Soviet Strike

The Good
I am a huge fan of the Strike series and when it came onto the Playstation I was very excited. The storyline is great even though it's not very original: Stop terrorist madman from starting World War III, but the full motion video really helped it along. The actors worked seamlessly, almost like you were actually watching a real movie or even a training video for the D.O.D. (Department of Defense). There are a huge variety of missions and enemies to take care of and a lot of funny hidden easter eggs throughout the levels.

The polygon graphics are a huge turn around for the standard Strike games, actually giving it more of a real feel with a true 3-D feel to it. Being able to circle an enemy tank or being able to see around you at all times is a much welcome feature.

The game does handle well, turning on a dime and even being able to jink to the right or left to avoid enemy fire. There are still the same kind of weapons: chaingun, hydra and unguided missiles, but the extra wingtip design (either a ECM, Sidewinder or a Fuel Pod Bomb) are a great addition to the already destructive arsenal.

I like the dialogue of the game, funny one-liners during the missions, especially from time to time your co-pilot, Nick Arnold, even to some enemies last words when you blast them away.

The Bad
There are some glitches from time to time, graphical glitches such as ground disappearing, a few blocky screens or even the occasional freeze at the wrong moment can hurt, but luckily it's nothing to serious.

The inability to restart the mission from the start menu really hurts it, you have to return to base everytime whether you mess up. Instead of saving time and just restarting then and there, you have to navigate all over the battlefield to redo the same thing again.

Checking the map all the time to see if you are going in the right place is very annoying, a mini-radar would have been very helpful, instead of just hitting start every few moments. Plus if you go to check out the map and you co-pilot or Strike Team goes to give you a bit of information just before you do, when you go back to the game, you will miss out on what is said, it would be nice for a transcript after something has been said to see if there was anything important you missed.

The explosions are a bit lackluster, the previous 16-bit explosions were actually a little bit better than the PS version and the enemy vehicles blowing up in a Tron-like polygon explosion makes it look cheap, it would have been nicer just to see an burning hulk of metal sitting there then disappearing.

The sprites for the ground troops are far too small and it's hard to distinguish between an ally or an enemy, sometimes resulting in a SNAFU, which will make you redo the level, all over again.

The music is OK, but gets annoying after a while, which luckily can be turned down, but the constantly thump of the chopper can wear you thin and you'll find yourself shooting aimlessly just to hear the sounds of the rocks.

Shooting is also a chore, sometimes the rockets and chain gun will not shoot in the way you want it too, just simply pointing at an enemy just doesn't work, sometimes you have to hope you are back far enough and low enough. Sometimes this will result into accidentally killing an ally or an important mission target, causing you to pull your hair out in frustration.

One last thing that bothered me is the ending was very anti-climatic and there are a few plot holes, making you think one thing and thinking you have it figured out, but in the end, it's a real letdown.

The Bottom Line
All gripes aside this is a very good game, not bad for a next-gen Strike game, even though there some things that do hurt it, the FMV really helped it along, you actually feel like your watching an interactive movie. If you can find this game cheap, go for it, even if you don't care for it much, if you were a big fan of the Strike series, it is nice to have it for the collection.