Reviews / previews
Although it doesn't boast the vibrant graphics of
Jane's Longbow 2, Apache Havoc does offer an
immersive environment that will challenge the most
hardened flight-sim veteran.
The biggest strength of Empire Interactive's chopper
sim lies in its rich, flexible campaign structure. As in
LB2, the campaigns--here set in the Georgian
Republic, Thailand and Cuba--are fluid and no two
missions are alike.
The option to fly for
either side in the
U.S. Army's
Apache Longbow
combat chopper or
the Russian
Mi-28N Havoc B
adds to the variety,
and the
squadron-based
tasking model
generates combat
sorties on the fly as it adapts to changing war
conditions. Individual missions may not have the
same sort of Top Gun flair that you see in scripted
campaigns, but they feel realistic. The flight modeling
and avionics are equally well done and on a par with
LB2 for realism and authenticity.
Unfortunately the same can't be said for the game's
wingman AI. You can radio only a handful of
commands to these cowboys and the likelihood that
they'll following any of them is about the same as
getting your cat to catch Frisbees. Even more
annoying is the fact that the same actor was used to
voice all the radio messages, so half the time you
don't know if you're
talking to your
wingie or an
air-traffic controller. However, the game
boasts some excellent head-to-head and
cooperative multiplayer options so that you
can always trade your AI wingman in for a
live human over a serial, modem, LAN or
Internet connection.
The game's D3D-fueled graphics are
something of a mixed bag. Although a
bang-up job has been done with the individual aircraft and object modeling--the
detail on the chain gun hanging off of the chopper's nose is amazing-Apache
has none of the lighting effects from weapons fire that helped to make LB2
such a stand-out. Same story with the game's 3D terrain. An enormous area
has been mapped out, but it has a distinct "polygonal" feel that give little
sense of speed in low-level flight. The photorealistic scenery found in LB2 and
many of the current crop of jet sims really puts these visuals to shame.
If Empire Interactive plans to knock Longbow 2 out of its position as the
market's premier chopper combat sim, it has some work ahead of it. On the
other hand, if Empire just wants to produce a first-rate helicopter simulation
with hours of authentic and immersive gameplay, then it's hard to find fault
with Apache Havoc.-- Andy Mahood / GamePro
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