Desert Strike Advance , and was re-released in 2006 for the PlayStation Portable as part of a budget compilation.

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Reception

Commentators feel the game is an attempt to capitalize on the extensive and recent coverage of Gulf War news, which focuses on the use of sophisticated and impersonal weapons (such as aircraft and missiles) to destroy enemy weapons and installations. Some commentators thought the game material was bad, with one magazine reporting a veteran incident that burned a copy of the game.

Desert Strikes is a direct commercial success, going straight to the top of the sales charts. This game remains a top-10 best seller for months after its release, and at that time is the highest selling game Electronic Arts.

Mean Machines praised the sophistication and tactical freedom found in the game, as well as its longevity and graphics. The magazine considers it to be one of the best shooters on Mega Drive so far, as well as the best game released for the console that month. Computers and Video Games felt the game material was rather bad, but praised its depth, soundtrack and sound effects. The magazine felt the game was "important" to Mega Drive owners. ACE praised the balance of action and strategy, as well as various missions. The magazine felt some graphs, especially the explosions, were a bit weak and complained that the fact that the helicopters were not fully armed and refueled after the loss of life became extremely frustrating. MegaTech magazine compliments the graphics and gameplay, and says it is "one of the best photographed them in Megadrive". Retro Gamer includes this "people's way of thinking" among the ten Mega Drive games.

The Amiga Action feels the game is not very innovative, but praises unlimited games, graphics and sound. The reviewer claims the Amiga version of the game runs slower than the Mega Drive version but overall feels the port is "more than a satisfactory translation". Amiga Computing recorded improved graphics and sounds in the Mega Drive version and praised the game as "the best EA moment since Populous ". The book's review also recognizes the "game's brilliant" game. The Amiga Format praised "Successful cross between shoot and flight simulator", graphics, sound, varied missions, and "extraordinary fun" of the game, although reviewers noted some "occasional annoyances" occurring in sounds and graphics. CU Amiga praised the improved graphics and sounds of the Amiga version, especially the explosion, though the reviewer made fun of the unbeatable unbeatable units as unrealistic and complained of poorly artificial enemy intelligence. But the magazine says that "Everything is considered, Desert Strike can not be a better game", praising the "fast and panic" action and the "appeal of one more appeal". The One praised the mix of action and strategy and argued that the Amiga version is a strong improvement over Mega Drive games. The magazine said that the game "played like a dream" and "one of the best filming available for all game machines".

The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly provide different praise for the control and graphics of the Lynx version, but agree that on the smaller portable screen Desert Strike loses a lot of impact and playback, because it is difficult to identify enemies or even see the bullets of fire player characters.

GamePro gave the Game Boy version of the positive reviews, saying it "has almost everything that makes the original title good." They especially praised the graphics and sound effects are broad and realistic, commenting that they are very impressive considering the limitations of the Game Boy cartridges. Mike Weigand of Electronic Gaming Monthly also thought of it as "The classic 16-bit military portable version that is faithful enough."

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Legacy

Desert Strike followed by four sequels of Jungle Strike, Urban Strike, Soviet Strike and Nuclear Attack. expanded on the basic gameplay he founded. Design staff strive to maintain the game mechanics they perceive as the core of the original. They believe removing those elements will result in a loss of focus from what attracts fans. As the series moves to a more advanced console, Posehn becomes less involved in the development programming side. Jungle Strike and Urban Strike , both released for Genesis, featuring vehicles and additional locations. Soviet Strike , released for the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996, featuring 3D graphics, as well as Nuclear Strike , was released on PC and PlayStation in 1997 and Nintendo 64 in 1999 The fifth sequel while titled Future Strike is planned, but the game is finally released as Future Cop: LAPD, a technology-based shooter game.

Fatima Al Qadiri, a producer who lived in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, recorded an extended game of the same name based on his experience playing the Desert Strike a year after the war ended; released in October 2012 by Fade to Mind.

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Note

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References

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External links

• Desert Strike: Back to the Bay in MobyGames

Source of the article : Wikipedia