RIP: Strike Back Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: May 15, 2006 With countless strategy offerings and puzzle games being released, the shooter seems to be a dying breed. Yet sometimes we just want to shut off our brains and unleash something primal. RIP: Strike Back from developer White Elephant is for such occasions. The game makes no pretenses about being anything other than a shooter. You're shown the entire level on a single screen, so there's no exploration involved. You view the carnage from an overheard perspective, so there's no wondering what's around the corner. You're handed various weapons with unlimited ammo, so there's no resource management. And your enemies come at you from all directions, so there aren't any slow moments between battles. You can collect bonuses, increase your stats in RPG-fashion and even hop into a tank from time to time, but the emphasis on frenzied gunplay never diminishes. As such, Strike Back is fun for brief periods of time and monotonous in large doses. Your enemies, however, which include an odd mix of supernatural beasts and conventional military hardware, should keep you interested, as should your choice of avatars, one of which is Death Incarnate. The hand-drawn graphics look good, too, and the W-A-S-D control system should be familiar to anyone who's played a first-person shooter. If you're an action fan who feels the life draining out of him, RIP: Strike Back will put the color back in your cheeks. Scoring (out of five dragon heads): Graphics: Ease of use: Gameplay: Difficulty: Sound effects: Music: Final analysis: Click here to download the free trial version of RIP: Strike Back.