| Desert Strike | |
|---|---|
 European Mega Drive cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Electronic Arts Foresight New Media (DOS) Ocean Software (GB) |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts
|
| Producer(s) | Richard Robbins |
| Designer(s) | Mike Posehn John Manley |
| Programmer(s) | Mike Posehn |
| Artist(s) | Paul Vernon Gary Martin Amy Hennig |
| Composer(s) | Brian Schmidt Rob Hubbard |
| Series | Strike |
| Platform(s) | Genesis, Amiga, MS-DOS, Mac OS, Master System, Lynx, Game Gear, Game Boy/Super Game Boy, Super NES, PlayStation Portable[nb 1] |
| Release | March 1992 GEN |
| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is a shoot 'em up video game released by Electronic Arts (EA) in March 1992[2] for the Sega Genesis. The game was released on several other formats such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, including a much upgraded version for the Amiga home computer. The game was inspired by the Gulf War and depicts a conflict between an insane Middle Eastern dictator, General Kilbaba, and the United States. The player controls an Apache helicopter and attempts to destroy enemy weapons and installations, rescue hostages and capture enemy personnel, while managing supplies of fuel and ammunition.
Lead designer Mike Posehn had no video game experience prior to developing Desert Strike. Inspired by Choplifter, he aimed to create a nonlinear game with smoothly animated vehicles. Posehn developed a camera system with momentum to mimic realistic helicopter movements. Three-dimensional (3D) modeling was used to generate the vehicle sprites, which were later touched up on the pixel level with color.
Desert Strike was a commercial success: it was a chart-topping best seller and at the time Electronics Arts' highest selling game. The game also received a favourable critical response, with several magazines awarding scores of over 90%. Reviewers praised the game's enjoyability, mix of action and strategy, graphics and sound. There was controversy regarding the game's subject matter, with commentators criticising it as in poor taste due to the proximity of its release to the recently ended Gulf War.
- ^ "Sega Visions" (PDF). Sega Visions. No. 8 (May/June 1992). United States: Sega. May 1992. p. 56.
- ^ "Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf". Sega Retro. 26 December 2022.
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