SpawnPoint

It's a third-person shooter, but instead of walking around on foot, you drive a jeep. You also control a gunner standing on the back of the jeep. You operate the vehicle with the keyboard and use the mouse to aim and fire with the gunner. This means that you can drive in one direction while shooting in another. You'll notice that the gunner only has about a 180-degree field of vision, so in order to fire at something behind you, you have to turn the jeep around.

The game's 12 levels are all set in North Africa during World War II. Each mission includes multiple goals, which generally involve driving somewhere and then blowing something up while fighting any Nazi soldiers, tanks, or planes that get in your way. The mission areas are big, and the goals often don't have to be completed in a specific order. This gives Desert Rats an open-ended feel that complements its driving mechanic. Additionally, ammunition isn't automatically restocked between missions. Supplies for the next level can only be gathered by running over crates strewn across the current level, giving you plenty of incentive to explore a little. On the other hand, the game's restrictive save system (you can only save between levels) acts as sort of a counterbalancing disincentive to exploration.