Desert Strike

STORY / GAMEPLAY
With a fiery blast from your Hellfire missiles you must annihilate a ruthless tyrant's military arsenal. This is a shoot 'em up in which you control an AH-64 Apache attack chopper. The game is less frantic than the classic shoot 'em ups, with the addition of greater strategic elements. The action takes place in an open, multi-directional scrolling levels viewed from an isometric perspective. Oh yes, you view the action from outside the helicopter, rather than from inside the cockpit. The levels consist of several missions which are based around the destruction of all enemy weapons and installations as well as rescuing hostages or prisoners of war. The Apache is armed with machine guns, Hydra rockets and the deadly Hellfire missiles. But beware: The more powerful the weapon, the fewer ammunition can be carried! If your ammunition gets too low (or out) you can replenish it by collecting ammo crates scattered around. Also the chopper can refuel by collecting fuel barrels. On the another hand, the enemy powers range from soldiers with small weapons to anti-aircraft missiles, tanks and armored cars. You should ALWAYS plan your routes carefully in order to maximize efficiency otherwise you may kill yourself either by running out of fuel or being hit many times by enemy fire (the armor reaches zero at this occasion).

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The graphics are marvelous! The game runs only in VGA graphics mode and the visuals are almost identical to the Amiga version with a few more colors mainly on the static loading screens and objects (such as buildings, frigates and so on). The terrains are greatly detailed with coastlines, airfields, sand-hills, barracks, rocket launcher stations andd more. Especially your AH-64 is greatly detailed and impressively animated! Note that the PC version runs faster and smoother, obviously due to its higher CPU-clock (the graphics are isometric). The PC version offers some nice sounds, featuring a nice intro tune and several sampled in-game sound effects (rotor engine, gun/missile firing etc)! Comparably, the Amiga version offers some extra sound effects like MIAs screaming "Help" and "Over here"!