Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Oh Hey Look It’s Apache: Air Assault

By Quintin Smith on November 25th, 2010 at 10:37 am.

There's nothing more devastating than a big chopper.

Helicopters are mighty fast, but are they as fast as the RPS readership? Not on your nelly. As a result of my whinging yesterday about how flight sim games have tailed off I woke up this morning to a desperate missive from RPS reader Yarisse about a game called Apache: Air Assault. It came out on the 16th of this month, you can buy it from shops or from the official site, and you can watch the latest trailer below. It only looks marginally less arcade than H.A.W.X., but there’s some intriguing stuff in there about how they talked to Boeing to make sure the machine handled correctly.

Man, you can read about the Apache Longbow on the official Boeing site. That’s bizarre. It looks like it should have a “Add to basket” button at the bottom.

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53 Comments »

  1. 25/11/2010 at 10:44 Nallen says:

    Your basket:
    1x AH-64D Apache Longbow

    $18,000,000

    Spend another $32,000,000 and qualify for FREE delivery!

  2. 25/11/2010 at 10:52 Thrawny says:

    desert strike 2010?

  3. 25/11/2010 at 10:52 David says:

    But how does it compare to Gunship 2000?

    • 25/11/2010 at 11:02 ShaydeeAdi says:

      Man, every time I bring that game up nobody has a clue, I played that game every day when I was 8, the maps were hench, the controls were great, loads of missions, just a classic. Properly did my 286 justice.
      And this Apache Air Assault has nothing on it. Seriously

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:28 Pemptus says:

      +1 for exploding my head by means of massive nostalgia.

    • 25/11/2010 at 15:21 Jp1138 says:

      Microprose we miss you :..(

    • 25/11/2010 at 17:49 BIG_D_101 says:

      Man, I loved Gunship 2000! Just played it to get medals and promotions! Those were the days!

    • 28/11/2010 at 09:57 Harlander says:

      Gunship 2000 was indeed great – I bought it in one of those shops that let you trade in PC games for cash and other games, a business model that seems to have sadly died – but I’m most curious about the use of the word ‘hench’ as an adjective.

      Please, tell me more.

    • 29/11/2010 at 14:34 EJ says:

      *Ride of the Valkyries*
      GUNSHIP
      Best C-64 game ever. I wasn’t even aware there was a second one made.

  4. 25/11/2010 at 10:55 Dominic White says:

    I gotta try this one. It looks like a helicoptery version of Ace Combat (let us never mention HAWX again – it sullies the names of better games), which is exactly what I want. I’m too shit at flying to hande a serious chopper sim, but a high-speed chopper shooter? I can do that.

    Sadly, unlike Ace Combat, I doubt I’ll be fighting any enormous superweapons or elaborate boss-craft. This is sad, because you could have some really clever boss stage design requiring a helicopters agility to navigate.

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:19 Fede says:

      You boss-thing argument reminds me of G-Police. Loved it.

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:34 Dominic White says:

      The Ace Combat series is full of outlandish boss fights, just thrown into the otherwise pseudo-realistic setting, like the Aigaion, an enormous aerial battlecarrier with a wing of flying frigates.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hwLORA8-D0

      It really gives the series its character. Unfortunately, the latest game in the series has ditched the whole alternate earth/sci-fi angle and is going all Tom Clancy on us. AAAAAARGH.

    • 25/11/2010 at 13:08 Vodka & Cookies says:

      It’s like a mix of both not quite arcade but not quite sim either though it does have a hardcore mode.

      It was fun’ish to play but I wasn’t a fan of the controls when I played the PS3 demo.

  5. 25/11/2010 at 10:57 LimEJET says:

    This looks incredibly dull and uninteresting.

    That being said, I love arcade-style flight games like HAWX (I’m not calling HAWX a “sim”, because it isn’t).

  6. 25/11/2010 at 10:57 Evil Timmy says:

    Would you like to add a warranty to protect your purchase?
    ( ) 1 year – $2,499,499.99

    Users who bought this also bought:
    Zen and the Art of Helicopter Maintenance
    Jane’s Guide: Apache Longbow
    Complete Idiot’s Guide to Aerial Warfare
    Decision Points by G. W. Bush

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:47 hexapodium says:

      What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
      54% buy the item featured on this page:
      Apache AH-64D Longbow
      12% buy
      Agusta A129 Mangusta
      4% buy
      Haynes Manual: Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow (2001-2010 models)

  7. 25/11/2010 at 11:02 snv says:

    Jane’s Logbow 2

    Just had to say it.
    Sadly i never found a co-pilot in these days, and either got shot down while piloting or crashed while shooting.

  8. 25/11/2010 at 11:03 Wilson says:

    That is an odd website. Also, does the music here: http://www.boeing.com/ospreynews/2010/issue_01/ remind anyone of Dwarf Fortress?

  9. 25/11/2010 at 11:03 sasayan says:

    “single screen co-op”? Sold.

  10. 25/11/2010 at 11:03 TheLordHimself says:

    Looks like it might be a fun blast actually.

  11. 25/11/2010 at 11:21 Shadowcat says:

    Shhh, Quintin… Don’t cheapen this.

    • 25/11/2010 at 11:28 Rosti says:

      Exactly what I was thinking! (Although not the bit where we brush Quinns’ luscious locks aside and lean in. I mean, he’s no Philippa)

  12. 25/11/2010 at 11:25 pissant says:

    but do i get to kill reuters journalists and launch hellfires @ civilian housing this is very important

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:04 killmachine says:

      i found this black&white heat vision scene pretty disturbing. you know, we all saw something like that on the news a couple of months ago and there were innocent people killed.

    • 26/11/2010 at 03:01 Kristinn says:

      Yeah, I have to say the FLIR gun camera reminded me a little too much of that video to be able to play this without feeling a bit queasy.

  13. 25/11/2010 at 11:27 Optimaximal says:

    What I really want is a proper full-3D update to Comanche 3 (none of that overly-arcadey Comanche 4 nonsense).

    I can’t get on with a handling model that essentially has me flying what amounts to a gun platform with a rotor like it’s a plane. Whoever is flying in those demo vids spends all his time nearly barrel rolling the thing, when what he should really be doing is hiding behind a hill, popping up and then hell firing everything asunder.

  14. 25/11/2010 at 11:28 Shadowcat says:

    Does anyone know if this is related to the “Apache Air Assault” from several years back?

    http://pc.mobygames.com/game/apache-air-assault

    I’m pretty sure it had a sequel, too.

  15. 25/11/2010 at 11:41 Kelduum Revaan says:

    I played the demo on the console toy, and was actually pretty impressed.

    Theres two “control styles”, a arcade mode (which looks like it was being used in the vids) and a realistic mode, which had me falling out of the sky a few seconds after trying to take off in true sim fashion.

    I was planning to pick it up cheap sometime on the 360, but I may well pick up the PC version instead.

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:06 Springy says:

      I agree, the 360 demo impressed me quite a bit. It struck that balance I always long for where it’s not too shallow, yet not too much of a sim for me. The gaming Goldilocks that I am.

    • 25/11/2010 at 12:43 Skurmedel says:

      That’s quite interesting, was just going to ask if there was a more realistic flight model to turn on.

  16. 25/11/2010 at 11:50 frymaster says:

    “It only looks marginally less arcade than H.A.W.X”

    and it seems to have done the trick.

    This very much looks to me to be juuust that little bit deeper so that you can rampage about fragging tanks without the nagging feeling of having the deck stacked in your favour (see: HAWX and planes that carry a billion missiles)

  17. 25/11/2010 at 12:07 clive dunn says:

    I was out walking on the moors the other day and one of these bastards comes purring over the horizon. I swear he spotted me because he altered his course and homed in right towards me. Apart from the sheep i was the only living thing for miles and miles. I was shouting ‘stop locking on to me you bastard, i know you’re doing it’
    I think he heard because after a couple of minutes he fucked off.

    • 25/11/2010 at 13:22 phuzz says:

      Too much operation flashpoint in my formative years has lead to an almost uncontrollable urge to hide when I spot attack helicopters in the sky.
      Good thing there’s no Mi-24′s flying over bristol.

      Also, could someone please explain to the guy making the trail the importance of leading a moving target.

    • 25/11/2010 at 21:10 Tommo says:

      @phuzz – I lived in Prague for a year and there was daily fly overs of MI24′s. I was always having OpFlash flashbacks.

    • 29/11/2010 at 14:47 stahlwerk says:

      A year ago I took a train ride through the czech republic and somewhere between Praha and Usti there was a depot for (old?) military equipment next to the train tracks. And lo and behold there were a couple of Hinds just standing there, in spitting range of the train’s window. Impressive metal beasts, these birds are. In my mind there was a prompt flashing up “Enter Mi-24 as Pilot” and I was furiously hitting return.

  18. 25/11/2010 at 12:09 ldemon says:

    You too can now recreate your favourite Wikileaks moments and vaporise journalists and children.

    Too soon?

    • 27/11/2010 at 09:44 DigitalSignalX says:

      First thing I thought of when I saw the gun camera.

      There should be a bonus mission past the credits where you spend ten minutes circling a city block then shoot a van full of kids and reporters accidentally because real life doesn’t have a “RPG LAUNCH” flashing light and television cameras look like weapons at altitude.

  19. 25/11/2010 at 12:16 poop says:

    looked interesting until it went into gunnercam

    I dont wanna recreate a wikileaks warcrime videos :(

  20. 25/11/2010 at 13:59 megaman says:

    How come that those “Flight Tutorial” videos are mostly about shooting things?
    I really like piloting helicopters with a bit of action, I loved the BF2 chopper rounds with my friend, evading other choppers and planes, choosing attack angles against tanks or AA.
    This looks to be all about shooting and not about flying, I’ll pass.

  21. 25/11/2010 at 15:44 Lucas says:

    Troops with AKs will shoot you from farther than you can aim a rocket strike (a couple km), and pounding the front of a vehicle column does nothing to slow them down (they’ll drive right through the wreck like it wasn’t there). You can ripple launch Hellfires provided you select and lock each target beforehand, but it’s fairly worthless since you can manually select and launch them faster (no target priorities for radar).

    I played the PS3 demo of Apache Air Assault and read reviews and user feedback, and the design of this game just turns me off. AAA has a very good flight model and ridiculous attention to helicopter modeling, but the missions are essentially a fly+shoot arcade gallery. There is essentially zero realistic helicopter combat doctrine in the gameplay. I won’t buy AAA until it drops to $30 or less.

    I would rather play a smart action game with completely unrealistic flight that does have good heli combat doctrine. It’s about the little things like stealthy approaches, popup attacks, and knowing not to overfly “dead” targets.

    This summer I played Thunderstrike Operation Phoenix (fast arcade sim) and Fireblade (smart stealthy action), both of which are PS2 heli games. TOP was lackluster, but Fireblade was very good, aside from the final “boss” level, and I would enjoy playing it again.

  22. 25/11/2010 at 18:57 apa says:

    I played the demo on PS3 and they’ve got a number of things right, especially the flight model. No, it’s not Jane’s Longbow 2 but easy enough to crash if you don’t know what you’re doing.

    Enemy Engaged: Comanche Hokum with the mod from SimHQ forums beats Gunship2k, Longbow 2 and this.

  23. 26/11/2010 at 09:59 Warth0g says:

    This is exactly what I’ve been looking for – thank you so much for bringing to my attention

    p.s. what is shoes forking? I’m quite kinky, but I’ve never heard of that one…

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