Conflict: Desert Storm:
It's late 1990, Saddam Hussein is refusing to allow arms inspections
and back home in Blighty, Ken Livingstone and Jeffrey Archer are getting on
everyone's nerves... so it could be 2002, then. Sadly, you don't get to take
a pop at either of those two terrors, but instead get to aim for the ugly spud
in Iraq, or wherever he's hiding out this time.
The game begins with the morning after the night before when some of your
colleagues were shot and killed, while another was captured. Find him, rescue
him, sneak out some C4 and blow the bridge on which the ambush took place.
Easier said than done...
Graphics are reasonable but not outstanding. They're not jagged like some
PS2 games have been lately - and give a decent representation of the environment
on view, but when you move about your man moves a little jerkily, if there is
such a word.
Sound's okay, with spot FX for gunfire and explosions (yes, they're not exactly
meaty and the graphics that accompany are far from realistic), but a nice bassy
tune in the background to accompany your mission. Again, not the best, but it'll
suffice.
It's a pain in the backside to try and fire at the enemy. The game tries to
auto-aim for you, but if several people are shooting at you at once then
when you try to swing round the aim to check out someone else, it swings back
as if it has some kind of auto-centring feature. Not good.
It's also one of those games where explosive bins are placed near to where
enemy soldiers would normally stand, so a carefully placed bullet will blow
them into next week, but this wouldn't normally happen unless said enemies
had a death wish(!)
Overall, I'm going to say "try before you buy". Rent it first and if you want
to go back for more after the night is up, then make a purchase.
Finally, please tell me why, when you restart a level, does it need to reload
it back in when it should already be in the console's memory?
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Sound's okay, with spot FX for gunfire and explosions (yes, they're not exactly
meaty and the graphics that accompany are far from realistic), but a nice bassy
tune in the background to accompany your mission. Again, not the best, but it'll
suffice.
