There have been many different games based on War’s since games have been in development. The reason for this is that gamers have always been fascinated by history and what it might feel like to be in the midst of war; without actually doing it. Most games out there take place during War World I and II era, so Gotham Games decided to make a game that is based on a different era. Last year they released Conflict: Desert Storm, which took place a little over ten years ago during the Gulf War. The game released with mild success so they decided to create another game, and it takes place in the same era. Read on to find out more.

Gamers will be put into the shoes of the most honored and decorated Special Force Soldiers during the Gulf War: Mike Connors, David Jones, Paul Foley, and John Bradley. They took on some of the most dangerous and seemly impossible missions, and succeeded. Some of the missions that you will get to embark up are: saving the Emir of Kuwait under the Iraqi forces, taking out the Early Warning Radar at An-Nagat, right under the Republican Guard’s noses, decimate the SCUD threat in North West Iraq, and many other missions.

Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad is a team based squad game. Like other squad-based games each member has their own specialty and knowing when to use them is crucial. John Bradley is the team leader and expert in assault weapons and communications; Paul Foley is the sniper of the group; David Jones is the demolition man; and Mike Connors is the heavy weapons specialist. You will have to use each persons abilities to the maximum effect and for every situation if you want to win.

There are several orders that can be given to your teammates during the course of the game, and it is very important for players to get accustom to using them if they want to survive very long. The orders are given by holding the Z button, select the person you want to give orders to, and than hit Y to fire at will/stand down, X tells soldiers to follow/halt, A tells soldier to go to a position, B tells them to stand still.

One thing that this game has in it that makes it enjoyable to play is that players can choose to play between first and third person perspective, and each can be greatly beneficial. First person is useful during a gunfight, because you can control the aiming. The third person perspective has its advantages as well. The worse thing about the third person view is that when there are multiple enemies it chooses who to lock on, you don’t have any say in the matter, this is not good for any game to do at all, and it could cost your life.

What makes this game nice is the variety of the mission objectives, and each mission has several objectives to complete. They range from taking out the enemies, rescuing the hostages, and blowing up stuff. The best is the driving missions because you can choose to be a driver, passenger, or the person who controls the gun turret.

The graphics for Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad are decent. The environments are nice, big, and are detailed nicely. During the course of the game, players will see dust storms, sunsets, and many other things that give this game a breath of life. One big thing about war games is the gunfire and explosions and this game passes with flying colors, they look very nice and give the whole “war feeling.”

The character models are not the best things you will see in the world, they have nice little details but there are many other games out there that look much better. The animations are a bit quirky as well, and the movement at times doesn’t look very realistic. The collision detection in this game can be really bad at times, and gets slightly annoying, but it never distracts too much from the game.

This game does support Dolby Digital Pro Logic II which is nice, but there is nothing that you will hear in this game that really takes advantage of it. The sounds and voices used for this game are average and nothing to get excited about. The explosions, gunfire, and carious other sounds that you will hear are nothing that players shouldn’t expect from a game in this category. The music used is a nice touch to the game and fits right in. There are two different voice-overs depending on if players selected to be the American Forces or the British. That makes the game have a nice touch and gives it more than a cosmetic one, and it is greatly appreciated.

The GameCube version supports four players (one player for each squad member) to take control and see if they can cooperatively take on the enemies of the game. This makes the game much more enjoyable because having intelligent humans do a variety of tasks is always better than the computer AI.

Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad is rated T for Teen for Violence and Blood. It will take up 13 Memory blocks for saves.

Gameplay: 7.9
Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad plays really nice, there are a variety of objectives in each level to accomplish, and that helps prevent any repetition.

Graphics: 7.6
The game looks average, there is nothing really wrong with anything, but it could look so much better, especially when compared to other squad based games.

Sound: 7.5
The audio is nothing that will blow your socks off, but it is palatable.

Difficulty: Medium
Depending on how you are at Squad Based games, this game can be either hard or really easy. There are a few missions that will prove to be challenging, but this is what helps make the game fun.

Concept: 7.3
This team based game really doesn’t add anything new to the genre like a few of the other ones are doing. The game sticks to a tried and true formula, which works for this game.

Multiplayer: 8.3
Nothing can be better than having four humans take on the evils of the world at once! Even though it is still split screen you will find this very enjoyable.

Overall: 7.9
Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad is a decent game that will provide several hours of enjoyment for you. The best thing is that this version allows gamers to play with their friends throughout the game cooperatively, which is a blast. If you got the first game than you will definitely want to play this one.