Comanche Versus Hokum Review - By William "BBall" Ball Page 1 of 3
The campaign wasn't going very well for me. I was flying for
the "Blue" side, and thought that by now I would be packing
up my kitbag, calling it a campaign and heading home. But
it seemed that every time I started to kick the "Red" side
in the family jewels, it would rebound and set me back a step
or two. The big problem was taking care of the "Campaign Objectives"
(listed on the SITREP page of the Campaign and Mission Planning
screen). I was just waiting for the campaign engine "brain"
to get off its ass, and task me with some missions against
one of the objectives, but so far nadda.
I was leading Bloodhound Flight (2 RAH-66s and 2 AH-64Ds)
south on a Recon mission, when lo and behold, I noticed that
I was going somewhat near one of the objectives….a "Red" HQ
building in the middle of downtown "nowheres-Ville". I gave
my boys a "Hold Position" order, while I slithered in and
looked it over. It was a ten-story building that looked exactly
like the downtown Cleveland Hilton…no AAAs, no SAMs, just
a building. I couldn't let this one go unmolested, so I thought
we would "soften" it up a bit. I called in the gang, and we
worked it over but good. As we headed home, I checked the
map to see if it still showed as a "Red" position. It did…damn,
it's gonna need more work.
The next time I was in the neighborhood, I headed over to
check out the "Hilton", and decided to wake up the 155mm boys
and call in some artillery. Within a few seconds, here come
the goods. My next step was to send a "Request Airstrike"
communication to my "Local Base". It was about here where
I began to realize the campaign "brain" had a plan; a plan
that I would soon find myself very fond of.
Within the next forty-five minutes of campaign time, I was
enroute back home after completing a successful CAS mission,
and being a bit bored I decided to check the Map display on
the Campaign and Mission Planning screen. I noticed a "Blue"
helicopter icon heading in the direction of the "Hilton"….hmmmm.
I moused over the icon, it read "Escort", so I decided to
click on it and see what was up. Turns out it was a flight
of four Apaches escorting two Blackhawks inbound on an Insertion
mission (cool, there must've been a Recon mission against
it, but I totally missed that). I brought it up full-screen,
deselected "Cinematic View" so I could pan around, and headed
for the fridge to get a beer and watch the show.
The flight was coming in from the north low and hot. About
a km or so from the town the escorts peeled off and adopted
a stand-off profile, while the UH-60s did their thing. Around
the corner they screamed, pulling up their noses to bleed
airspeed. They touched down and about a dozen little guys
came pouring out. They all ran into the "Hilton", and (I guess)
kicked some ass. The Blackhawks lifted off, rendezvoused with
the escorts, and back north they flew. And oh yeah, the building
now showed a lovely shade of "Blue" on the Map (and the SITREP
listed it now as "completed"). Wouldn't you know it, within
a half an hour, here comes a "Red" helo to Recon my brand
new HQ. So it was going to be that kind of a war, eh? A cat
and mouse game of tit for tat. Better head to the fridge for
another beer; it's gonna be a long night."
Upgrades and add-ons can be very risky adventures. When the
Boeing Aircraft Co. decided to improve on this particular
aircraft, they knew that they were embarking down a very risky
path. The aircraft was the 727-100, the year was 1967, and
the airlines were in heaven flying this new machine for the
last three years. It was very popular, but now Boeing wanted
to stretch it by 20', add bigger engines, roughly 30 more
seats, and all at a cost they weren't entirely sure the airlines
would pay. Would the -200 version be as big a hit as the 727-100?
History would show that it would, and it would go on to become
one of the most popular passenger airliners ever built. This
upgrade/add-on worked out very well, but history is full of
examples that don't.
With that said, was Razorworks doing the right thing, by releasing
the follow-up to their mildly popular Enemy Engaged, Apache
vs. Havoc? Ask many a flight simulation enthusiast what their
impressions were of Apache vs. Havoc, and you just might get
a blank look. A/H had it's problems, and unless you could
count yourself among the true "die hard rotorheads" almost
two years ago, then you either never bothered with it, or
did and were not very impressed. Hang on, and I'll explain
why if you decide to skip this version of the Enemy Engaged
series, you may just want to throw yourself out of the nearest
window.
The original product was a helo flight sim that showed real
potential, and in some ways it actually lived up to it. One
could fly either the AH-64D Apache or the Mi-28N Havoc-B, in
one of three flight environments (Free Flight, Dynamic Missions
and Campaigns). The real heart and soul of the entire effort
were the campaigns. They were truly dynamic, and choosing to
fly in Georgia, Cuba or Thailand offered a wide range of terrain
and difficulties. Some time ago, I penned another
review looking back at Apache vs Havoc, and although NOT
the perfect combat helo sim, I felt that it was a good effort…..still
do.
So what about Razorwork's latest release, Enemy Engaged, Comanche
vs. Hokum? First, what's all the fuss about? Are the two titles
really that different? Were there lots of changes, or is it
just a "face lifted" Apache vs. Havoc? How did the changes
affect the game, i.e., is it better or worse? And (the $64,000
question) should I shell out my hard earned cash to fly it?
Well read on, and I'll try to answer these questions. Plus,
one can't talk military helo sims without asking the question:
"does it have a snowball's chance in hell of stealing the
title "Holy Grail of Combat Helicopter Simulation" from the
battle-tested Jane's Longbow 2?" We'll see…
Let's slice this baby open, and see what falls out, shall
we? So how are the two titles different? One has to look no
further than the name on the box to see the first glaring
difference, but wait, that's not entirely true. Yes this effort
stars the RAH-66 Comanche and the Ka-52 Hokum B, but if you
have Apache vs. Havoc installed, you're going to feel like
you've just gotten the latest K-Mart "blue light special",
for you can now fly ALL FOUR machines. Now the roster reads:
AH-64D Apache (both the Longbow and non versions), Mi-28N
Havoc B, RAH-66 Comanche, and the iconoclastic Ka-52 Hokum
B….cool, eh? What? You say you don't own Apache vs. Havoc?
Well, my advice for you is to get off your rear end and go
buy it, order it, whatever…you'll be glad you did.
O.K., while you're being amazed at the fact that you can now
fly four helos instead of two, consider this: with both installed,
you get six campaigns instead of three! Damn, are these Razorworks
guys for real? In the new effort (again, if you have Apache
vs. Havoc installed), you get to fight and die in the "old"
theatres of Cuba, Georgia and Thailand, plus now you get Taiwan,
Lebanon and the border regions of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
(I have to say that when I saw the Apache in that beautiful
dessert camo, I had to drag out my Saddam Hussein poster for
some dart practice, throw Lee Greenwood on the stereo and
start singing "I'm proud to be an American…" I know, I know,
keep spinning that little propeller on top of your hat BBall,
everything will be O.K…) The next thing you know, they'll
have us flying from either the Pilot or C/PG position. Oh,
they did that too? At least in the Comanche and Hokum cockpits
they did. Are these guys for real? What's next? Taxiing and
rolling takeoffs…..done. Let's go for something really far-fetched,
like switching to another helo in-flight….you gotta be kidding
me! Yep, hit Alt F8, and you're now in someone else's helo.
Somebody stop these guys before they get out of hand with
this. I don't know what they're smoking, but I sure hope they
keep it up!
For those of us that flew the original title, we have (maybe
not so) fond memories of that idiot who sat in the front cockpit
running his mouth all the time. Remember that guy? A cross
between Rambo and Duke Nukem, and his little quips like, "Hold
on boys, you can't all die at once", or "It's just my job,
I can't help it if I love it!" Then of course there were the
wingman and their proficiency at either not doing what you
told them to do, or doing it to the point of getting their
asses shot off. Many a mission would start as a four ship
and quickly become a solo adventure (I remember night freight
runs in the Piper Navajo that didn't leave me feeling THAT
lonely). That's all vanished! Now your C/PG sounds like an
intelligent, helpful graduate of a military flight training
program. And when you leave as a four ship, (through a series
of very good wingman commands) they'll use a much better version
of AI and make a good showing of themselves. That feeling
of "me against the world" no longer exits…good riddance I
say.
Well, it's all sounding pretty good so far. We've ripped the
box outta the UPS guys hands, now what? The documentation
is pretty straightforward, just like the docs from Apache
vs. Havoc. Out of the box tumbles a keycard and a ½ inch or
so, softbound manual (I have the U.K. version, don't know
if the U.S. one will be different). The keycard is full-size,
with one side entitled "Quick Start Keyboard Guide", and the
flip side reading "Full Keyboard Guide". The difference being
that the "Quickstart" side only shows about a third of the
key commands, not including the VERY important Numpad commands.
The manual breaks down into ten chapters: Introduction, Menu
Screens, In-flight, Comanche Cockpits, Hokum Cockpits, Ground
School, Comanche Versus Hokum (kind of a brief history of the
machines), Campaign Scenarios, Recognition Guide, and Appendices.
Most of the information is pretty good; I do have a bit of a
problem with their version of an Appendix. Instead of an alphabetical
listing of things you may want to look up, i.e., Autopilot functions,
Re-fueling, etc., you get some trouble shooting tips, a listing
of command line parameters, and a bunch of acronyms….interesting
stuff, but I hate thumbing through ANY manual looking for something
that I could find in ten seconds with a good appendix. And for
what it's worth, anyone that tries to fly and fight this simulation
without logging some time reading Flexman's Strategy Guide is
an idiot. It's full of great stuff, and you have no excuse because
it's included on the CD. On a "one to ten", I would have to
give this manual a six or seven. Not the spiral-bound "War and
Peace" type manual you got with Longbow, but couple it with
Flexman's info, and it'll sure get the job done.
