GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Mediocre
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/25/2002
- Released on: 10/01/2002
- Originally published on GameSpot: Conflict: Desert Storm (PC) Review
Conflict: Desert Storm is a military-themed tactical third-person shooter set in the Middle East during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the resulting Operation: Desert Storm. It puts you in charge of up to four troops at once, and while the squad element opens up some interesting strategic possibilities, the game fails to compete with other, similar PC games. Its problematic gameplay and run-of-the-mill presentation keep it from succeeding on any level.
You'll meet and command four teammates in Conflict: Desert Storm.
Desert Storm starts out with a brief optional tutorial segment. This training sequence teaches you the intricacies of movement, combat, and commanding your squad. From there, you're given control of one man and are sent on your first mission. Halfway through, you'll rescue the second member of your squad. As the game proceeds, you'll work your way up to four troops, each with different specialties. Some are better medics than others and some are better marksmen, and each starts with a different set of weaponry, including an M16, a sniper rifle, and other real-world weaponry. As you move from mission to mission, your troops gain experience. If one soldier uses a lot of medikits in a mission, he might become more proficient at healing. Other actions will improve your other stats, such as marksmanship, which is key considering how awful the game's auto-aim is at taking enemies out quickly.
Each level has a series of objectives that you must accomplish to move to the next level. Almost every mission suggests that you take a stealthy approach, but the game's definition of stealth is pretty loose. While you might think you've approached an enemy without being spotted, or even fired off a stealthy shot or two with a silenced pistol, most enemies automatically spot you as soon as you're in visual range, even if you're lying prone or ducking. Getting spotted will eventually cause the base you're infiltrating to raise the alarm, bringing more troops and other enemies to your location. Once your squad is at the four-soldier limit, however, dealing with enemy assaults isn't terribly difficult. Most objectives are usually as simple as escorting a diplomat through a dangerous area, destroying targets of military importance, and so on. Once you've completed your objectives, you simply need to get to the landing zone for extraction.
Everything about Desert Storm's gameplay is really, really clunky. The soldiers move in a very jerky way, and the mouse-based aiming control is never as smooth as you need it to be to make accurate shots. The interface used to order your other troops around is weird and unintuitive. There is neither a point-and-click interface to assign orders nor a first-person-shooter-styled inventory control system; instead, you need to hold down an item select button and use your movement keys to scroll through your list of items. Your entire inventory is accessed from one list of equippable items, and you must equip items in real time. So, if you're taking heavy fire and need to heal immediately, you'll have to hold the inventory button to bring up the list, scroll through the list until you find the medikit, use it, and then scroll back to your weapon. The same goes for planting explosives, using binoculars, or doing just about anything else. Breaking up weapons and other items into different categories or including the ability to set up quick access to important items would have been a much more straightforward way of dealing with the game's inventory. Instead, you'll find yourself fumbling for your detonator, wondering which soldier is holding the antitank rockets, or wasting medikits in the heat of battle.
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