Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: p.a.dale@ss1.bath.ac.uk (Paul Dale) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Gunship 2000, version 3.01 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games Date: 14 Jul 1993 15:01:50 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 305 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <22174u$1p0@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: p.a.dale@ss1.bath.ac.uk (Paul Dale) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: game, simulation, helicopter, commercial PRODUCT NAME Gunship 2000 version 3.01 [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review was updated on July 26, 1993. -Dan] BRIEF DESCRIPTION Gunship 2000 is a combat helicopter flight simulation. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Microprose Address: Unit 1, Hampton Rd. Industrial Estate, Tetbury, Gloucestershire GL6 8LD England Telephone: +44 666 504326 LIST PRICE 34.99 pounds Sterling. Mailorder price is 22.99. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE 1 MB RAM required for floppy systems. 1.5 MB RAM required if you have a hard drive. Works on A500(+), A600, A1200, A2000, A2500, A3000. No mention of the 4000 :-( [MODERATOR'S NOTE: According to a helpful USENET reader, Michael Kaiser, kaiser@ira.uka.de, the game does not work on the Amiga 4000 if you follow the normal installation procedure. In particular, it refuses to go beyond the mission specification and the setup/code protection to the cockpit screen. However, the game does work when started from the GS2000 disks. Michael also discovered that the game can be run from a hard drive in the following manner: "Install the game on the hard drive and boot the A4000 with a copy of the first game disk. Then 'cd' to the game directory on the hard drive, start GS2000, and everything runs fine." Thanks to Michael for this information! - Dan] SOFTWARE None mentioned in the documentation. COPY PROTECTION "Look up in the manual" copy protection, which I find acceptable. You have to look up a number matching another number next to a flight patch which is found in the given range of pages in the manual. You have to do this once per playing session. Hard drive installable. The game auto-saves onto the master disk, so DO NOT USE THE ORIGINAL DISK! MACHINE USED FOR TESTING A1200, 2 MB chip, 2 MB 32 bit fast, 68881 (MBX1200z), 85 MB internal IDE drive. WB 3.0 Phillips 8833 monitor, external floppy. KONIX analogue stick and mouse. OVERVIEW Gunship 2000 ("GS2000") is primarily a helicopter flight simulator in the same kind of way you might describe Birds of Prey as a aircraft flight simulator. There is what seems to be a good flight model for helicopters (note that I am not a pilot for real :-), and a good bit of blasting tacked on. GAMEPLAY The gameplay is overall very good: much better than any other similarly pitched combat/flight simulator I have played (which include Birds of Prey, B 17, Reach for the Skies). * Main Selection Screen This allows you to choose mission types, theatre of operations (currently "Gulf" or "Western Europe" but more are promised), pilot/flight, and to go on to the briefing. Selection is by hotspots in an animated graphic (the guy at the desk is writing :-)). * Briefing Three options here are to read the briefing notes, choose and equip a helicopter (or the entire flight, see below), or to proceed with the mission. The briefing notes detail all the important information, including wind, visibility (which should influence your weapon choice), targets, time of day, enemy activity, map locations and map, etc. Most of this is accessible in some form during flight. Wind direction is an exception and can be important if it is strong, so take note. * Training The start point is as a novice combat helicopter pilot and a choice of training missions or single helicopter missions. Training is for you to learn how to fly, to use all the helicopter systems, and develop tactics with no risk (and no points). The training missions are the same as the real thing except you take no damage when hit. With all the flying aids switched on, the only way to "die" is to hit the ocean, and even then you haven't lost your pilot. * Combat So having got the hang of blasting numerous targets in training, you will take on the real world using a limited range of helicopters (some are for higher ranks only) and weaponry. The missions are flown from land bases or an assault ship against primary and secondary targets which range from fixed placements and airfields to mobile recon groups or columns of T-72s. The number of different land/sea/air types you come across is large and includes MIGs, SU-27s, HINDS, patrol boats, numerous tank and other vehicle types, SAMs, infantry, oil refineries (large explosions!), oil rigs, mosques, advertising hoardings.... This is just a cross-section from the Gulf Theatre. When in flight, most of your tactical planning will be done on your in-flight map (F10) which has a strategic and operational level (a zoom). All identified targets show up as well as bases, buildings, etc. It's here you can set up to three waypoints to aid your in-flight navigation (accessible through at least three different displays during flight). When on this screen, action is paused so you can take your time in planning. This is very important when commanding a flight. Successful missions bring promotions, medals, and points (not necessarily the first two :-)). Gaining sufficient points results in the offer of a commission to lead a flight of 5 helicopters. You can turn this down, but why miss out? Commanding a flight gives you two more options in the flight selection screen, FLIGHT and CAMPAIGN. These are essentially the same but the campaign is linked sorties rather than one-offs. Now you have four other guys who you have to assign helicopters and weapon loads according to the task in hand. You can split the flight into light and heavy sections to perform different tasks. The range of tasks now includes search and rescue, cargo drops and squad drops/pick-ups. Once all armed and ready, you are on the pad where you access you tactical map and start giving individual flight plans. On the higher level map, you can also tell each flight member what height and speed to fly at and whether they are free to engage the enemy or not (weapons are either free or held). Other options are to disengage, regroup, land, return to base, fly the indicated flight plan or drop cargo. The tactical map is the guts of the game in a lot of respects, as here is where you plan all your tactics and execution. Timing is important as is planning flight paths and protecting the vulnerable members of the flight. You must always keep your objectives in mind (there's a summary on the strategic map) and keep the other flight members in tight control. For key jobs, you often have to assume responsibility and go in yourself, but you could command from the rear. The computer AI for your buddies seems good with sensible weapon selection (helped of course by your choosing the load they carry) and a downright enthusiasm for taking out targets (sometimes too enthusiastic). The flight is generally every bit as efficient as you are and takes comparable damage. Often flight members are up for more medals and promotions than you are. Seeing a well laid plan come to fruition and hearing the digitised "Primary objective confirmed" from the back seat is very satisfying. GRAPHICS AND SOUND The detail in the game is very good, certainly compared to other similar style games. There is a lot of terrain including roads through canyons, pylons down roads, camels, oases, etc. Visibility can be variable and is well reflected: it is genuinely more difficult to see when visibility is bad through the use of different palettes. Although some hills look more like pyramids, there is a good feeling of texture to the land, and you do feel like you're skimming along at an unhealthy rate very close to the ground. The detail and speed of moving objects is very good as well. On my Amiga 1200 at 100 feet doing 140 knots, it seems plenty fast enough and not as jerky as Birds Of Prey on an Amiga 500. A friend reports that an unaccelerated A2000 handles the game on full detail well (and he has Red Baron). On an A3000, I expect it to be a dream. Still pictures within the game are well drawn but nothing really spectacular. For those who know English cricket, the guy who is there to comment on your mission afterwards is a doppleganger of Robin Smith. His wit isn't up to much. There is quite a lot of digitised speech with your counter measures/weapons buddy pointing out targets and missiles. A minor gripe is that, apart from missiles or when you lose your optics, it is obvious there is a target and "target left/target right/target confirmed/missile left/right" becomes hard, fast and distracting. Another nice touch is the missile explosions. Even if you don't get hit, the explosion can be heard according to how close it is and will even shake the 'copter so you can often be fooled into thinking you have been hit when you haven't. If the guy in the back doesn't scream "We're hit! We're hit!" and damage show on the panel then you're OK. Other sound effects are for the engine, rotors (yes there is engine noise and the "thuwp" of rotors), explosions, rocket launches, cannons, stirring selection screen music plus a few other tunes. FLIGHT MODEL AND WEAPONS I have never even flown in a real helicopter let alone piloted one, so I really can't say how accurate the model is compared to the real thing. It does feel true, and the interaction between the collective and stick seems very realistic and tricky to handle. Wind is noticeable and a real factor. Loss of stabilising influences, like (say) your tail :-), has a real and dramatic effect (you spin round continuously :-)). Weapon systems recoil which has a subtle effect in that it slows your forward motion. At high speed, this has the effect of making you gain height as the nose comes up. Generally, firing weapons is OK except for rocket pods which need to be aimed in a straight line. This involves fancy flying because if you pull up at 140 knots to fire, you gain a lot of height very quickly and slow to a crawl. In this position you are a sitting duck, so only use the M series pods for turkey shoots. The array of weaponry is helicopter dependent; and as the available helicopter is rank dependent, you only get the really good "fire and forget" stuff later on. In fact, the low rank missions are the real trial since with better helicopters, weapons and more experience the later flights are easier in many respects. DOCUMENTATION The manual is what most have come to expect from Microprose these days. It is clear, reasonably well written and very full of information. Unfortunately, the manual skimps a bit in certain areas, like what the detail levels mean or exactly what is expected for certain mission types. If you want the armour for a T-72 then you're fine, but that isn't too much help. LIKES AND DISLIKES When I first played the game, the mouse handling seemed to be very dodgy. However, I eventually learned that the problem was due to my mouse accelerator. Turning it off eliminated the problem. The keyboard alternatives don't seem to work fully as advertised. Shoddy work. In flight, I haven't had any control problems except having to zero my analogue by taking it to the map screens and correcting the drift on the detailed map (tactical) where you can scroll around. Again a bit shoddy. The game does also guru on my A1200 for an unknown reason. I've disabled the cache to no effect (doesn't cure the mouse problem either). I haven't tried using the ECS chipset as it boots fine in AGA and I don't see why I should. The guru frequency is low (about once per day) but seems to only occur during flight which is annoying. Another gripe is the leaving out of the recording feature, by which you could record and play back missions. Reach for the Skies does this without slowing, so why not GS2000 on my nippy A1200? If it did adversely affect speed I could turn down the detail or not use the feature or suffer a marginally worse frame rate. Let me choose though!! I infer a lack of time to do the full job. I don't believe a 386 PC is any more capable. My main like is the overall quality of the graphics, sound, gameplay and flight model. This is an extremely addictive game to play and certainly one of the best I have played. Apart from the niggles above this is one superb offering and will undoubtedly set a standard to be followed. I've not fully described all the features (check out the README file!) but there is plenty to hook you and keep you going. For seat-of-the-pants flying and blasting action, Gunship 2000 is going to be hard to beat. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS Compared to Birds of Prey, B17 or Reach for the Skies, GS2000 wins hands down. This is one excellent game. BUGS Dodgy mouse, keyboard, analogue stick handling (see DISLIKES). No mouse or keyboard problem on a A2000 though (and presumably a A500). Undiagnosed guru on A1200; none reported on an A2000. CONCLUSIONS A tremendous game packed with very high quality gameplay, graphics, sound. If you like action and flight simulators, this is a very good game to buy. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1993 Paul Anthony David Merlin Alexander Dale. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to distribute this review by any means to any person(s) under the conditions that no profit be made or the content changed without the author's permission (except Dan Barrett :-). --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews