Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 32:20

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Here is the playthrough of Desert Fighters done live on IGTV. Due to Size restrictions I was only able to record the final 2 stages.

Follow me on instagram @CabinSNES_fever to join me live or via my reviews and uploads to witness me take down all the games currently in my SNES colleciton, following on from having already beaten all 234 licenced UK releases for the NES. I only use original carts, no cheats & no save states.

-Instantly forgivable from a quick glance for mistaking the desert war setting, isometric angle and air to ground assault as a member of the vastly more popular Desert Strike series, however despite clearly intending to cash in on that success with both PAL & NTSC titles hardly subtle nods at the franchise, once you dig a little deeper into the sand you'll find there actually is something quite rewarding to play.

Besides the similarities in appearance, first plays feel even more akin, with mission objectives seeing you target oil fields, airports & radar stations etc in almost identical fashion to the Strike series. However it does also have some rather unique gameplay ideas.

Each mission has a set number of hours to finish in. Every attack run costs time and with fuel & armour only replenished by returning to base, poorly managed runs are costly. Furthermore; damage sustained, civilian casualties, neutral enviroment destruction and friendly fire all play a part in your mission success. It's very possible to game over as a result of your political position becoming so unstable civil war breaks out, or catastrophic environmental disaster, or even Aliens landing and destroying everything... seriously it happened to me! The point is, the game demands a more strategic approach to success than simply bombing everything in sight!

With one giant map divided into sections utilised for different missions, its really impressive that when returning to old sections, all previous environment destruction remains, meaning it does pay to attack non 'mission critical' enemy targets in hope of it benefiting future missions. It also plays to the idea of this game being one big continuous war. Which added to the occasional news clip updates reacting to your military failings, does a good job of breathing life to the story.

Unfortunately this being my first playthrough, I finished my liberation of the Middle East with my political standing in tatters, casualties skyhigh & rising economic disaster. So basically I did everything by the book then yeah?