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The 16-bit era gave us three excellent tactical shoot ’em ups. Games that reward thinking, planning, and patience. I am, of course, talking about the Strike series. It all started in 1992 with Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf, the game that introduced players to the world of unique helicopter shooting action in open-ended maps that give you the freedom to fly anywhere and complete missions in any order. You’re encouraged to think and come up with a strategy for completing campaigns. It was followed up by the sequels Jungle Strike and Urban Strike. Jungle Strike is my favorite out of the 16-bit games even if I’m not the biggest fan of the additional vehicles it introduces. Ultimately, it offers more of the same great tactical action, more variety, and feels better to play. Urban Strike is another solid entry and the most accessible one out of the three, only brought down by it’s awful on-foot action. After that, the series would enter the 3D realm with the release of Soviet Strike. Developed by Electronic Arts and Tiburon Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, Soviet Strike was released for PlayStation in 1996 and Saturn in 1997. For this review, I played the Saturn version. My research led me to discover there are differences between the two. The Saturn version features bug fixes and an optional Easy difficulty level among some other things.
The story centers on an operations force known as STRIKE. Its purpose is to prevent “wars that never happen” and the player takes on the role of a STRIKE helicopter pilot. The big bad in the plot is the Shadowman, former head of the KGB who is exploiting the end of the Soviet Union for his own ends. The story is conveyed through dialogue and full motion videos and the acting actually isn’t terrible. I was surprised. The story, itself, isn’t anything special but I enjoyed watching the actors. Soviet Strike still retains the militaristic nature the series is known for but feels more over-the-top, dramatic, and humorous with the just right amount of cheese.
Right off the bat, I want to say Soviet Strike does carry over everything that made the prior games enjoyable but before digging into the nitty gritty, I want first go over what’s new and changed. First and foremost and the most obvious, Soviet Strike is presented in 3D. You can save your progress but the game does come with a password save system as well. There are two camera options available but I primarily stuck with the default which is positioned behind and above your helicopter. There is a HUD now which can be turned off but, unfortunately, no radar or minimap of any kind so you still have the pause the game to view the map and mission information. Before jumping into a campaign, you can configure your helicopter’s loadout. You can select a balanced load, guns only, all hydras, or all hellfires. Your helicopter can also be outfitted with a Wingtip Load and you can choose sidewinders, fuel drop pods, ECMs, or no load at all. You can strafe or “jink” and easily fire weapons simultaneously this time around and exclusive to the Saturn version is powerful weapons hidden in the environments and the optional Easy difficulty level. The other is Normal. What they should have called them is Hard and Impossible because Soviet Strike is extremely challenging no matter what difficulty level you play on.
Just like in the previous games, the story plays out in campaigns and each one consists of multiple missions to complete. You have a limited amount of fuel and ammo and both can be replenished from pickups found in the environments along with armor repairs. If you run out of fuel or if all your armor is depleted, you lose a life. Lose all your lives and it’s game over. Each campaign map is open-ended and you are able to fly around them freely. As you complete missions, you’ll receive intel and transmissions from other STRIKE members. Figuring out the best approach and strategy to complete missions and campaigns is all part of the fun. While challenging, overcoming the challenges does result in a feeling of immense reward and satisfaction. But it can also prove to be frustrating if you don’t have the patience to endure repeated failures.
The Strike games are known for their difficulty. Anyone who has played any games up to this point should know that if you don’t know what you’re doing, you will struggle to survive and progress. These games are all about thinking, planning, and managing resources. Soviet Strike is no exception but I did find it more frustrating. It’s brutal from the get-go and part of my frustration stems from the fact I was often shot at by enemies off-screen and either camera option doesn’t alleviate that. Enemies are seemingly everywhere and will attack you mercilessly, ranging from small arms fire to missiles and it’s not always easy to see where the projectiles are coming from. Plus, when the helicopter is low on armor, it emits smoke and what looks like a small explosion which I believe is supposed to be fire but at first, I thought I was being attacked. This leads me to the point that the presentation doesn’t always help matters. While it is the first 3D entry in the series and may have been impressive for its time, some aspects just haven’t aged gracefully. The graininess and colors can sometimes make it hard to identify what things are or what’s happening, especially when you’re in motion, and enemies sometimes blend in with the environments.
The Saturn version does support multiple control options; the standard controller, 3D Control Pad, and Mission Stick. Soviet Strike does not feature additional vehicles or on-foot areas. It’s just the helicopter and that’s not a complaint. For the most part, the gameplay is pretty much what you would expect from a Strike game, difficulty and all. It’s a very trial and error experience. I would also say Soviet Strike feels faster-paced than the prior games and enemies showcase more advanced behavior here. They move around a lot more and there’s one campaign where you’ll have to stop forces from advancing. As for the missions, you’ll do the typical stuff like shooting and blowing stuff up and rescuing people. You’ll also have to defend people, pick up and drop explosives on enemies, and airlift things. Some missions won’t let you take your time and do require quick thinking. The game does offer good mission variety and I found several missions in the later campaigns more challenging than those that came before it. It’s a tough game and you’ll most likely repeat campaigns over and over again until you figure out how to complete every mission properly. You need to figure out what routes to take, what enemies to prioritize, and definitely know where pickups are located because you’ll need the ammo and fuel.
Enemies come in many of the same forms they came in before. You’ve got your ground troops, tanks, vehicles, boats, aircraft, and turrets. The maps are large and ripe for exploration which can often lead you to pickups which you’ll most likely need. It does seem that the environments here are more destructible than those in the prior games and in one campaign, you can use parts of the environments to your advantage like shooting boulders to cause landslides and blowing up fuel dumps to damage or destroy nearby enemies. There are only five campaigns total and while that may seem like a small amount, even compared to the last two games, you’ll probably end up spending a good amount of time in each one. I can’t say the environments are as diverse as those in Urban Strike but each campaign is distinct and the environments have a more realistic look to them undoubtedly due to the more advanced technology and presentation.
I think for the time Soviet Strike released, it looked impressive. Compared to the previous games, everything looks more realistic and I like the little details like animals in the environments for example. Things like that go a long way in making the environments feel alive. The presentation is not super colorful or vibrant and as mentioned before, it can sometimes be hard to make things out clearly. I do like the sound work, explosions sound booming, enemies will often shout funny stuff, and the action is now backed by music and I do think the tunes help add to the intensity. That is when you can hear them. On the default volumes, I found the sound effects often drown out the music. On the technical side, Soviet Strike on Saturn doesn’t run super smooth and the frame rate will tank when there’s a lot going on. Other than that, I encountered no major issues.
I had fun with Soviet Strike but if I’m being honest, I found it way more frustrating than its predecessors. The Strike games have always been challenging to some degree and I suppose Soviet Strike is not doing anything too different with the formula which makes me think the changes made as a result of the transition to 32-bit are what I have a problem with. I’ve always sucked at these games but this just felt unfair at times. With the camera closer to the helicopter and its position behind it, the default camera option, you have a limited view of your surroundings and can get attacked by enemies off-screen which can be annoying especially when you’re still learning the ropes. Plus, the presentation isn’t as clean (for lack of a better word) as before so trying to make things out can be a problem. I got used to it after a while and there are still plenty of good qualities here, too. The map and information menus are better, the HUD is convenient, and the action is good fun when you get the hang of it. Overall, it retains what makes its predecessors so enjoyable and I think if you can get used to the new stuff, for better or worse, Soviet Strike still proves to be a fun tactical action experience that will destroy you if you don’t know what you’re doing. Even with the added Easy difficulty level in the Saturn version, this game ain’t no joke and will require some serious patience.
I do recommend Soviet Strike to fans of the prior games and to those that have patience. If you’re a glutton for punishment, this should keep you entertained for a while. Seriously, it’s tough. Personally, I feel Soviet Strike is more frustrating than its predecessors and while these games have always offered challenging experiences, and I’ve always sucked at them, this one occasionally feels unfair. But the action is fun and if you invest the time and patience required to master it, it can be a truly rewarding experience. Definitely check it out.