Longbow 2

I was first introduced to this game by a friend shortly after it was first released. I must admit, I was more of a jet fighter fan and slightly sceptical of a helicopter sim. However, I was pleasantly surprised! Not only did the game present you with a cool intro, decent pre-game user interface, and great music, but you got to make your own pilot who gained promotions and medals with mission experience! This was all a bit new at the time.
I think if I had studied the in-game training missions a little more thoroughly, and perhaps had a read through the enormous Jane’s manual, I may have had more success in the missions.

Despite dying quite often, I have always enjoyed the game, as I felt the accuracy of the flight model was awesome and great fun to fly. The graphics were also crisp and clear.
The manual is important for serious fliers, as almost every control is represented in some way, either on the keyboard or using the MFD mouse interface whilst flying. Realism is reflected in that you can spend as much time in hover and heads-down mode, utilising the many radar, weapon and targeting functions, as you might actually flying.
The real brilliance of this game however comes with the two-player co-op mode! One person gets to fly, whilst the other deals with the radar and weapons etc. exactly like the real life AH-64 D Longbow flight teams. I don’t know of any other game with this feature, and it certainly provided hours of LAN based enjoyment. This becomes quite exciting, as the pilot can concentrate 100% on getting to altitude, dropping for cover and most importantly avoiding missiles! The pilot also has control of the helmet guided cannon, superb when you want to conserve your missiles and there isn’t much SAM activity about.
The game also incorporates wingmen, and radio chatter – in single player mode, the occasional “Tripple A, left” from your co-pilot is always welcome!
So, to summarise, a great game, good looking, very detailed (as with all Jane’s flight sims), difficult to master – but then so is flying for real – but well worth the effort, with an excellent two player co-op mode.
Besides, if things are getting too hard, you can always use the in game cheat options!