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Game Information

Release Date: September 19, 2003
Developer: Pivotal Games
Publisher: Gotham Games
Platform(s): PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo GameCube
Genre: Third-Person Action
Players: 1-2

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Synopsis

Part 2 in the series, Back to Baghdad is a squad-based shooter that picks up right where the first Desert Storm left off. John Bradley, Paul Foley, Mick Connors, and David Jones are back once again to team up and once again take on Saddam's henchmen. Whether it's protecting friendly choppers from enemy fire, the burning oil fields, Iraq's chemical weapons program, or secret superguns, there was apparently enough unfinished business left to serve as the basis for a second game. For the sequel, the developers improved on the team-mate AI and game UI, but the biggest attraction is once again the split-screen co-operative multiplayer for two.

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Story

Desert Storm II takes place during the first Gulf War in the early 90's. A squad of four men from both the British 22nd SAS and the US Armies Delta Force must battle their way through the deserts fighting hundreds of Iraqis to find Saddam Hussein. At first they start off in Al-Hadar separated and are attempting to find each other. Once they have done that, they will have numerous of other objectives to complete before finding Saddam such as rescuing hostages, blowing up chemical facilities, and supporting divisions. In the end, they will liberate Kuwait City along with the UN and their support.

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Gameplay

In this game, you are given two different squads of two men each to choose from. One squad will have an assault rifle and machine gun, and the other will have a sniper rifle and a sub-machine gun. Both of these squads will carry a myriad of objects to assist you along the way. These objects include health packs, ammo drops, mines, binoculars, C4s, flashlights, and revive shots, which are self-explanatory. That being said, both squads don't really differ from each other besides the weapons they use.

In the campaign, which can be played solo or with another player, there are about ten missions to complete, each with about one or two main objectives and usually a side, or bonus objective. Each mission will usually require you to use every character at some point, just to make it more of a challenge, and will get harder every time one of them dies. For the most part, you are on foot which makes the game rather long, with the exception of the last mission where you are in a tank. You don't get any help from any AIs, as there are none, and you will usually encounter several dozen enemies along with jeeps and tanks.

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Graphics

As most of the game takes place in some part of the desert, most things don't really require a ton of detail. But where it does, it really does. All of the buildings, bunkers, vehicles, characters, and environment (the few there are) are extraordinary for it's time. The lighting and shadowing are also phenomenal, even during the one or two night missions (where you step into a spotlight). The framerate also runs extremely well, even when there is a lot of action going on, though the game itself may get buggy at times due to the long load times or saving that takes place during a mission.

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Controls

Since you are on foot for the most part, the controls are rather simple. Triggers will aim and shoot whatever weapon you are holding, analogs will control the movement of both characters and vehicles, the buttons will do actions such as jumping, crouching, and crawling, and the D-pad will do the rest, which, includes healing/reviving someone, dropping an ammo pack, and opening the binoculars. And these also stay the same even when you switch characters, which is rather nice.

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Ratings

Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Overall: 9/10