Nuclear Strike

EA released a Windows port the same year; THQ developed and in 1999 published a Nintendo 64 version called Nuclear Strike 64. A helicopter-based game, with strategy elements added to the action gameplay. The plot concerns an elite special force the player's allies pursuing a nuclear-armed rogue spy through a fictionalised Asian setting. It retains the earlier game's engine but added several modifications to improve graphical performance and make the game more accessible. The game features 15 playable vehicles, a large increase from previous games. In addition to the main fictionalised Apache, there are secondary helicopters, jets, armor and a hovercraft. The player also commands ground troops in occasional real-time strategy sections. The game received mixed reviews. Critics noted a weak storyline, but praised the full-motion video, as well as the music and sound effects. Reviewers enjoyed the straightforward gameplay, but several complained of a close similarity to its predecessor Soviet Strike and questioned the game's value as a result.

• Title — Nuclear Strike • Developer — Electronic Arts Tiburon Entertainment (Windows) Pacific Coast Power & Light (N64) • Publisher — Electronic Arts THQ (N64) • Director — John Manley Michael Becker Jim Rushing Thomas Boyd • Producer — Michael Kosaka Paul Grace • Designer — R. J. Berg • Programmer — David Gregory Marco Busse Marek Telgarsky Stuart Riffle Jeremy Paulding Keelan Stuart • Artist — Margaret Foley • Composer — Don Veca David O'Neal • Series — Strike • Platforms — PlayStation, Windows, Nintendo 64 • Released — PlayStation Windows Nintendo 64 • Genre — Shooter • Modes — Single-player

The game begins in Indocine, a fictional Southeast Asian country. The player controls a Super Apache helicopter as part of the STRIKE covert operations force, led by General Earle (John Marzilli) and assisted by technician Hack (Antwon Tanner) and propagandist and covert operative Andrea Gray (Susan Turner-Cray). The antagonist is Colonel Beauford LeMonde (Bo Hopkins), a spy-turned-warlord who has stolen a nuclear weapon. Allied to STRIKE in Indocine is guerrilla leader Naja Hana (Moon Bloodgood), whose forces join the player in attacking LeMonde's forces. Meanwhile, LeMonde bluffs STRIKE by arming a fake nuclear bomb in an old temple compound, which results in Naja attempting to locate the warhead and LeMonde. At the same time, the player is sent on a wild goose chase attacking a decoy convoy thought to have the nuclear bomb being transported away from Indocine. In actuality, LeMonde escapes capture long before STRIKE can catch up to him and he manages to smuggle the real nuclear bomb away from Indocine off-screen. This prompts the player to extract Naja from the now booby-trapped compound before the whole compound blows up. Nonetheless, his forces are eventually defeated in Indocine and STRIKE moves their operations to the South China Sea, where LeMonde is discovered dealing with Napoleon Hwong (Philip Tan), head of a fictional Triad-like criminal organization known as the Octad. The player recruits mercenary Harding Cash (Jamie Donovan) to battle the pirate warlord in an attempt to recover the missing nuclear weapon. After defeating Hwong's forces, the player and Harding manage to capture and interrogate Hwong for information concerning the whereabouts of the nuke long enough before Hwong commits suicide. The player eventually heads to Pyongyang, North Korea, where the stolen nuke is located. LeMonde resurfaces in Pyongyang, where North Korean ruler Kym Zung-Lee invites several world leaders to a peace conference. The two plan to kidnap the world leaders, especially since Kim financed LeMonde's operations in Indocine and getting the nuclear weapon (stashed inside Kim Il Sung's statue on Mansudae Hill). Using a small helicopter and nonlethal weapons, the player is able to spirit the delegates to a French frigate somewhere in the Taedong River and get them out of the country; other delegates left behind are sent to bomb shelters or are evacuated by STRIKE Chinook transports. Also, between escorting the delegates to safety, the player and Andrea manage to take over an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter from a museum while fending off Kym's security forces in the process. The missing nuclear weapon explodes as the player sits out the blast in the Rungnado May Day Stadium. North Korea blames the nuclear explosion on the South and sends its forces across the DMZ in an attempt to start a second Korean War while LeMonde heads to Russia. STRIKE heads down to the DMZ and assists US Forces Korea and the South Korean Army in repelling the assault. Having prevented another Korean War, STRIKE, together with Naja and Cash, attacks an old Mongol-era fortress in Siberia, where LeMonde has brought in mercenaries to fortify it as he prepares the launch of a "proto-nuclear" missile designed to rupture the ozone layer. LeMonde's forces are eventually routed, the proto-nuclear missile is eventually destroyed, LeMonde himself is killed, and Naja and Cash fall in love, while STRIKE prepares for its next conflict.

• Illustration — The player's helicopter destroys an enemy ship, with ensuing explosions. Nuclear Strike is a helicopter-based shooter game with a blend of both strategy and action, which the player views from outside the helicopter from an overhead perspective. It is similar to previous games in the series, but has 15 playable vehicles, a larger number than any of its predecessors. The main helicopter is a fictional Super Apache, with additional helicopters including the Cobra and other Hueys. Playable jets include the Harrier jump jet and a fictional V/STOL version of the A-10 Thunderbolt II. The player can use surface vehicles including the M1 Abrams tank, Bradley armoured vehicle, the Multiple Launch Rocket System and a PACV hovercraft. The game features five different terrain settings, with each level played on a large map divided into several missions. These missions include seek-and-destroy, search-and-rescue, escorts, the destruction of bridges, supply drops and air support. In some sections the player forms part of a coordinated attack with AI-controlled allies, while in others the player directs ground troops in the style of a real-time strategy game. In addition to engaging in combat, the player must avoid running out of fuel and ammunition. The heads-up display shows this information, along with intelligence on missions objectives and on friendly and enemy units and their locations. The compass indicating mission objectives is a feature new to Nuclear Strike, as is a radar showing the positions of nearby enemies.

The game is the second 32-bit Strike game: the sequel to Soviet Strike and the fifth installment in the Strike series, which began with Desert Strike on the Sega Genesis. It was developed at Electronic Arts' Granite Bay Software, by a 50-member team led by producer Michael Kosaka and including the same core group of designers, programmers, artists and composers that developed Soviet Strike. Series creator Mike Posehn received royalties for Nuclear Strike but did not work on programming the game. The game retained Soviet Strike's engine, with several modifications. The development team increased the frame rate by 25% over its predecessor, resulting in a faster and smoother feel. The game streams the environment from its CD, resulting in no perceptible loading time, while the terrain itself is persistent: damage such as cratering remains for the duration of play. The team improved the artificial intelligence and added more camera angles, though the game like its predecessors still eschews any in-cockpit perspective. Soviet Strike received criticism regarding the player's limited view of the surroundings and attacks from the enemies found there. To offset this potential problem, the developers added a radar to the HUD, which displayed surrounding enemies to the player. Gamers also criticized the difficulty of Soviet Strike. A high difficulty level being traditional to the Strike series, the team did not wish to alienate long-term fans by making Nuclear Strike directly easier, but instead made it more accessible, using such devices as the new radar, a new compass indicating the direction of the next objective and more visual and audio clues. Producer Kosaka explained: "A lot of the stuff we couldn't fit in [Soviet Strike] is going in this one". The team added several new vehicles, as well as continuing the occasional real time strategy sections found in Soviet Strike. The jets proved problematic in early testing due to their speed, but appeared in the final game. Heat-seeking missiles were among the new additions, as was a proprietary technology termed the Interactive Music System. This generates more intense music depending on the level of action occurring in-game. Palomar Studios created the full motion video, for which some footage was shot in both Thailand and the Bronson Cave, used as the Batcave in the 1960s television incarnation of Batman. This latter shoot also employed a live tiger. Initially only the PlayStation version and a Windows port were planned, but the game appeared on the Nintendo 64 in 1999 as Nuclear Strike 64. The Windows port was developed by EA Tiburon, with both the original PlayStation and Windows versions published by Electronic Arts in 1997. Nuclear Strike 64 was developed by Pacific Coast Power & Light and published by THQ. Another sequel provisionally titled Future Strike was later planned, but the game was eventually released as Future Cop: LAPD, a mech-based shooter game.