Can anybody who purchased this tell how good or not good this is? I mean its been released now and i havent really seen on here anybodys thoughts on the flight model of the finished product.I'd really hate to purchase this and it turns out crappy.

it is still very much a work in progress.

that being said - it is the most interesting approach to a flight sim yet, focusing on helicopters as it does, with an extremely unusual 'campaign' mode featuring a civilian contractor and his various 'mission' contracts.

there is a military or para-military component as well - I have flown an armed little bird in free flight but haven't figured out how to fire her weapons yet..
as well as hopped out of another to do a little exploring and discovered I carried an AR-15 that fires in semi-auto and can be reloaded....

the flight dynamics are fine enough and can be staged as newbie, trainee, and expert - the difference being in associated automatic trim and some HUD instruments being displayed etc..

you can program any peripheral flight controllers you might own - but its a bit tricky at first to figure out (like RoF was at first)

The terrain, lighting, and atmospherics are good in various settings, but you'll want an upper end rig to get the best results: i7, 4gigs RAM Nvidia 560Gti helps

Having a lot of fun with it - the training mode 'landings' is a challenge as is the 'auto rotation' test - and there is the aircraft inspection 'walkaround' too

If you like flight sims and are used to setting them up, have a decent rig etc.. then buy this one - it is a whole new approach

Also because Bohemia seems intent on improving it going forward - they have left some interesting openings for future missions and campaigns with the armed choppers
and armed pilot (you) with the ability to roam around on the ground being the most fascinating aspect to my mind...

(if you have a lower end rig - its cool - you can use the Southeast Asia map instead of Seattle and get much better performance)

Thanks heywoood i have an i7 870 8 gigs ram gtx 570 oc so i don't think i should have performance issues but you never can tell with these new sims. I just hate flaky flight physics even though i know they're still working on it. I guess the days of programs being sold as finished products are over with cause everything nowadays seem to be sold unfinshed.But as long as it's got a solid base it's okay with me.

I like it (so far). It is fun, challenging, and different. I consider it more of a game with simulation aspects due to the simplification of some stuff..but the array of stuff you do is pretty fun. I'd liken it to a story based game like Max Payne or something..but based around a flight sim engine..

rallisport,

You ask a fairly difficult question. IMHO, this flight sim is not for everyone, but some (like myself) will enjoy it for a variety of reasons. In my case, I grew up in an Army helo family, have loved those crazy “fling wing” things since I can remember, and own darn near every helicopter sim since the dawn of time.

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With that said, here’s my “take on”… Take On Helicopters….lol. I downloaded the “pre-order beta”, flew it for a few weeks, and got the final release version up and running a couple of days ago.

(***Qualifier… all is the opinion of knuckleheaded ATP with almost 30 yrs of airline flying …but precious few hours with an actual cyclic and collective in my hands)

Sys specs:
Intel i7 960 @ 3.20 GHz
6 Gig Ram
nVidia Geforce GTX 470

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- Graphics are excellent. Well the weather and helos are excellent. Some of the terrain is terrific, some not so much. Don’t be expecting FSX add-on terrain here… but then again, I didn’t buy this for the terrain, I bought it for the helos, and they’re very good.

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- FM is mostly good. If you’re a “hard core” guy and are expecting a FM the likes of “Black Shark”, then you’ll probably be disappointed. With that said, I’m flying it on “Trainee”, and here’s why. I have tried the “Expert” version of the FM several times, but each time came away feeling that something wasn’t right. Again, I have precious few hours of “real” helo time, and maybe it’s just the way my Warthog HOTAS sensitivities aren’t right, but it felt FAR TOO much like I was a drunk sailor balancing on a beach ball. We all know that helos are by nature unstable, but this was pretty bad. I plan on doing much more testing on this ... In my helo world, I need the FM to have things like “vortex ring state”, “retreating blade stall”, and auto-rotations that mimick the real thing, and I don’t see that in the “Trainee” flight model. BI said all that would be in the release version, and It may very well not be an issue until you fly it in “Expert”, I’m not sure. Again, I’ll do more testing and let you know. Don’t get me wrong, the FM is (again) mostly good, and WILL challenge you.

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- Weather effects. Only saw bad weather in the “pre-order beta” and loved what I saw. I’m a HUGE stickler on weather in flight sims, and their version of a rainy day in Seattle is spot on. I’d like to see the drops streaming off the windshield ala the “goggle effect” in Rise Of Flight…but it’s still very cool. Not sure about wind effects yet, for I’ve only flown the “Training Missions”, and two missions into the “Career” with no inclement weather yet.

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- Gameplay. This is where this flight sim shines. IMHO, this will be the make it or break it for this title. I’ve flown every MS flight sim since the beginning, but as one of my friends loves to call them…”Take Off and Land” flight sims…he’s mostly right. I’ve thought they were “kinda” fun flying around cool parts of the world, but until FSX released with actual “missions” to accomplish, I found I became bored rather quickly. This one more than makes up for all of that. I personally love “storylines” in flight sims, and where some find them silly or hokey, I like having to actually accomplish things with each flight. That (of course) is where “combat flight sim” folks tend to scratch their heads at flying a civilian flight sim. I’ve heard for years, “what’s the point?”, and to a certain extent, I used to agree with them. The “Career” part of this answers those types of questions…

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I hope some of this has helped. I’m sure others have more to add.

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I guess for me, the bottom line of this flight sim is that it will be tons of fun for some, and for some it will not be an interest at all. Some folks are only interested in blowing stuff up with their flight sims, some of us can have lots of fun without explosions (although I do love to make things go “boom”).
I’d give this one an “8 out of 10”. It’s not perfect, but I’m having a gas with it so far (again, I point you to the “helo fanboi” part of my mini-bio….lol).

Have a great day all,

BBall

I guess I might check it out. I sure hope they fly allot better than armas choppers.I agree with you on the point of you don't always have to blow things up to have fun though. Actually i spend as much or more time with civilian flight sims- even though rof takes up allot of my time.

The helos in Take On Helicopters certainly fly a lot differently than the helos in the Arma series. Whether or not that's better is probably up for discussion.

lol BBall - you said it so much better than I did...

Yes - Black Shark from DCS is still the definitive helo sim available to date - and ToH has some over simplified flight characteristics at this point in time

However, that being said, it is fun to fly now and it has a solid foundation for further development

BI has stated that they continue to work on flight dynamics as well as the other aspects of their newest 'game' that are sure to make it even better over time.

I agree that this is the new model for developers - release of a 'WiP sim' to generate dollars for further enhancement and product updates at no charge or small cost.

...not a problem for me if the developer is like DCS or 777 Studios (especially 777 as I have never seen anything go from worst to first like RoF did) - paying attention to us end users with heavy interaction on their forums, timely and frequent updates on current stages of said updates and patches, free or extremely low cost applied to said updates..

But I would hate to get burned by a one off, hack developer - that would only need to happen once and everyone would be gun shy of this type of product marketing

BBall,

Your observations are pretty spot on with mine here. I'm also currently tearing apart the physics model on the Expert mode and coming away with things that just ain't right. For a simulation that bills itself as "authentic" and "high fidelity", there are some serious shortfalls. That said, the rest of the game is pretty fun, just as you mention. The simplified interface makes it pretty accessible without having to study thick operating manuals or invest in new controllers, and the career mode and challenges are easier to get excited about than "take off and land" flight plans. There is a big emphasis on eye-candy, which will make a lot of folks happy, I'm sure. Personally, I'd prefer a believable flight model with simplified visuals as opposed to the other way around, but to each their own.