October 2020 - Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf

[NinjaKat]

OCS/ECS Game of the Month for October, 2020, is Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf!

Yes, we played this in AGA back in May, so we should have a bit of practice ready for the OCS version!

The Middle East.  A melting pot of religions, races and confliction arguments.  Without warning a madman has emerged from this background and threatened to start Armageddon.

The Governments of the world known very little about this menace, the self-styled "General" Kilbaba, but we have enough evidence of his military capabilities to take his threats very seriously.  The President has chosen you to fly a series of dangerous pre-emptive desert campaigns to vanquish this maniac.

Desert Strike is a shoot 'em up game in which the player pilots an AH-64 Apache helicopter (albeit modified with a Fenestron rotor). The game is less frantic than typical shoot 'em ups, with the addition of greater strategic elements. The action takes place on open, multi-directional scrolling levels viewed from an isometric perspective. The player views the action from outside the helicopter, rather than from within the cockpit. The player is also assisted by their copilot, who they can pick at the start of the mission; each copilot plays differently with different skill levels. The best copilot, Lt. Carlos "Jake" Valdez, is missing in action at the start of the game, and can be found and rescued during one of the missions.

Levels consist of several missions, which are based around the destruction of enemy weapons and installations, as well as rescuing hostages or prisoners of war, or capturing enemy personnel. The Apache is armed with a machine gun, more powerful Hydra rockets and yet more deadly Hellfire missiles. The more powerful the weapon, the fewer can be carried: the player must choose an appropriate weapon for each situation. Enemy weapons range from soldiers with small arms, to anti-aircraft missiles to tanks and armoured cars.

Information:

• Amiga Hardware: OCS, ECS
  
• Release Year: 1993
• Disks: 3
• WHDLoad: Yes
• Players: 1 only
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: Gary Roberts, Dave Colclough

Links to game information:

• Wikipedia
• Lemon Amiga Info
• Hall of Light / Manual

Please refer to the 'Game of the Month Rules and Participation' post for information on how to participate!  Good Luck!

* To qualify for the game of the month, you must play the OCS/ECS version (from 1993), starting with campaign 1.

[NinjaKat]

138200 on my A1200

[NinjaKat]

Hi all!
Got to be in it to win it!
This was not a great score at all, but I'll take the prize!
Let's all get into November, and don't forget, we have a double comp next month for December! (special comp for Christmas).
NinjaKat

November 2020 OCS/ECS Winner: NinjaKat.