THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

DESERT RATS

PUBLISHER
Cases Computer Systems

AUTHOR(S)
R.T. Smith

YEAR
1985

CATALOGUE NUMBER

CATEGORY
Strategy

DESCRIPTIION
Desert Rats is a war game.

CONTROLS
Self explanatory (menu driven - the 1st letter of each word in
the menu selects that command).

INSTRUCTIONS

ORIGINAL INLAY CARD TEXT

HINTS/CHEATS

SEQUELS/PREQUELS
This was the second game in a series of 3, the first being
Arnhem, and the third Vulcan.

SCORES RECEIVED

REVIEWS

URLS

GENERAL FACTS
'Desert Rats' Deals with the World War II campaign in Libya and
Egypt from 1941 to 1943 (Germany and Italy (Rommel) VS Britain
(Montgomery)). The Scenarios are: Enter Rommel, Battleaxe,
Operation Crusader, The battle of Gazala, El Alamein and The
Desert war (all the above combined). Unit types involved are
given in the top right corner of the scrolling map. The status
of Malta can be changed which affects supply status (Historical
- British recieve more, Operation Herkules - Axis receive more,
not used as a base - no advantage to either side).  The desert
war scenario lasts 624 turns and takes about 18 hours to play
(thankfully there is a save game option!). Axis & Allied sides
are fairly evenly matched (the quality of the Axis is superior
to the Allies (except the Italians!) with the quantity of
equipment in favour of the Allies). The Axis task is either to
wipe out the Allies or capture Alexandria (the British base)
while the Allies need to wipe out the Axis forces.


NOTES
There are expanded 128k versions available of this game which has
additional sounds and scenarios (but are essentially the same).

The main attraction of these games over the run of the mill
strategy wargame is the system used to order units (simple and
effective but complex enough sums it up nicely) and the superb
graphics (for a wargame - based on squares rather than hexes).

The only really annoying feature of both games is that units are
taken away without warning sometimes (and if they were in a
strategic position...).