Gunship

I'm afraid I'm going to have to eat my words. In my last review I said Tomahawk was the best helicopter sim I'd ever seen. Well, Gunship is even better.

The design of the game is identical in every detail to the 64 version, right down to the loading sequence. The missions follow along the same lines, the five areas you fly over are identical. What you have here is the same brilliant game, but adapted to suit an Amiga, with better sound, graphics and playability. So who can complain?

Gunship has plenty going for it: the missions are numerous and varied and it is high on lasting interest. The politics are dodgy, but if you are not worried about zapping gooks you will find the game entertaining, challenging and packed with action.

Die Grafik ist leider ein klein wenig langsamer als auf dem Atari ST, trotzdem wird das hervorragende Fluggefühl dadurch nicht geschmälert. Der Sound, der bei der Atari-Version doch noch recht schlapp war, ist für die Amiga-Fassung gehörig aufgepeppt worden. Hier hört sich Motorbrummen wenigstens nach Hubschrauber an und nicht nach einem verkappten Rasenmäher. Gunship ist auf alle Fälle ein Muß für alle Simulationsfans.

PC Gunship has been worth the wait. To get the most out of the game, however, installation of an EGA graphics adaptor is recommended. The full, superlative effect of flight can only be realised with sixteen colours, compared with the pinks, magentas, harsh white and grey shadings of the CGA mode. The flight controls tend to be sluggish, especially when using the collective to dive or climb, but since real helicopters (and most aircraft) are slow in response this could be classed as a highly realistic feature. The sensation of movement is what we've come to expect from Microprose, with the smooth-running graphics having a marked improvement in speed over the 8-bit releases. A worthy purchase for your PC - if you can stomach the price tag.

Gunship is a terrific program (I hesitate to call it a game), that will keep any aspiring helicopter pilot entertained for many, many hours.

As with many MicroProse simulations, game control takes a while to master, and once the chopper's off the ground, sad to say, Amiga Gunship isn't very impressive. Scrolling is on the jerky side and neither the graphics nor the sound use the Amiga's capabilities to the full.

While the speed of the game is adequate, the frame update lags behind and the sound effects are not satisfyingly raw or powerful as they could have been. Of course, Gunship has massive long-term appeal and lasting interest. On the simulation front, it provides more than enough challenge for simulation fans. Saying that, I personally was expecting more than just a ported across ST game.

For a computer with such capabilities the landscape is bland and slow. Enemy planes are simple prisms which move casually past you. All in all it is very disappointing.And give a good test before parting with your money because my review copy, which by all accounts was a full release version, crashed several times. As for realism, well I have never flown a helicopter, so apart from the crashes I cannot be sure. Everything seems to be sensibly done, but after playing Gunship for a while I have no urge to actually go out and fly a helicopter.