Soviet Strike

Developer - Electronic Arts
Publisher - Electronic Arts
Players - 1
Extras - Memory card

The bit on the box

"Take the Strike helicopter into the heart of the decaying Soviet Union to halt the rise of a world-threatening military crack-pot. With a ground-breaking 3D engine, high quality interleaving 'action' footage complimenting the real-life plot and the powerful Strike.net data source at your disposal it's your job as Strike's top pilot to stop the war before it begins."

Graphics

Those people familiar with the previous games in the Strike series will immediately notice the graphical improvements made in Soviet Strike. The main game maps have undergone most of the upgrade treatment, now more realistic than the titles of old ever were. Many various landscapes are used to represent the region in which each mission takes place, from ice covered rivers and mountain tops to desert canyons and even over water. The enemies are now easier to identify too, and change based on the whereabouts of a mission (e.g.. SCUDS in the desert, battleships over the sea, and Hind gunships in Russia), so you always have the feeling of "what the hell are they going to throw at me next?". Some little touches seem a little silly though, with people sunbathing in the middle of alert warzones (!!!). Also while the animation of units is adequate overall, the scrolling of the play area is very jerky and leaves alot to be desired.

Sounds

This is one of the best parts of the game, which creates more of a wartime atmosphere than the graphics and gameplay combined. Chainguns whir, missiles whoosh, explosions sound great as do the screams of enemies as you turn them into toast. There are alot of radio voice overs from both your allies and from the enemy, and some are especially comical as a soldier will say something cocky right before he meets his unexpected demise thanks to your chopper's cannons. The voice acting is rather good considering the various different accents needed for all the characters, and the music sets good pace, changing when it needs to in order to alert you of incoming action.

Gameplay

From the outset the player can choose which camera angle to play with, either from the original classic isometric view or the newer "behind the chopper" view (which is much better in my opinion). A couple of easy missions would be nice to start with but that isn't the case here, as you are thrown in at the deep end to rescue your co-pilot before he is executed, and failure to do so spells the end of the mission. This can be a bit tough for newcomers to the series but thankfully after the opening two missions things settle down a little into a few search and destroy assignments in which the player can get used to the chopper's controls. I did find that the in game compass can sometimes be misleading, and having to switch to the map screen all the time can be a bit of a pain. Most missions are quite varied, but the third scenario in the game is somewhat repetitive, as they are all search and destroy missions, no capture, spy, or escorts. Overall however the gameplay remains faithful to the series, which should please fans.

I feel a verdict coming on

Soviet Strike is an excellent combination of action, fighting, explosions, espionage and humour. The humour especially serves to break up the over serious nature of war, by far the best bit being when you have to escort the rather erratically driving Boris Yeltsin to the airport for emergency evacuation, and in the middle of a chase against multiple tanks he says "Me want burger" and you are forced to fight off the enemy as he pulls into a drive in takeaway to satisfy his appetite. A couple of the missions can take a little working out as to what exactly you are supposed to be doing, but otherwise there is alot of fun to be had stopping wars before they happen. The best game of the Strike series.

Review by D.R.T.Barrett