Chris "BeachAV8R" Frishmuth starts a new series of articles about the best of the bargain bin. First up is his review of Apache Air Assault / Apache Longbow Assault.

http://www.simhq.com/_air13/air_424a.html

fun article. I wish more sims would have 'little people' in them, even if only around airbases and stuff. really just adds that 'extra something' I think. the low poly kind, the cardboard cutout looking kind, just something so every place doesn't seem like such a ghost town.

Graphics look a lot better than I thought they would, although I have been playing a lot of Jane's stuff lately so my eyes are a little 'behind the times' so to speak.

OMFREAKIN'G! Dude, Chris, you sold me!!!! Searching the Internet right now looking for those puppies! Thanks a bunch!

Good info, nice series... I remember getting that budget game upon release, and really enjoying it... just not telling anyone, lol... it's still in my closet somewhere.

I couldn't spot it - what OS did you play this game on? Need to know if it works on Vista.

Come out of the closet Magnum! And bring your budget games with you!!


I was using Windows XP - I did not try it out on Vista or Windows 7.. If someone does could they report back. You bring up a good point - with 3 heavily used operating systems (XP, Vista, W7) we'll probably start getting more questions about platforms for our articles. I'll try to include that in future articles, or at least mention which platform the game was played on.

Thanks for the comments guys..

BeachAV8R

BTW - One of the best things about this sim are some of the sound effects. While the helo rotor sound could be better (be nice to hear some rotor slapping)..the interesting thing is that they seemed to engineer a proper sound effect based on distance from the explosion. So you'll see the explosion, and then a second later (depending on distance) you'll actually hear the boom. One of the few sims that models that speed of sound. Now..I didn't empirically test it out to see if they are truly modeling the actual speed of sound..but it has a good effect!



One other thing worth mentioning - beware of repackaged versions of Apache Longbow Assault. I've seen it variously packaged as Apache Air Assault 2 and some other things.

BeachAV8R

Good review, glad to see budget software getting some love. I hate to admit it, but a lot of my favorite games are/were budget titles. The Search and Rescue series mentioned in the review is a great series of games and a totally different focus then a combat sim.

-Jenrick

For fans of the Search & Rescue series (of which I'm obviously one!) we did do a "Read It: Do It" article based on the Search & Rescue Vietnam Medevac title about 2 years ago:

http://www.simhq.com/_air10/air_322a.html

Including some gameplay video: http://simhq.tv/downloads/_air_combat/vietnam_med_evac/vietnam.zip



BeachAV8R

Great concept.

Good review, and definetly got me interested. Just downloading the air assault demo now.

LOL - I didn't even know there was a demo available! Let us know if it works..if it does post a link to where you downloaded it..

Thanks to this article I am going to have to get these games back out of my collection. I did not think about using my TrackIR for these budget games. Were you using a x52 for controls or just keyboard?

I was using an X52 - but the sim doesn't allow you to remap the collective axis so I was stuck using the precision slider for my collective. I quickly got used to it, but it wasn't ideal. And I didn't see any way for me to remap my slider to the throttle axis in the Saitek software (?)..that would be another way around it..

As for the TrackIR..it works great with the gun only though - and only in mouse emulation mode. Once you switch to the Hellfire or Rockets it no longer tracks. So keep that in mind..

I'm very interested, if anyone finds it for a reasonable price, please post a link.
Very nice write up, thanks for putting that up. I'll keep looking around for it. I'm hoping for it to be Vista friendly as well so I don't have to put XP back on something. LOL

I've always liked the SAR Series; just reloaded SAR4 as a mater of fact. But, man, I really wish they had put full TrackIR support in. I've often wondered if X-plane could be worked up to do SAR missions.

Yes please if anyone finds it for a sensible price please let us know. So far I've seen like 40-60 bucks which is ridiculous for a budget game that probably originally cost 20 bucks. But maybe its becoming a rare find? I love SAR4 and Vietnam Med Evac. These look to use a similar engine too which I've always liked anyways. Thanks for the review Beach.

Is this the same game?(ABout a 3rd of the way down) Its called Operation Air Assault 2. No Apache in the title but its an Apache game. This looks to be the same. Well if it is, ebay has a bunch of them new and it looks to be in good packaging.

Ebay

If it is the same game then good ol' Gogamer has them for 8 bucks!

Gogamer

Too bad this venerable sim-lite engine still only supports unmappable single controllers.

YES! I ordered that thinking it was another, 3rd version of the series..but it is in fact the same game as Apache Longbow Assault (the 2nd half of the YouTube video I posted). It came in that packaging, no manual, just a disc.

Yes..it is. If I could just get the throttle axis to show instead of the precision slider I'd be a happy camper because the twist rudder on the X-52 does indeed work with it. And you can even reverse the collective..

Right on. TrackIR is almost essential in a helo/rescue type sim where you are doing very precise flying over a spot on the ground/water. It's just very difficult to do hoist operations without being able to quickly glance back and forth. If you liked SAR4 you will probably like Vietnam MedEvac too..it has some diverse missions.

Hi Beach, thank you very much for this review. I wasn`t aware of that fact that this game is likely? from the makers of the SAR series. The SAR series have a half decent helicopter FM and I liked it so much. I will definately look if I can buy this game. I also like that there are these little man walking, shooting and screaming... :-)

I've never been able to run these games correctly in Vista x64. Game runs fine, outside view works fine, but the cockpit is transparent. In XP 32bit cockpit was fine.
You can run the game at any desired resolution (including widescreen) by editing one of the .dat files in notepad (forgot the filename) by replacing the numbers with your desired resolution.

I played MedEvac Vietnam with X52 controller and Saitek rudder pedals. For axis remapping i used ppjoy and it works great.

I was using old Saitek X45 and throttle works works just fine as does the rudder.

I've played this 2 sims over and over again years back. Stil on top of my 'fav sim list'

EEEEk! Can't find Apache Longbow Assault anywhere except one place and at PREMIUM price. Anybody know where I can find it at budget price? I found the first one at budget, but not the Longbow.

How can you say it's the same game? It doesn't even look like the same game. Don't give people false info to waste 8 bucks. Operation Air Assault 2 is a Helicopter Sim game, developed by InterActive Vision Games and published by Nobilis, which was released in Europe in 2004. Apache Longbow Assault is from Activision Value.

I ordered it for $8 and it is the same game. It came in a DVD box and after loading up the intro and seeing the first mission I knew it was the same. The screens look different, but I think they took those from the PS2 version of the game..the PC version is most definitely the same game.

BeachAV8R

* AFAIK all of these titles are originally based on the Interactive Vision game engine. The only things that appear to change are who published them...

I have both titles
Apache air assault works in vista 32
Longbow has a "transparent" cockpit. anyone has been able to fix that?

I had the same problem..I could only run Longbow in XP..

I've just downloaded and installed Apache Air Assault (demo) on Vista64, but can't get it to run at all. I've tried every compatibility mode, as well as adding apache.exe to my DEP 'allowed' list.

Any ideas?

I have the same issue, I have GF8800GTS 320MB on board (tried 190.62 and 191.07 drivers), on previous Radeon 9800 Pro few years back it worked ok. Are all new NVIDIA cards owners have the same problem?

For me this game without cockpit view is unplayable, so if anyone have some advice please share it.

The only computer I have that runs Longbow with the cockpit functioning properly is my older Alienware that has an NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT PCI Express (256MB)..

I haven't tried W7 yet..but I suspect it is something in the new drivers perhaps..

I like the idea of the series (and these two titles) but a couple of pointers worth exploring:

1) Do these old games properly support widescreen resolutions native, or is there stretching and other unpleasantness?

2) Issues with Vista and W7

3) Type of Copy Protection used.

4) Any other graphic troubles with current hardware and drivers

I often see some interesting looking budget titles around, but it can be really hard to answer these four questions.

Thanks for the tips.

I can certainly explore some of those options. The first I think a blanket statement of "these are sometimes older games and futzing with them will be necessary.." would apply. Most games can be run in their native resolution with black bars on the sides. I'm not planning on installing/patching/tweaking them on XP, Vista, and W7 exhaustively, but from this point forward I'll try to give an idea of which OS I'm using.

I'll throw in copy protection comments and graphics and drivers trouble - but again with the wide array of computers and configurations out there it will just be from one perspective.

I'm not aiming for an exhaustive review here, just a sim-lite series. Some of these might be $5 crap shoots (ie: I bought the Operation Air Assault 2 game for $8 and found out it was just a repackaged Longbow Assault)..

BeachAV8R

I guess I couldn't find the feedback thread for this review

http://www.simhq.com/_air13/air_424a.html

because it's nearly 18 months old.

However, I just wanted to express my thanks to Beach for this review, which I found whilst looking for more of his Falcon 4 reports. (you have a lot to answer for )

Being a retro fan - though usually of much older sims and games - I though I'd give it a read and watch and now I find myself with both titles in my possession, waiting in eager anticipation to get stuck in.

I'm backing up my files prior to a Win7 reinstallation, so I'll have to wait a week or so before I can give them a try - but the review and video certainly have me hurrying a bit more than I otherwise would.

Whilst I'm at it - thanks for the Falcon reviews, training and AAR's - they keep me going when I get frustrated - and thanks for the Black Shark stuff in PC Pilot (if you're ever in the area visiting Key publishing, pop round for a brew/LAN session - Stamford is my home town).

Cheers,
Flash

Wonderful review. After reading it and watching your video I'm tempted to look for these and download myself.

I don't know if this is still relevant - but regarding playing it on Win7 or Vista - I just spotted this thread in another forum here:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3125970/Search_and_Rescue_4.html#Post3125970

It concerns SAR4 - but isn't that on the same engine as these two?

If so, theoretically, it should work for these as well - Sauron is running it on Win7 64.

FH