VIDEO GAMES REVIEW : Game Boy’s Desert Strike Proves You Can Take It With You : Portable version of the Super Nintendo title faithfully adapts the original.

For those who like to take their electronic military campaigns on the road, the Game Boy version of the popular Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf game is a solid choice--allowing players to save the world while serving detention or waiting for a flight.

The original Desert Strike was the first in a trilogy of helicopter combat simulations in which players pilot their heavily armed Apaches through the defenses of General Kilbaba, a Middle East despot threatening to start Armageddon.

The Game Boy version is a faithful adaptation of the original and has the added bonus of portability. Those who have played the Super Nintendo version of Desert Strike will be amazed at how much action remains in the Game Boy translation.

Some of the problems with the game are unavoidable, given the Game Boy’s small liquid crystal display. When the helicopter is running at full speed, for instance, the scenery below tends to blur, obscuring targets and often making MIAs and supplies hard to spot.

It gets even tougher when the size of the screen is factored in. Maneuvering over supply points or dumping rescued MIAs at the drop zone sometimes gets frustrating and requires more time than many combat pilots would be willing to spend.

Both of these problems can be solved by using the Super Game Boy adapter, but that seems to defeat the point of buying a Game Boy game since the Super Nintendo cartridge offers far better color and sound.

Despite the limitations of the Game Boy, Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf is fun enough to keep die-hard combat fans distracted on even the longest delay at Denver International Airport.

Platforms: Game Boy, Super Nintendo

Rating: Cool

Sega Genesis / The Punisher

After about an hour of playing The Punisher, I understood that the title describes more than just the main character. My wrist and thumb were killing me.

Although The Punisher boasts cartoon-quality graphics, it is too repetitive to be much fun longer than an hour or so. The game--not to mention my hands--just did not have the sort of staying power to hold my interest.

Don’t get me wrong: The Punisher is one of my favorite comic book super heroes. But I don’t think this game does him justice. Much of the game involves walking from fight to fight and punching out bad guys.

Not generally a fan of fighting games, I can at least appreciate the degree of skill it requires to master different moves as in Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. In The Punisher, though, fights with thugs entail little more than hitting the A button over and over--a case of repetitive stress injury waiting to happen.

A few specialty moves are possible, but not nearly enough to keep the action interesting. Even in the two-player mode, The Punisher fails to measure up.

Platform: Sega Genesis

Rating: Sucks

PC CD-ROM / Dark Forces

At LucasArts Entertainment--the same folks who created the absolutely fabulous Rebel Assault--they politely, but nonetheless firmly, point out that their new Dark Forces game is nothing like Doom. Right they are.

Doom is better.

I hate to say it, but Dark Forces is just not that much fun to play, which is especially disappointing since this game should have been a slam dunk. Yet it will no doubt sell well simply because it trades on the good name of Star Wars.

The game is a first-person simulation in which a Rebel spy infiltrates a series of Imperial installations. Along the way, players pick up keys, plans and an ever more powerful arsenal as the array of bad guys evolves from bad to worse.

LucasArts likes to boast that Dark Forces includes a lot of bells and whistles not found on most other first-person simulations--such as the ability to jump, crouch and look up and down.

What all these tricks add up to, though, is a confusing set of 44 keyboard commands--hardly conducive to fast-paced combat.

Some of the stuff just gets in the way. An on-screen map that could have been quite cool instead clutters up the view and often makes it difficult to see.

Ditching such so-called enhancements and concentrating on game play might have made Dark Forces something other than an overweight Doom knock-off.

In its defense, Dark Forces includes some beautiful scenery and elaborate, multilevel scenarios. The villains--including Imperial storm troopers, Gamorrean guards and even Boba Fett--are top-notch. And the intermissions include some pretty cool scenes.

Even so, the entire game has a feeling of deja vu. Each corridor seems vaguely familiar, and the action is at times tired and forced. Those expecting the same kind of high-impact experience Rebel Assault offered will be disappointed.

Let a friend buy this one and then borrow it when he gets bored.

Platform: PC CD-ROM

Rating: Mediocre

Ratings: Insane, the very best; cool, are, of course, cool; mediocre, games better borrowed than bought; suck, games at the bottom of the barrel.