Play Gulf Strike Online

Game Overview

Gulf Strike is one of those old-school MS-DOS war games that somehow makes moving little pixelated planes and ships feel like an actual military operation. You start off staring at this stark map of the Persian Gulf, trying to figure out how to position your carriers just right while keeping an eye on enemy movements. The first time I played, I sent all my fighters in at once—big mistake. Turns out fuel management matters way more than you'd think.

It's not flashy by today's standards, but there's something satisfying about how it forces you to think three steps ahead. Missile ranges, radar coverage, even simple things like resupply routes—they all matter. And when you finally pull off that perfect ambush on an enemy fleet? Feels like you just outsmarted the Cold War itself.

If you've got a soft spot for retro strategy games that don't hold your hand, this one's still worth firing up in DOSBox.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".