Over its lifetime, Super Play reviewed more Super Nintendo games than any other magazine in the United Kingdom - 596 to be precise - so picking one sixth of them, let alone the order of merit, would never be an easy task. For the uninitiated, here at Postcards of Pop Culture we're breaking down all 100 titles from Super Play’s ranking from bottom to top. And while Super Play’s word was regarded among the most reliable around, it wasn’t the only publication with an opinion.
As always, the Super Play overview provided in the entry post for Desert Strike was from the top 100 itself. The original verdict from issue #4 reads:-
Spot on once again. Desert Strike is a tough old cookie for sure, and even when you fall foul of fuel shortages for the umpteenth time, it never results in any urge to throw the controller away in frustration. That alone is the sign of a worthwhile challenge. But what about the view of other UK videogame mags of the time?
WIth Desert Strike coming in the early months of Nintendo’s 16-bit beast, it recieved coverage from almost every outlet. SNES Force is up first this time, with a review score that is higher than any other, as well as a good old 90s console wars punch-down commentary. Enjoy.
Next up is Nintendo Magazine System, with a review that plays down the release as dated upon arrival, regardless of its quality. Seems a little out of touch to presume that Nintendo-loyalists owned the Sega counterpart beforehand (I certainly didn’t), bearing in mind this version arrived little over a year after the Mega Drive original.
Super Pro mag is up next, and while they don’t believe in average scoring calculations, they scored Desert Strike highly, complete with the word ‘boffo’, which i’ll admit i had to look up the meaning of. #journalism.
Total! continue a similar upbeat praise, with a little bit of console wars banter thrown in for good measure.
Last time a rare Game Zone review was included, so this is a little awkward. Game Zone are back again this time, with their Desert Strike review coming in the same issue as the last entry, Parodius.
This review highlights the topical nature of Desert Strike at the time of release, namely the Gulf War of the early 1990s. This wasn’t the first mag to raise concern over the subject matter, namely the United States operating military strikes in the Middle East to overthrow a mad dictator regime, bombing factories and other civilian-heavy infrastructure. Wait, is that Desert Strike, or operation Desert Storm? Or operation Inherent Resolve? Or, and I still can’t believe this is a name of developed nation’s military operation, operation Epic Fury. Anyway, Mean Machines was another mag that thought Desert Strike’s subject matter to be in poor taste upon release.
In terms of review scoring overall, Desert Strike walks away with an average review score of 88.5%. Had Super Play used its review scores to determine ranking within the top 100, Desert Strike would be joint 28th (along with many others on 90%). It remains a top title that has ultimately aged better than any of its sequels.
Come back next time for the review fallout of the next Super Play top 100 entry!