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Arclight · 10-31-11, 01:33 AM

Right, so completed the career thingy. There's 10 career missions total, 3 "back-story" ones where you pilot a military version as your brother, and a hand-full of government/civil contracts. Seems that some of those are actually randomized, so they are different each time they are played (think of emergency services missions, hauling cargo as a sling-load, stuff like that).

All in all, I came away feeling it is rather light. For example, you can buy more helicopters but over the missions I played I didn't earn enough to actually do so, apart from a training version of the light helo. You start with a light helicopter and pretty early on a heavy is added to the collection, but a medium has to be bought. Little weird that on an average play-though it remains out of reach.

Also, you can buy additional parts, such as a winch, camera dome and FLIR pod, but not all of those parts actually have a use. The benches and FLIR for the light for example aren't required for any missions I've seen, though it's possible there are still a few variations to unlock. (after the career missions are done, you are dropped back to the heliport, so you can continue flying)

The business management aspect is pretty much non-existent: after each flight, when you get back to the heliport, it seems to randomly assign something that needs maintenance for a helicopter occasionally. You can then do a walk-around inspecting the components to identify the problem and lower the cost. It's possible to inspect any helicopter when you're at the heliport, but it is not required to figure out if something needs attention (interface thingy pops up when you approach a helo, telling you either that it's fine or that there's an unknown problem. You can figure it out by going to the heliport menu as well: if there's a cost listed under "maintenance", something is broken). There are no running costs that I've noticed.

The physics are... alright. There are some inaccuracies, best explained here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=126712. Basically some torque effects seem to induce a roll rather than yaw, and the ground effect is exaggerated. Once you enter it, the helo starts bobbing up and down, making take-offs and landings rather awkward. And especially the medium helo rolls very aggressively; getting control of a mission mid-flight (happens a few times at first) has you fighting for control more than it should, until you can trim it out.

I'd say it's a nice helo sim that's a little light at the moment. $30,- would have been a better price, as the physics/flight-models need some polish and some more content would be in order.

Thankfully though, this is BI: I'm sure there will be support for the title, and the existing Arma community gives it a good chance of receiving all kinds of add-ons. I feel this one will become more valuable over time, as more polish is added with patches and more content becomes available, likely both payed and free.

10-31-11, 01:33 AM	#10
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	Right, so completed the career thingy. There's 10 career missions total, 3 "back-story" ones where you pilot a military version as your brother, and a hand-full of government/civil contracts. Seems that some of those are actually randomized, so they are different each time they are played (think of emergency services missions, hauling cargo as a sling-load, stuff like that). All in all, I came away feeling it is rather light. For example, you can buy more helicopters but over the missions I played I didn't earn enough to actually do so, apart from a training version of the light helo. You start with a light helicopter and pretty early on a heavy is added to the collection, but a medium has to be bought. Little weird that on an average play-though it remains out of reach. Also, you can buy additional parts, such as a winch, camera dome and FLIR pod, but not all of those parts actually have a use. The benches and FLIR for the light for example aren't required for any missions I've seen, though it's possible there are still a few variations to unlock. (after the career missions are done, you are dropped back to the heliport, so you can continue flying) The business management aspect is pretty much non-existent: after each flight, when you get back to the heliport, it seems to randomly assign something that needs maintenance for a helicopter occasionally. You can then do a walk-around inspecting the components to identify the problem and lower the cost. It's possible to inspect any helicopter when you're at the heliport, but it is not required to figure out if something needs attention (interface thingy pops up when you approach a helo, telling you either that it's fine or that there's an unknown problem. You can figure it out by going to the heliport menu as well: if there's a cost listed under "maintenance", something is broken). There are no running costs that I've noticed. The physics are... alright. There are some inaccuracies, best explained here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=126712. Basically some torque effects seem to induce a roll rather than yaw, and the ground effect is exaggerated. Once you enter it, the helo starts bobbing up and down, making take-offs and landings rather awkward. And especially the medium helo rolls very aggressively; getting control of a mission mid-flight (happens a few times at first) has you fighting for control more than it should, until you can trim it out. I'd say it's a nice helo sim that's a little light at the moment. $30,- would have been a better price, as the physics/flight-models need some polish and some more content would be in order. Thankfully though, this is BI: I'm sure there will be support for the title, and the existing Arma community gives it a good chance of receiving all kinds of add-ons. I feel this one will become more valuable over time, as more polish is added with patches and more content becomes available, likely both payed and free. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.