From "Wild Bill" Stealey, the man who brought you Gunship and Gunship 2000, now comes Apache, Wild Bill's first effort from his newly formed company Interactive Magic. Apache, the latest incarnation of the Gunship combat helicopter games, features 3D graphics, a ton of missions, networking, and SVGA graphics. After taking a look at it I know what I want for my next birthday . . .
Although there is an option to fly in arcade mode, Apache is a true attack helicopter simulation. Realistic mode is exactly what it says û it's like flying a real Apache attack chopper. The only trouble is, the reason the military doesn't allow civilians fly their stuff becomes evident when you play in this mode. Expect to crash often.
Apache excels in everything it does. Nothing was overlooked. One good example is the map where you see the mission and plan each flight. The mission you choose has designated objectives to achieve and the flight route you're to take is outlined on the map. I've never seen a more interactive map. This map rotates, zooms in and out, and it shows only what you want it to show. There's also a 3d option. This brings up a window and puts a 3d icon on the map. By clicking anywhere on the map, the 3d icon will move towards that point while showing the terrain it's moving over in the window. It's like flying through the mission before you fly for real.
But let's get to where the fur flies in Apache û flying and shooting. Apache gave me a better feeling of actually being in the cockpit than any other helicopter sim I've played. Of course, you can look out the side windows to find targets, but Apache includes a feature which is called the helmet view. This is similar to the "virtual cockpit" feature which has been established as a de facto standard by games like 1942, Wings of Glory and U.S. Navy Fighters. To the best of my knowledge, however, this is the first time it has been used in a helicopter sim, and it works well. Holding down the ALT key "unlocks" your point of view, allowing you to look around without changing your flight path. Moving the stick without the ALT key will move the aircraft without changing your view. Your view "sticks," and retains the same orientation, until you hold ALT again and move it, or press another key to snap it to one of the presets.
In the cockpit you have the basic view of the front and back seats. Both views include video monitors to which you can assign any of the radar, navigational and weapons' status functions. You can assign any function to any monitor so basically you have four monitors which you can access at any time. There is also a fifth monitor which both the front and back seat view allow you to see where you're flying.
While flying, you can cycle through all of the available targets in range. For targets on which you want to use the hellfire missile you have to lock the enemy on target within your chopper's "target cone" which is basically the area directly in front of you. There is a radar option showing your helicopter's "target cone" so you don't have to guess. Once you lock on to a target you simply fire your weapon. You see the missile shoot out from your helicopter's side, leaving a jet trail as it flies. All this and it looks frighteningly realistic as well.
All of the extra views Apache allows is very impressive. You can adjust your main external view to whatever angle you want. The view of your helicopter is so detailed that you can see which missiles have and haven't fired. You can also choose the view of the enemy you currently have targeted, which allows you to "be there" as the enemy gets hit. My personal favorite viewing option is the "weapon view" which puts you "on" the missile as it races to the target.
Depending on your system, you can customize the graphic detail to the level that runs best. I played on a Pentium 60 and maxed out the graphics capability of Apache and it only played a little blocky. If you run on anything less than that you'll probably want to customize a little, but in Apache that is no problem at all. You can choose from 640x480 and 320x240 mode and anywhere in between. I ran in the lower resolution mode and it ran smooth, smooth, smooth, and still looked pretty good. But, if you want SVGA and can't run all of the detail smoothly, you can fly in just the right amount of detail to make you happy.
Happy is exactly what this game made me. I'm a sucker for helicopter combat games and this is right up there with the best. It looks good, plays smoothly and allows you to customize it to play however you want it. Along with the single missions there is a campaign option in which the outcome depends on your performance, so if you do poorly, the war goes poorly. Apache can also be played in head-to-head mode over the modem and you can also "doom-it-out" with the network option with 4 of your buds. What can I say? Apache has it all. I loved this game from the word go.
