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
This game really offers unique for its time graphics! The visuals on the Amiga are identical to the PC VGA version, though it has only 32 colors on-screen. The PC version offers more colors but the differences with the Amiga are minimal. The terrains are greatly detailed with coastlines, airfields, sand-hills, barracks, buildings rocket launcher stations and more. Most of the models were first created in 3D, and later mapped to 2D. Especially your helicopter is greatly detailed and impressively animated! The Amiga version has great sound featuring a few quality intro and loading tunes as well as several in-game sampled sound effects (rotor engine, gun/missile firing, explosions, MIAs screaming "Help", "Over here!" and many more).