At lunchtime today I had a go of Desert Strike, and completed the first level. It's harder than I remember, or maybe that's just the PSP's crappy D-pad. It's great fun, though, and there's a lot of strategy there within the shooting - having to plan out a route to collect fuel on the way's a regular occurrence.
It did get me thinking about the time at which this game was released, though. Desert Strike sits more comfortably in history just after the 1991 rout of Iraq, where the US-led forces invaded in order to dispel Saddam's attack on Kuwait. The military operation was neat and powerful. For years afterwards, Iraq was kept in check through military restrictions and economic sanctions. It's all a far cry from the current situation, following the second war in Iraq. The country's hardly being governed at all, and the US can't keep control. It's a mess, and a game like Desert Strike probably wouldn't fit as well today. Even Conflict: Desert Storm wouldn't work as well today - it relies on the idea that your side will win in the end. And there's no real winner out there.
It did get me thinking about the time at which this game was released, though. Desert Strike sits more comfortably in history just after the 1991 rout of Iraq, where the US-led forces invaded in order to dispel Saddam's attack on Kuwait. The military operation was neat and powerful. For years afterwards, Iraq was kept in check through military restrictions and economic sanctions. It's all a far cry from the current situation, following the second war in Iraq. The country's hardly being governed at all, and the US can't keep control. It's a mess, and a game like Desert Strike probably wouldn't fit as well today. Even Conflict: Desert Storm wouldn't work as well today - it relies on the idea that your side will win in the end. And there's no real winner out there.
1 comment:
[ben elton]ooh - bit of politics![/ben elton]
Kieron.
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