Nuclear Strike

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 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.

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.

Daily Radar found the story lacking, while GameSpot's Shane Mooney defended it thus: "people moan about a lack of a compelling story in action titles, which makes about as much sense as complaining about the lack of a nailgun in a football sim [...] People couldn't care less if the story was written by Steinbeck or Stymy the Hack, as long as they get to see THX-rattling fireballs and bad guys bleeding from every orifice."

IGN noted improved graphics, which it favourably compared to those of a John Woo film. GameSpot called the graphics as "about as good as it gets", particularly with a 3D video card. The New Straits Times also appreciated the game's performance with a 3Dfx Voodoo card, praising the graphics of the terrain, as well as water and helicopter movements. GameFan acclaimed the attention to detail and variety in environment graphics' textures.