Nintendo 64

Nuclear Strike

Advertising Blurbs

The Cold War may be over, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a good old-fashioned nuclear scare.

THQ brings the sizzling Strike series to Nintendo 64, putting the fate of the world in the hands of N64 gamers. Nuclear Strike 64 was developed by Pacific Power & Light, whose unusually somber name delivers the message that they take their games seriously.

The antagonists in Nuclear Strike 64 are a maladjusted group of nuclear terrorists determined to ignite the fires of WWIII. The group is led by ex-CIA Intelligence Officer Colonel LeMonde, who has stolen a tactical nuclear device and set up camp deep within the jungles of Southeast Asia.

As a member of an international special operations unit known as the Strike Team, your mission is to seek out Colonel LeMonde and stop him before he unleashes his terror on the world. Conveniently, you're totally unrestricted by government regulations, so your tactics don't have to adhere to pesky peace treaties and other annoyances.

Far from a chopper sim, Nuclear Strike uses a third-person perspective and primarily plays as an action shooter. You'll need to demonstrate a bit of strategic genius, though, because the mission-based levels require a bit of resource management and the ability to think ahead. Sure you'll be blasting opposing forces to smithereens, but you'll also need to keep a sharp eye out for ammo, fuel and POWs.

In all there are 15 scenarios, beginning in a tropical South Seas paradise and ending in the dense jungles of Southeast Asia. The environments are impressively immense, but thankfully Pacific Power & Light Co. has simplified navigation with a waypoint compass that always indicates your orientation. Strike Team members will pilot more than 10 vehicles, including Apache helicopters, Harrier jets, hovercraft and tanks.

Visually, Nuclear Strike presents a solid package. The detailed landscapes have a unique style that successfully recreates the sensation of hovering above water and over jungle patches. Unfortunately, the powerful wind created by your helicopter blades does not affect the environments as violently as it should. On the other hand, dazzling explosions and shockwaves are extremely well done.

The N64 Expansion Pak allows you to enjoy Nuclear Strike in medium resolution, and also provides the extra memory needed to deliver an improved frame rate.

Play control is accommodating, if not perfect. The helicopters are very easy to control, since the game automatically regulates your height and makes it impossible to crash into the ground or other obstacles. The Z and R Buttons allow for left and right strafing, which is a great way to avoid enemy fire while attacking a heavily occupied area.

An automatic targeting feature takes over when you get close to enemies, but occasionally you may need to manually override it by pressing C Up. The targets are color-coded to let you know your opponent's energy status, which aids greatly in weapon selection and helps to conserve ammo.

When firing on neutral buildings that do not support the targeting feature, it's important to keep an eye on where the bullets strike the ground in order to get a feel for your range. Due to the third-person view, occasionally your view of potential targets is blocked by your own helicopter. We would have preferred a more expansive camera angle to provide a larger view of the assault areas, but as you gain experience it becomes easier to find and destroy targets.

Although Nuclear Strike 64 is missing a multiplayer mode, the single player game is deep enough to keep you in the cockpit for a fair amount of time. Three difficulty levels are available to challenge pilots who wish to play through the game more than once.


Contributed by Evil Ryu (31577) on Aug 17, 2005.

ELECTRONIC ARTS SHIPS NUCLEAR Strike FOR THE PC

Top-selling game franchise available on the PC for first time





SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 29, 1997 -Electronic Arts’ (Nasdaq:ERTS), a leading global interactive entertainment software company, today announced the shipment of its action/strategy game, Nuclear Strike’ for the personal computer (PC). This begins a new phase in the popular, console-based Strike series, marking the first time a Strike game has been available on the PC platform.

Nuclear Strike is the latest addition to the successful Strike series that has shipped more than 2.7 million units across all platforms worldwide. The series traditionally makes players part of a covert government force that is charged with going behind enemy lines to stop an international crisis before it begins. Nuclear Strike drops players into the jungles of Southeast Asia in a fight to stop a tyrant who is holding the world hostage with a nuclear threat. Players must complete detailed missions within five levels of play in order to neutralize the tyrant, LeMonde, before he unleashes a nuclear weapon on the world.

"Consumers have been clamoring for the Strike series to come to the PC platform for a very long time," said Michael Kosaka, executive producer of the Strike series. "The Strike series has been extremely successful on the console systems and Electronic Arts wanted to ensure that it delivered the same rich experience to the PC customer. We really looked hard at what differentiates a PC and console consumer in terms of graphics and game play and reworked key areas such as the interface to meet the needs of the PC gamer. We believe consumers will think it was worth the wait."

Nuclear Strike brings exciting new elements into the Strike experience with more than 25 missions. For instance, players can fly alongside a squad of armed Huey helicopters in a search and destroy mission, issue battle commands to thwart an enemy invasion, and use the firepower of 15 different user-controlled vehicles to protect a trainload of diplomats from being intercepted by enemy forces. Other significant Nuclear Strike features include:

• A PC-specific interface that includes a Heads Up Display (HUD) with a way point indicator and mini-map that provide direction to the next mission. The HUD can be displayed while playing the game.
• Fifteen player-controlled vehicles, including the following helicopters: a Super Apache, Sea Apache, News chopper, Cobra gunship, Commanche, Havoc, Huey and Hokum; land vehicles: a Bradley APC tank, M1Abrams main battle tank, Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), and a Russian T-90 tank; jets: a Harrier and an experimental A-10X; and one naval vessel: a PAVC Hovercraft.
• A living battlefield where enemies and friendly forces react to player behavior and follow his commands
• Dynamic pyrotechnics, i.e., craters will result from a player's bombing a land area, shockwaves will result from vessels being destroyed in the water
• Full motion video that delivers quick-cut, MTV-style action sequences, such as a tiger attack scene
• Photo-realistic terrain with 3-D objects
• 3Dfx support
• User-selectable difficulty levels: normal and easy
• An interactive music system where the game's music keeps pace with the action onscreen
• Multiple game play resolutions (minimum: 320 x 240; maximum: 1024 x 768)

The game also touts two camera views: "classic" where the player-controlled vehicle moves around a scrolling 3-D world and "chase" where the vehicle remains in place and the world moves around it.

In addition, Strike-net team members deliver a steady flow of intelligence to the player. Characters include: the commanding officer General Earle; computer expert Hack; and undercover television reporter and Strike team member, Andrea. Other characters include: Colonel LeMonde, the leader behind the enemy conspiracy and the man with his finger on the detonator of a nuclear weapon; Napoleon Hwong, a criminal warlord in the South Seas; Harding Cash, an Australian mercenary who acts as an advisor to the player; and Naja Hana, a freedom fighter who was pressed into helping the people of Indochine fight against the terrorist army. She also acts as an advisor to the player.

Nuclear Strike for the PC carries a suggested retail price of $49.99. Recommended system requirements include: Windows 95, Pentium processor 133 MHz CPU or faster (P90 MHz or faster with a 3Dfx card), 110 MB minimum hard drive, 16 MB of RAM, 4 speed CD-ROM drive, and a DirectX 5 supported sound card. In addition to the game, Electronic Arts has unveiled an updated Strike Web site (http://www.Strike-Net.com). The site includes elements such as a demo, screen shots, quicktime movies and frequently asked questions.

Electronic Arts, headquartered in San Mateo, California, is a leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, EA posted revenues of $625 million for fiscal 1997. The company develops, publishes and distributes software worldwide for personal computers and advanced entertainment systems such as the PlayStation’, Nintendo® 64 and Sega Saturn’. Electronic Arts markets its products worldwide under six brand names: Electronic Arts, EA SPORTS’, Maxis’, Inc., ORIGIN Systems’ Inc., Bullfrog’ Productions Ltd. and Jane's® Combat Simulations. EA has international subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The Company has North American development operations in San Mateo and Walnut Creek, Calif.; Baltimore, Maryland; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.ea.com.




Contributed by skl (1163) on Mar 30, 2004.

Stop the war before it goes nuclear!

The stakes are higher as you must stop a major nuclear threat in EA's sequel to Soviet Strike. It's a race against time as you face nuclear terrorism that could trigger WWIII. With multiple new vehicles to control, richer AI, improved pyros, more dynamic missions, enhanced 3-D terrain and faster, smoother gameplay, this is the ultimate STRIKE experience.

Control 12 NEW vehicles including Harriers, Cobras, tanks and hovercraft.

New dynamic pyros send your enemies flying with more intense explosions and flaming debris.

Smarter battlefields - enemies and friendlies react to your behavior and follow your commands.

Faster gameplay and new FX - lighting, terrain craters and shockwaves.


Contributed by Zovni (9138) on Jun 29, 2001.