Conflict Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad

You’re the best trained, best equipped Special Forces squad in the world.

NA release: 6th January 2004
EU release: 6th February 2004
JP release: N/A
Developer: Pivotal Games
Publisher: Gotham Games (NA), SCi (EU)
NGC Magazine Score: 90%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

The first Conflict Desert Storm was an extremely tactical quad based shooter with a lot of planning involved. The sequel keeps the squad part, but swaps the rest with a linear run and gun shooter. The previous awful autoaim is now a bit too useful, as you strafe and spray everywhere to kill everyone.

Because of these, it does control a lot better than the first and doesn’t feel like a nightmare to play for the most part. Your squad is still useless, with their orders resetting every time you take control of them while also getting stuck on objects as they try to follow you. Oh, and you can’t lose a single one this time, or it’s game over.

The levels themselves are much more straightforward, often being very linear paths in enclosed areas. That said, the way forward can be difficult to see and bringing up the map is so slow. This map screen also shows your objectives, which are a bit odd. Sometimes the actual objective will pop up on screen while other times just the words “new objective” pop up.

While it’s certainly much more scaled back in terms of its strengths of being a tactical shooter, the much improved gunplay makes it a bit more tolerable to play.

Fine

Often the rescue missions are the most exciting part of the game and – brilliantly – are entirely of your own making. The game’s makers provide the terrain, vehicles, enemies and checkpoints. How you tackle them and the hijinks that occur on the way is up to you.
Daniel Griffiths, NGC Magazine #86

Remake or remaster?

A compilation of the two, perhaps.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Conflict Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad