A reader explains his love for EAs Strike franchise and argues that the Mega Drive classics deserve a new sequel or remake.
The Strike series is a very well known and popular series of games which was developed and created by Electronic Arts. The first time I was ever aware of the Strike games was when I had the pleasure to play the very first game in this impressive series. This, of course, was Desert Strike, which at the time was available on the Sega Mega Drive as well as other platforms.
For example, the Amiga version did have improvements over other formats, which were notable. However, this did not stop me from becoming a fan of this great series thanks to the first game and here is why.
Desert Strike: Return To The Gulf offered to me something I had never seen before in a Mega Drive game. It allowed players to carry out missions as well as being able to choose what side tasks you wanted to do, as well as being able to explore the map and be able to utilise some great handy features of the game.
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For example, you could choose to rescue missing in action troops and then drop them off at landing zones, which rewarded you for doing so. Adding to this was the use of a password system that when used allowed the player to return to any map of their choice and the campaigns with it.
One other great feature of Desert Strike that was also impressive was the menu when paused, which offered detailed descriptions of the missions and any side quests as well as any supplies you needed. This provided the player with good advice and was helpful during campaigns. This to me made the game replayable and enjoyable while providing a good level of lastability.
Jungle Strike had then been developed and released, which for the first time introduced additional vehicles as well as a new helicopter which carried more passengers and had two chainguns that the player could use, as well as brand new campaign maps.
Adding to this was the newer features of using aircraft and vehicles like the F-117 Stealth Fighter, which had unlimited ammo and was able to drop bombs on the enemy. This made it fun to use before completing the final campaign. Jungle Strike had then paved the way for the third game in the series, which would be developed and called Urban Strike.
Urban Strike was then released and offered everything the two previous games did, with a whole new storyline with a newer villain called Carlos Malone. We also go to use many of the vehicles and aircraft from the other games. As well as newer maps we also go the chance in a campaign to go inside an actual building. This allowed the player to use new weapons on foot which had never happened in the previous games and did offer a new experience which I found was impressive given this was a Mega Drive game.
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The fourth and fifth game in the series both appeared on both Sonys PlayStation 1 and Segas Saturn consoles, which at the time were next generation hardware. These were Soviet Strike and Nuclear Strike.
Nuclear and Soviet Strike actually appeared on CD and not on cartridges. This allowed for vast improvements to be made in the games. For example, animated movie videos could be played in the background during campaigns and even in the menu when paused. This was not done before in Strike games and was the first time this happened.
We also got introduced to brand new characters in the series and got to see improvements with the game physics and even got background music playing during the campaigns, which also never happened in the previous games.
The Strike series has been one of the greatest series by EA that I have enjoyed playing and considering we are currently enjoying the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems I would love and warmly welcome a newer title in the series. Or some updated ports of the previous games, as they have more than earned their place as one of EAs greatest series to me personally and these games have managed to spawn across multiple formats even after Nuclear Strike was released.
By reader gaz be rotten (gamertag)
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