Platform: Sega Genesis Size: 16 Meg Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium
Urban Strike is the third in a series of highly successful overhead helicopter war games. Having never played the second title, Jungle Strike, I can't really compare to it. I have played the original, Desert Strike, and found it to be a great game in almost every respect. The only gripe I had about the first game was the difficulty mastering the precise nature of the controls. This game has all of the things I loved about Desert Strike, plus a bunch of new features.
The graphics are a mixed bag this time around. On one hand, the scenery looks great; it's much more detailed than Desert Strike. The map/status screen looks redesigned, but because they spruced it up so much, it can be hard to see what you're trying to destroy. All of the sprites are very clean and polished looking; everything from the AAA bunkers to the battleships looks great. The new chopper you start off with is great- looking as well, and to top things off, the explosions look fantastic. Now for the bad news. The cinemas between stages have been reduced to cruddy- looking still images with a crudely animated guy waving his hand up and down, or something to that effect. I was terribly disappointed with these; Desert Strike had some fabulous cinemas, and it was half the size of this game. If you can stand that, you won't have any trouble getting used to this game.
The sound, too is a toss-up. The sound effects are much improved; I don't think I've ever heard a richer, fuller explosion on a Genesis cart. The gun sounds and winch sounds are great, both sounding much better than I can remember in Desert Strike. The digitized voice is terrible, however, and I'm not even sure why they stuck it in there. When you complete a mission, you here a garbled rendition of what I think is "Complete!", but sounds more like "A-Choo" (Gezundheit.) The music is a bit tinny and not very rich, even for the Genesis. The intro music was particularly shameful. Basically, they took the Desert Strike music and tried to give it a "techno" edge. Yecch. But, since you don't hear it through most of the game, no big deal.
Control is the heart of games like these. Graphics are nice, sound is a good reward for smashing your enemy's existence, but if you don't have complete control over your vehicle, it's not even worth the play. EA lives up to its name yet again here. The control in this game is superb. Some people hate this series because of that awful "momentum" of the chopper-- quit cryin', because you can turn it off. You shouldn't though, because it adds so much realism and control to the game. Not only that, but you get to fly a huge, mega-armored rescue chopper as well, and it handles completely different. I was impressed with the way the two craft flew completely different and made me learn to fly each differently. A big control problem that Desert Strike experienced was the "I'm right next to my enemy, but I'm shooting over his head" dilemma. Say no more. This baby autotargets for the most part, and when you find the better copilots, depending on their strong suit, you will notice a BIG difference in how fast and accurate your guns are, and how quick that winch and ladder operate. Little things like this make a good game great.
This isn't to say this game doesn't have its quirks and cheezy parts, because it does. One particularly bad part of the game comes when you must enter an oil rig and search for Keith Michaels (Tracker from Desert Strike) and a lost airstrike beacon. They gambled that trying to apply the whole 3/4 overhead run and shoot thing would work in a game like this. It fails miserably. The control in this part of the game is awful, and it just looks cheezy. There was no reason to put this in the game in my opinion. If they could have created a "mini-game" that could stand on its own next to games like Soldiers of Fortune or other shooters, I wouldn't gripe. But, as it is, it's just out of place here, and a big waste of cartridge as far as I'm concerned.
All in all, this game is very solid. I like it a lot. Certain things, like the run and shoot part, annoy me considerably, but not enough to make me put the controller down. If you liked Desert Strike and/or Jungle Strike and are looking for more challenge in the same vein, by all means pick this up. If you like action games with more than a little strategy as well, this is your game. In fact, I can't really think of too many reasons why you shouldn't buy this game-- the missions are great and never get boring, and unlike so many Genesis games today, you won't finish this game in a night. It'll be a while before you beat this game. By the time that happens, I'm sure EA will already have another sequel on the shelves.
This review is Copyright 1994 by Dan Magaha for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.