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The tactical shooter is a genre that has certainly gotten better with age. Even though the number
of true tactical shooters on the market is limited to just a handful of series, modern
technology has certainly been kind to the games. Even so, there were some solid tactical
shooters released last generation, and this game tries to be one of them. It took an interesting,
dark time period in the Middle East and created a squad-based shooter, but is it worth playing?
Well, let’s find out. This is Conflict: Desert Storm 2: Back to Baghdad for the original
Xbox.
A sequel to the first game in the series, Back to Baghdad puts you in control of four
soldiers at once as you fight against the Iraqi regime during the Gulf War. The entire
game seems much comfortable with missions that are actually possible for a group of
soldiers so small than most other shooters, but I wish the presentation was a little bit
better. Even though they were basing this game on a real conflict, I couldn’t help
but feel that the cut scenes and dialogue between characters was plain boring. Developers
do have the artistic freedom to give the characters some well; character, and this would’ve
been welcome here.
Gameplay in Conflict: Desert Storm 2 is also a little bit different than some other tactical
shooters. Instead of controlling one character and giving orders to everyone else, you can
switch between anyone in your squad at any time. As each squad member has different equipment,
this can come in handy, especially when facing larger groups of enemies. In addition, if
one soldier goes down, control automatically switches to someone else, and it’s then
up to you to get to the dying squad-mate and give him a health pack. What all of this really
means for gameplay is that the game can be played at whatever pace you want it to, and
this should usually be fairly slow, as enemy ambushes are common. Some objectives also
allow you to take your time as you make your way to the end.
Although Back to Baghdad does feature some excellent ideas with squad mechanics, as a
shooter, it really isn’t up to par. The game pretty much locks your cursor onto a
target so all you have to do is hold down the trigger, and instead of giving you the
option to aim down the sights or steady your weapon, holding in the right stick just makes
your soldier disappear and gives you a reticule that’s exactly the same as before. Hit detection
is also not very good, and allied AI, even with the solid squad mechanics and commands,
are pretty much brain-dead without you telling them what to do. I left a room at one point,
only to come back to see my three squad-mates getting shot point blank and doing nothing
to stop it. It can start to feel like babysitting. Enemies also flood out of buildings at these
predetermined points that can really start to get on your nerves.
For a fairly early Xbox title, Conflict: Desert Storm 2 is a fairly sharp looking game. Draw
distance is impressive, and character models look decent, but some weapons do show the
game’s age. Sound is also nothing special, with pretty bland performances for each character.
Although Conflict: Desert Storm 2: Back to Baghdad does a lot of things right, its shooting
mechanics and AI problems can make it a frustrating experience. If you do go ahead and play this,
I’d recommend having a friend go through it with you to at least take one AI out of
the equation.