Until the arrival of this classic title from EA in 1993, the Mega Drive had been suffering from a slew of platform games - most starring a tiny hedgehog. Desert Strike brought back the action and added a dose of style to the proceedings.

Using an isometric 3D perspective the player flew his Apache helicopter through five campaigns, each compromising several missions, all loosely based on the recent Gulf War (codenamed Desert Storm).

Armed with a chain gun and two types of missile, Desert Strike afforded the player some freedom in that each mission could be tackled as the player saw fit. This meant there was some tactical planning to be done - taking on an installation was made much easier if you destroyed its radar defences first, and so on.

The action was frantic, the missions well designed, the helicopter easy to fly and the new viewpoint a refreshing change. Desert Strike was converted to the popular 16bit machines of the day and EA cleverly ruined any clone's chances by delivering a sequel relatively soon afterwards. And then another one.