Reflex Unit: Strike Ops

The "AI Generated Content Disclosure" severely underplays the sheer amount of AI assets included in the game. The soundtrack, voice acting, and character portraits are all AI, as far as I can see. I know I only have about 20 minutes in the game, but even with that little time it is just so blatantly obvious. The game feels soulless as a result. I'm fine with generative AI being used to help indie games get off the ground, in fact, it's one of the only uses for generative AI that I approve of. But to this degree, and with what seems like no intention of removing it after the game has been released? Hell no.

This is a game made in the spirit of Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf. Desert Strike is a much beloved series. I have played and beaten that game more times than I can remember. Trying Reflex Unit: Strike Ops was quite fun and brought me back to the old days. Furthermore, it boasts 3 player MP coop! What's not to love about this concept?! Since I like this game so much and want it to be better, I'd like to spend a lot of time talking about the cons. If you love Desert Strike, you'll already understand the pros. [*][b]The controls:[/b] they can be a bit janky when trying to aim with a controller, which is explicitly how the game wants you to play. Whether you turn autoaim on or off, you still have to fight the aiming system to do what you want. Fortunately, I am just able to get it done, although I can't always explain exactly how I manage to do it. You just get used to it. A friend of mine had more success using the mouse to aim. [*][b]The overall game difficulty is too easy.[/b] [h3]Why it's too easy...[/h3] [*]Resource management has been made way too easy. You need to manage fuel, ammo, and repairs. You can pick them up as resources, just like how Desert Strike did that part. Unlike the old game, however, the old tricks are gone (like saving fuel over water, and gaining repairs by dropping off MIAs at friendly bases), and new methods are in their place. You can go back to the carrier to get all three resources (provided you have a carrier on that stage), and you can also use a repair bay (again provided you have one available on that stage). The first level gives you both, so you never really need to worry about resources. If you're caught off guard anyway, no worries! You can just [i]buy[/i] your resource and have it airdropped to you for a cheap cost of the money your pilot earns for blowing up the enemy. Instead of the resource game being an intentional and well-designed logistics concern, managing resources turns into more of a mild annoyance.[*]Dodging enemy fire is not really all that difficult. There are certain patterns you'll recognize. Also, the enemy doesn't even properly aim before shooting. Once a turret knows you're there, he rips off a missile, and only then begins to think he should turn to face you. Missiles don't even really lock onto you. There's little in the way of active threats where you need to plan your attack except in a few circumstances with specific enemies. Just keep moving smartly, and you're good.[*]The only dynamic aspect that can surprise you is that every so often, an enemy will show up to attack you. This is also less of a tactical concern, and more of an annoyance that you can't sit still. There's little in the way of surprises otherwise.[*]The campaign is only 12 missions, and I was able to complete the campaign on the hardest difficulty (Expert), complete all of the objectives and achievements, go back and get the highest score for Stage 1, [i]and[/i] play a multiplayer session -- all in a recorded 11 hours of playtime. In my opinion, the game difficulty needs to be made harder in a way that isn't cheap. Perhaps countermeasures, more detailed dodging/evading, enemy reinforcements being brought in off-map, and other such ideas could help. I also suggested to the devs that they consider adding a dynamic campaign generator. If we could have randomly generated maps, geared with higher difficulty for MP, this could also make replayability a huge thing. With all of that said, I still recommend the game overall if you're a fan of the Desert Strike series. It would probably be best to pick it up on sale as I did.

Clunky and not challenging buy Cleared Hot instead

If you enjoyed Desert / Jungle / Urban Strike, you'll like this. Great nostalgia gaming with the same open world, play it your way design. Loads of vehicles (trust me, just keep playing) including subs and better helos. The only down side is that the standard drone type aircraft are really boring - you just have to wait for the odd cool vehicle mission. Also, the tank think needs a jump button - getting penned in by walls and road barriers isn't fun. Nice graphics, easy controls and sensible camera. The only down sides (just because i know the Devs read these ;) is the annoying women "you're running out of fuel" EVERY SINGLE TIME and the fact that the random enemies who show up are too regular - sometimes its every 5 or 10 seconds and it sort of reduces it to a boring slog rather than an interesting engagement. Oh, and can we hve a choice of ground vehicles for the tanks etc like we do with the helos please. But this game is awesome and you should buy it. The best successor for the Desert Strike series on the market.

[h1]REFLEX UNIT: STRIKE OPS[/h1] And yet, another "STRIKE series" inspired game that really nails the good old nostalgia theme of my beloved childhood games from the franchise (Desert, Jungle, Urban, Soviet and Nuclear) of the 90's and 00's. It is a franchise that I really loved back then and even still today since I had bought the good old Sega Genesis cartridges of these games (except Soviet and Nuclear Strikes that released on the PlayStation 1). It totally sucked when Electronic Arts just decided to cancel that series since they only care about multiplayer or live service games. To my surprise, I had played the early access CLEARED HOT! not too long ago and I liked it pretty much. But... I had more fun with REFLEX UNIT! How is it? A full release game that is quite fun and enjoyable! In all honesty, it is very close to be the real deal but I do still prefer the old games of the STRIKE series instead. The gameplay, the sounds, music... all very good! The visuals are quite decent too and doesn't have some goofy humor like in Cleared Hot! which was getting irritating. Also, the cartoony visuals of CH isn't my preference. The story is good but the highlight of RU is the variety of mission types and of course, you control different vehicles just like in the good old Strike series. [h1]POSITIVES:[/h1] [b]+Nostalgia +Fun Gameplay / Combat Loop / Ressource management for ammo, armor, fuel. +Good Controls (KB/M was good on my end) +Sound Design +Physics & Rope Mechanic system. +Voice Acting and music quality is good. +Helicopters Variety +Vehicles variety (from rover, tank, hovercraft, this game nails it!) +Good Value for its low price +Perfect Ultrawide support[/b] [h1]NEGATIVES:[/h1] [b]-I hardly found any negatives in RU but I'd say the enemy variety is limited. It surely could be improved in another game. -No gamebreaking bugs or serious technical issues... however, each time I quit the game, my main monitor HDR is all dark. I gotta turn it off and on to fix it.[/b] [h1]RECOMMENDATION:[/h1] [b]If you loved the good old STRIKE series, get this game right now. You will truly enjoy it! For what's worth, you can at least give the DEMO a shot then pick it up later... I decided to take a leap of faith and just bought it right away and... I do not regret it at all! A pleasant surprise to say the least! You may also give a shot at CLEARED HOT! while at it. I do hope ROBOSARU Games makes more games like this in the future![/b]

I spent an hour on the first mission struggling with the controls. I was playing with a PlayStatiion 4 controller (controller recommended). That was my only complaint.

Parabens muito legal. me lembra os bons e velhos tempos do sega mega driver com o desert strike! só precisam melhorar a mira, mas o jogo é bem legal e a musica muito bom