On August 2nd 1990, Iraqi Force's moved across the Kuwaiti border and invaded Kuwait, An action that culminated in the Gulf War. As the Iraqi tanks rolled into Kuwait, Allied Special Forces began operations within Kuwait and Iraq as the founding blocks for the main allied assault which began on January 16th with 6 weeks of intensive bombing.

Conflict Desert Storm puts you in command of either a British SAS or American Delta Force team. With the job of hunting scuds, freeing towns from Iraqi occupation, and extracting downed helicopter crews. This is done with an array of weapons inc Rifles, Explosives and Rocket Launchers. Your team can also call in air and artillery strikes to help clear the way.

Your team either British or American is comprised of 4 men an Assaulter, a Sniper, Heavy Weapons expert, and a Close Quarters and Demolitions expert. Each is equipped with specialist weapons to their particular field. This wide range of knowledge enables your team to perform just about any mission.

Graphics:

The graphics in Desert Storm are very similar to most shoot um up titles currently on the market, but there are some brilliant features that are included in this game such as for several missions you're in sandstorms and can't see your hand, while in others you've got the sun coming down over you. Even though the graphics system is legendary every single detail is in here.

Sound:

The sound system is plain awesome to say the least to top of the Dolby Pro Logic 2 support, every member of the 2 teams has a different voice and all the guns sound realistic. The dodgiest piece of sound I have come across is for the Hummer; it uses the classic car noise, which you hear in loads of games, which have just slipped a car level in for laughs.

Gameplay:

From Basic training to the final mission Desert Storm has brilliant in-depth gameplay, In training you meet your maker; a drill sergeant who in real life would be quite a scary sight, He'll guide you through a obstacle course which can be done with ease then followed by basic weapons training, Then after all that you get to play with the heavy stuff inc rocket launchers and laser targeting devices to call in air strikes etc. The final bit of training is where you meet your team, I chose Delta Force (don't know why) so I had Bradley, Foley, Connors and Jones. This part is about moving as a team around a set of flags 1 mistake and the drill sergeant shouts you at you.

Then its into the field of battle and the first mission see's you rescuing Foley who's been captured when you were trying to blow up a bridge. This mission puts you on a steep learning curve, you need to learn that live enemies do fire at you and can run fast; Shepard's and Goats are dangerous and that some AI are cleverer than you.

The first mission also gives you a brilliant chance to get used to the in game controls and the weapons you couldn't practice with in training these include grenade launcher, combat knife, grenades and several enemy weapons inc AK47 and AK74.

Firstly you head off down a hill and through a canyon getting rid of any resistance then you head through a dried up river bed and run into a tank which is easily handled by your Anti Tank rocket. Now the problem is everyone knows you're there and you have to get to Foley, get the c4 blow the bridge and then get to the extraction zone for pickup.

Controls:

Control Stick – Go Forward, Back and strafe Left and Right
C-Stick – Change direction
Control Pad – Move between soldiers
Z –Issue Commands
L – Change to Scope
R – Fire
X – Change Item
Y – Fire at Will
A – Action Button
B – Change Stance

Final Say:

Conflict Desert Storm is the first great team based shooter for the Gamecube, It's the game "Ghost Recon" and "Sum of All Fears" should have been and hopefully the 2 planned sequels will be just as good. It takes elements from many great shooters and has bundled them into a real life based situation. Desert Storm is a must have and if you haven't got this game and loved games such as Rogue Spear and Swat 3 on the PC get it in store now!