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Nuclear Strike review

Game: Nuclear Strike
Platform: PlayStation
Genre: Action
Developer: Electronic Arts

Reader review by G_Dub

February 09, 2009

Released for our beloved Playstation 1 console in 97. (10 years already?) This is the best chopper game I've played, but that's not saying much. Not to say the game is bad, but it depends on your taste.

~Storyline~
You're a commander who needs to complete missions through the use of different vehicles (mainly heli's though) to save the world from certain Nuclear War, or WW3. You have to find Le Monde, the main baddie, and kill his associates through various missions, and he even does let off a Nuke in South Korea! You'll finally destroy his plans in Siberia, Russia, and he claims that somehow he was going to save the world.

Score-6/10 Generic by now yes, but it is conveyed somewhat well through abrupt video clips of the characters in action, and it is done quite realistically, so it scores a six.

~Audio~
It may be one of the lesser aspects of a game, but having bad audio quality can still hurt a game. It does so here. Every sound effect, explosion, and voice or death cry on the levels sound grainy, and muffled. This is some of the worst I have ever heard, and it is hardly better than a 16 bit game system. Expect little to no appreciation for the sound on this game. If it weren't for the important warnings, and voice overs, I would have muted the music for eternity, but the game forces you to listen to what it offers. The music doesn't fit any of the levels it associates with, and most of the time I don't even know music is on, so what does that tell you? The only decent sound quality is on some of the video clips of your boss, or in battle.

Score-3/10

~Graphics~Certain amounts of graphics CAN make or break a game-Make-Resident Evil 4. Break-Superman 64. Anyways, I know the game was made on only a 32 bit system and in 1997, but the graphics are muddy, and sub-par.. Every object in the game is small, so you think they could have given the things higher polygon counts, but nope, we're stuck with hard- to-tell- what- that- is graphics some of the time. People look like clumpy dots walking, and look worse than the 8 bit Mario. Some of the terrain textures look muddy, or washed-out, even if they are trying to portray mud, or washed out soil. You'll see everything from beaches, to water, mud, trees, grasslands, mountains, desert, and nuclear craters in the game. They all look from average to bad. Heli's and tanks and the rest of the enemies look okay, they look real, but are quite small, and still the graphics are not very clean. If you're finally playing now, it's gonna feel real outdated.

Score-5/10

~Gameplay~ You play the game as one of many choppers, tanks, or even things like a hovercraft. You get mission briefings, and as soon as you get one you gotta go and do that, because sometimes if you wait you can fail the mission. Very linear. There are up to 8 missions per level, taking up to about 20 minutes long, across 7 levels and a bonus one. Missions range from pick up supplies or agents, to following and protecting a vehicle, to destroying rockets, or just killing whatever. Somewhat entertaining. You always start off in a chopper that is easily controlled. You can move by the pad (no joystick support) strafe with L1, R1, and change options with R2. No need to worry about the altitude of your choppers, they automatically hover just above the highest obstacles. You can accomplish your missions with weapons like machine guns, missiles, wings, and rockets. Throughout the level you will pick up armor and ammo to resupply, as your chopper winches it aboard. You also have to periodically refuel. The level of destruction on this game is also amazing. If you love mind numbing destruction pick this one up. You can destroy everything like trees, people jeeps, and buildings. You can even leave craters in the ground by blowing up gas stations!

Score-6 Fans-7

~Value/Replay Value~
The value of this game isn't much because it could be beat in about 5 hours the first time, and after you know what you're doing maybe three. It doesn't offer multi-player or anything, so after the main quest it's basically over. You will probably maybe play certain levels over, or just comeback to destroy things with the hover craft, but I doubt you'd do a complete re-run through. It is fun to come back with cheats though like god mode, and 99 lives.

Overall Score-5

In the end Nuclear Strike is a game fans will appreciate and most likely buy, but if you're a fan you're probably not reading this because you already have it. So you potential buyers out there, consider this. It would be worth two rentals, but I doubt many places have it for rent anymore. There are many good points, and bad points in the game, so it depends on how you take those into consideration. If you're looking for some quick fun, and can get over the graphics and audio, and short length...you'll enjoy it. If not, maybe you could appreciate it for maybe $5

Rating: 5/10

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