Review: Gunship!

I just couldnt get over the flimsy flight
model and lack of gameplay depth like LB2.

I still fly LB2 and it seems to do more for me at this point. Perhaps down the road GS will be worth a second look after its patches
make it worth buying it again (cheaper too).

Just my 2 cents,

"This all leads me to my primary complaint about Gunship! The documentation is poorly organized and scattered over two books"

Guess the numerous keys that DO NOT WORK doesnt count

Suppose the COMPLETE LACK of a flight model isnt important

Seems to be that the INSANE ARCADE LIKE WEAPONS make no matter

Apparently the cumbersome and sompletely moronic waypoint system (and its acompanying 7 keystroks to move to the next waypoint...no way to go back to a previous waypoint) is OK if the games graphics look cool.

There is NOTHING the "part II" could say that would make up for the pathetic pandering in this review. The game is BUG RIDDEN and could not have passed even the most cursory of QA standards. As such and site with the GAMERS INTEREST at the forfront would have warned off potential buyers long ago. As it stands now, it looks like pandering to the publisher in the hopes that you wont cheese off too many readers because they've already returned the piece of trash.

Ive tried and tried to give this site a chance, but after the past few months of BS, and not this....bookmark is outa here.

_homer_simpson_@yahoo.com

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Gunship what can I say....

It starts of superb.
You have to rethink how to fight the enamy. They are now no longer an easy target in the open (or hiding round the corner of a box-like wood) instead they can be found lurking in the woods. You can't pop up to search for them or some AA unit might spot you. So you play a fascinating game of hide and seek amongst the trees. Theres plenty of places to hide and its a great game of cat and mouse.

The gunners station is superb. you can tell the pilot what to do and then get on with a heads down attack with the optics without fear of smashing into the nearest hillside.

Then it all starts to go pear-shaped.
Having done all the cat and mouse stuff you go to attack - and look gobsmacked at the arcade like weapons and targeting.
You have a game that will actually allow you to concentrate on executing an attack using the whole range of weapons modes, radar configuations and other whatnots of realworld gunships and what do you get? - a naff arcade version that would have been considered unrealistic decades ago.

Having got over this shock you dispatch them with unrealistic ease. Next you check the map to see what else is out there.
Whilst you are looking at the map though the autopilot AI kicks in, ignores your previous orders and flys off sightseeing or something.
The gunners AI also kicks in leaving you totally out of the loop. You put the map down and scramble to regain control spotting an incoming missle out of the corner of your eye that would never have got if you hadn't looked at the map...
What kind of game has you scared to look at the map because you dont know what it'll do ??!!

It starts of with so much promise and then leaves all that promise behind at the farp.
It gives me the impression of game started and then rushed out half way through production. They had finished the 'casual mode' and were about to start on the 'realistic mode' when the call to release came.

Its a superb arcade game. But having seen what Longbow 2 did realism wise how can any major company claim to be releasing a simulation and not even get within earshot of that level of realism.

I'll continue to play Gunship - but for fun and light relief not as a serious sim.

The simplified avionics I can live with - I can always fire up JF/A-18 if I'm an "electronic warfare" mood. Even the FM, wonky as it is, is not half as frustrating and infuriating as the AI taking over whenever you're not in the pilot's station. I've just gotten in the habit of pressing "H" as soon as I leave the cockpit, and in fact never leaving the cockpit unless I'm in a good masked position.

Here we go again!
Damn it makes me sick to hear jet jocks say "Ahh, my Viper/Hornet is hardcore enough, just gimme an easy whirlybird for some quick action".

quote:

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Originally posted by Blaze:
"The simplified avionics I can live with - I can always fire up JF/A-18 if I'm an "electronic warfare" mood."

Here we go again!
Damn it makes me sick to hear jet jocks say "Ahh, my Viper/Hornet is hardcore enough, just gimme an easy whirlybird for some quick action".

That there *are* serious jet sims does not justify dumbed down helo sims!

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What can I say? I wish Gunship! had a high fidelity FM and detailed avionics too. It DOES have detailed, usable terrain, and you have to stay low and hidden, and pick off tanks from a favorable range and aspect ratio (unlike certain allegedly more "hard-core" predecessors). This in itself makes GS worth playing, as far as I'm concerned. I am looking forward to CH, though...

Once again we see that adding an exclamation point to the title of a game means it will suck. I have to agree with those posters who are sticking with Longbow2 as the best Helo Sim. Back in the day I had Gunship 2000 on my 486. You could fly the Cobra, the Kiowa Warrior, the Defender, the Apache, the Longbow Apache, the Comanche, and, oh yes, the Blackhawk. GS2000, while not nearly on par with the LB series for graphics and realism, etc, is definitely a better game (and dare I say a better sim?) than its new little brother GS!. Hopefully Hasbro/Microprose doesn't go the route of other manufacturers by adding more goofy things to the names of their games. Maybe the next Helo sim will be Exxxtreme Gunship! Helobrawl with the music of Motely Crue in the background. Jane's? Please make us a good Helo sim!

apache/havoc plus comanche/hokum is as close as we will ever get --- and it is superb.

add to that a patch in the near future < i.e. read good publisher support for a game >, good inet multi-coop play, upcoming game servers for the real time campain engine...... oh my !

With everything said about the simplistic FM and the array of design flaws I just want to add some comments on the campaign, just in case you're considering a buy.

The guys who wrote the 3D engine and modelled the beautiful landscapes brings tears of joy into my eyes. The guys who scripted and (un)balanced the campaign, however, are morons. In order to succeed, and you have to succeed, you'e required to eliminate every single enemy on the map. Even the troops managing fuel and food needs to be handed the hot lead. If "Igor", the regimental mascot dog, manages to escape from the HQ vehicle then it's your job to seek him out put him out of his misery before he exits the map unless you wanna go the full round a second time. Often, as a helo commander you're handled a couple of choppers and your mission is to stop a complete armoured brigade - and you've got fifteen minutes before the curtain falls. This is plain stupid. The ammo wont last for christ sake. What the heck where they thinking?
The battle builder lets you set objectives and victory conditions. Obviously the campaign battles were created with some other tool(?!)

My proposal is that the coders give SIMIS a call. With this kind of graphics in a REAL sim I'd be stuck for a long time.

They are much more challenging to fly than
that of GS! I hear that Commanche/Hokum
is good, but have they been able to deliver
on Multiplayer?

Another inaccuracy that really pisses my off is that the enemy air defense seem to be able to see and anticipate a helicopter that is operating at very low altitudes (BTW, no pilot in their rightfull mind would unmask to ~300', so screw the pop up command).

Seems like every time I pop up a few feet above the trees, I hear the Chaff/flare ejectors going into action but get no response from the pilot, then wham, I have no idea where it comes from. The AI seems to have better vision than you do too; even with radar, at low alt. radar has a very hard time picking up objects with out using doppler techniques (unless in the millimeter wave portion of the spectrum, and no CIS systems other than the ARENA on the black eagle)

BTW I figured how to engage multiple targets so I guess in that reguard its not completley inaccurate. Just cycle through the targerts and fire at each one, the missiles will contiue to track even after you have designated another target.

1) Fly from the external view, in thermal, and aim view (button 2, or I've mapped it to my pinky switch on the F22), and zoom (range knob on throttle).

2) Fly with other people online, but everyone mans their own chopper. Otherwise, I noticed it's buggy. When we tried to do pilot/gnr co-op, the weapons got all screwed up (no missiles for gunner), and the lag made targeting impossible. Try again MPS.

Cheers for listening

Lex Morton AKA BazookaJock

lexfromlaos@hotmail.com

STOP PRESS !! First shape alterations hit the street ! We now have a Ta 152 (long wings) from a standard 190D ! for details go to http://www.combatsim.com/ubb/Forum24/HTML/005247.html

It's fairly savage, and I think this might be indicative of the polarisation of opinion that this game is going to generate over the next couple of weeks/months.

Just for info - "49% A terrible end to the series"

Have there been any other reviews out there like this? From what I can ascertain, this is probably the most damning piece so far outside of forums like the ones here.

Any thoughts?

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Tally Ho

It sounds like the present admin of HI are less interested in long term investment, and prefer a short term ripoff approach.

So we have FALCON4 and GUNSHIP!. If B17II follows these offerings, I won't buy another Hasbro game. Why should I? I can expect from previous experience that although its a lovely idea,it will be unworkable, and will remain so (except for the work of independant hexers who will do Hasbros job for them,without any kind of constructive input from Hasbro).

What I really think about that company's attiude doesn't belong on a public forum.

So ...one day later i went to Wien (i live in Switzerland) ..a little trip . Let's check the computer stores...WOL .. they have Gunship ..wol
they have the english version ....wol ....
5 days later....
i am back to Switzerland ..it's 2.48 am ..my plane have landed 1 hour ago .. i m so tired ...but first thing to do is to play that great
game . Install .... Play ...
WOl ...what a GFX...hmm ..why can't i target ...why the pilot is not turning left ? and right ? ..what the hell is going ...........
Blof ...maybe it's my fault ..let's see what people thing on the net .... yep they thing Gunship is a Crap. Like me ....

Damn ... why i didn't waited ....... can't even get back my money ....

In other words , IT's A CRAP simulation , It's even a crap arcade game ... AND there is no other way combatSIM to tell it ...but they
don't . THey must put with big red letters .. !!!DO NOT BUY IT !!! ....but they don't .
I am coming to COMBATsim.COM from three years now .....to read their excellent articles and reviews about PC combat simulations.
But from about a year , the reviews of games are going bad ....very bad ...so i will switch to other site... simple like this ...if they don't
decide to do their job ...i'll say them bye ...adios ......

it's so late ..i have trouble to think ..see ...hear ... to write ..I'm making hundreds of spelling faults ...but i insist of telling you my anger
....

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The Aero Section : http://fly.to/TheAeroSection/
The Aero Section is a large military aircraft photo gallery.

Normally I'm a jet head. F2 and JFA-18 are my normall diet.

But then a whole glut of helo simms came along and I thought I'd have a look. So, I bought a copy of Gunship. It looked very nice and sounded fun. Oh dear.

The game, and it is a game, not a simm IMO, was terribly mediocre. Excellent graphics, but where is the flight modell? Where is the accurate weapon systems modelling? Yuck.

So then I took the horror back to EB and obtained a copy of EE Comanche Hokum instead. Wow! Now I'm totally converted to choppers! EECH is simply masterfull. Granted the graphics are not quite as good (say 90%) but it runs in a monster res. and so is pin-sharp. EECH also features everything that Gunship was sorely lacking- accurate flight charectaristics, accurate weapon systems modelling, realistic weather effects, a dynamic campaign.... The list goes on.

In all fairness I havn't played Team Alligator, but from ehat I hear that's somewhere inbetween EECH and Gunship in terms of "hard-coreness".

Personally I wouldn't hesisate in recommending EECH to anybody with even a passing interest in chopper simms,but stay the hell away from Gunship- it's a meaningless arcade game.

Cheers, Wulfrick.

quote:

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Originally posted by Silent Bob:
I thought is was fun if you could ignore the fact that there are some serious inaccuracies in the equipment modeled. The most glaring is the complete inability for the RF hellfire to operate in "fire and forget" mode. The real longbow has this ability and can ripple fire all 16 missiles and all will engage seperate targets. Also another problem is you can't just poke you mast sensor (be it MW radar or FLIR), you have to unmask the entire helicopter.

Fun but needs work, I expect Tank Platoon to have similar flaws, irritating, but not a show stopper

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