5. Urban Strike
There will not be a lot of people who remember Urban Strike that well- it was a game made for the Sega Genesis. Suffice to say it was the hit sequel to Desert Strike and Jungle Strike. While both of those games borrowed heavily from real life concepts and ideas. Desert Strike, for example, was inspired heavily by the 1st Gulf War, with their dictator villain General Kibalba looking very reminiscent of Saddam Hussein. Jungle Strike, on the other hand, dealt with the fear of cocaine cartels taking more and more politcal power in South America and how these rogue states could view the United States if left unchecked. Both these games felt contemporary and adult as a result of these storylines- and for their day these games were amongst the most realistic depictions of warfare going around (the unkind may say they still are). Urban Strike took a slightly more...esoteric approach. Basically the plot revolved around one of the villains (Carlos Ortega- a drug baron from South America) from the previous game changing his identity to become a media tycoon and prominent political force within the US. As said tycoon he manages to create some sort of laser super weapon that can hold the US to ransom, claiming he'll use it if his demands are not met. What is worse about this game is that the concept of military strategy that the first two games had in spades now has gone out the window. Most of the missions take place all over the United States and Mexico, but seem to have no linkage from the previous one. As such, the effect you are having on the overall state of affairs seems next to nothing whereas Desert Strike and Jungle Strike have you going after targets that seem far more easy to justify and recognise as important. A poorly written game considering the cleverly thought out two that came before it.