Desert Thunder
Developer: BrainBox Games
Publisher: Groove Publishing
The PremiseIn Desert Thunder, your objective is to complete eight missions in order to stabilize a region of the Middle East that has become overrun with radical terrorists. You are the sole survivor of the 7th Calvary, and are equipped only with an experimental M1A6 tank.InstallationA little about the installation of the game. My trusty and reliable Memorex 48x CD-ROM drive had an enormous amount of difficulty reading the disk. After several tries, Desert Thunder was finally installed, but not until after it forced a reboot in order to install its CD checking software. I was shocked at this. Not only does Desert Thunder, a $19.99 suggested retail (read: bargain title) game have a 24 character CD key, but it installs CD check software! And requires a reboot before you can play the game!After rebooting and selecting the game, I noted that it took approximately 60 seconds or so for the game to start, as it had to first run the CD check software. Suffice it to say that I think this whole schema was poorly conceived, and the CD check software ill-advised and badly programmed.
GameplayAs I mentioned, there are eight missions that need to be accomplished to complete the game:
- Engage The Enemy At The Border
Objective: get used to the tank, blast your way through the border gates - Secure The Oil Refinery
Objective: destroy the three terrorist military buildings near the oil refinery - Defend The Oil Refinery
Objective: protect the oil refinery factory and towers for 20 minutes - Advance To The Airport
Objective: get to the airport - Airport Attack
Objective: destroy terrorists and other enemies occupying the airport - Defend The Airport
Objective: another 20 minute defensive mission - City Approach
Objective: get to the city via the suspension bridge - Capital Siege
Objective: Advance to the compound, destroy the terrorist headquarters and the uber-tough Russian Goliath tank