Jungle Strike

About Jungle Strike

Jungle Strike (1993) is EA's sequel to Desert Strike, an isometric helicopter shooter mixing action and strategy in which a lone pilot foils a drug lord and a terrorist's plot against Washington, D.C.

Jungle Strike in Depth

The player flies a Comanche attack helicopter over a slightly three-dimensional overhead view, and in some missions takes control of a motorbike, a hovercraft or an F-117, which has unlimited ammunition and variable height but crashes easily. Levels are made up of several missions to destroy weapons and installations, rescue hostages and prisoners of war, or capture enemy personnel, against armoured cars, artillery and tanks. The helicopter carries machine guns, Hydra rockets and Hellfire missiles, the more powerful weapons in smaller numbers, so the player must choose the right one for each situation. Armour drains under fire and is restored by power-ups or by airlifting rescued people to a landing zone. Fuel runs down steadily and is replenished from fuel barrels, and ammunition from ammo crates; running out of either armour or fuel costs a life.

Ibn Kilbaba, son of Desert Strike's villain, and the South American drug lord Carlos Ortega plan nuclear attacks on Washington, D.C. The first level defends the capital, including the President's limousine, before the campaign takes the fight to Ortega's jungle fortress, captures both men, and returns to Washington after they escape to stop four trucks carrying nuclear bombs from reaching the White House.

Making Jungle Strike

After Desert Strike, then EA's best-selling game, director John Manley and associate producer Tony Barnes were given the sequel and, with project manager Susan Manley, expanded it with an opening movie and new vehicles and settings while keeping the core mechanics. EA released it for the Genesis in 1993, with SNES and enhanced MS-DOS versions by Gremlin, an Amiga version by Ocean and handheld versions by Black Pearl.

It was well received. Sega Force called it the "greatest game in the genre" and "twice as good" as Desert Strike, the Mega Drive version was a best seller for three months, and GamePro praised the SNES version for keeping the play while improving graphics and sound. Amiga Computing said it "could well be the best chopper title yet", though some found the difficulty steep. Mega ranked it 13th among Mega Drive games and IGN 71st among SNES games. Urban Strike, Soviet Strike and Nuclear Strike followed.