textfiles/games/REVIEWS/thunder.rev

 THUNDERCHOPPER

 THUNDERCHOPPER is SubLOGIC's latest flight simulation product, reviewed here on
the IBM-PC. The game is supposed to be a realistic simulation of an enhanced
Hughes 530 MG Defender. I don't know what "enhanced" means, but I suspect it
refers to things the simulator does that the real chopper doesn't. I've never
flown a Defender before (or any other helicopter, for that matter), so I can't
vouch for the claim of realism. But I've _read_ a good deal about flying
choppers, so I can say with some confidence that, despite the few drawbacks I'll
describe, this is a good simulation.

 The game is divided into six sections: (1) Flight Training; (2) Rescue
Missions; (3) Combat Missions; (4) Rescue at Sea Missions; (5) Armed Escort
Missions; and, (6) Scenery Disk Load. Except for the scenery load option, these
are arranged roughly in order of difficulty. There are also three levels of
difficulty that change the views from day to dusk to night, increase the number
and skill of opponents, etc.

 Flight Training is very useful, of course, and fun -- once you get the hang of
it. The trainee is instructed to follow a certain course, fly straight and
level, and land at all the helipads. The docs said I was supposed to land on the
buildings; I tried to, but I kept crashing. I didn't realize I could land only
on the ones with gray tops (the documentation overall is skimpy). But once I
became familiar with the controls, I was very pleased with the "feel" of the
chopper. In fact, as far as I was concerned, it _was_ a chopper.

 A helicopter is a very tricky thing to fly. There is a very complex interaction
between the cyclic, collective, power, and the tail rotor. SubLOGIC has
virtually eliminated the power control and much of the tail roto function by
explaining that high-tech military choppers use computers to attend to these
details. Maybe they do, but I couldn't help thinking SubLOGIC was merely
explaining away its simplification of the controls. My CH Flightstick felt great
as the cyclic control, but I was quite disappointed that SubLOGIC didn't use a
dual-joystick arrangement here (as I have found in another chopper simulator).
In order to adjust the collective on the joystick, you first press a button, and
then use the stick to adjust it. The cyclic and collective need to be
continuously adjusted (simultaneously), so I resorted to using the keyboard
collective controls. Analog control of the collective would have been _much_
better.

 The "Search and Rescue" section of the game is unbelievably boring. You're
supposed to go out and find downed pilots and rescue them, but this is no
challenge when you can see them (little blue dots) from at least 15 miles away!
They're out there firing flares so rapidly it looks like a fireworks display. So
you pick up a few of these guys, and the flight computer keeps telling you to
pick up more, more, more. I wondered, just how many people does this craft
carry, anyway? From the pictures, you'd figure it would hold perhaps four
people, but I must have picked up 10 or 12 pilots! I noticed no drop in
performance with all that weight on board, either.

 The Combat Missions are well done: Good tactics are necessary to avoid getting
shot up. There are four weapons systems to choose from: a chain gun, TOW
missiles, Stinger missiles, and Zuni rockets. They all have their advantages and
disadvantages, and it's a real challenge to learn which weapo to use for various
tasks. It's also important to learn not to waste them. The levels of ammo
carried are realistic, and you soon learn they don't go very far. There are a
variety of targets the on-board computer instructs you to search out and
destroy. To aid in these missions, you have zoom radar, zoom television,
infrared display, computerized maps, and tracking boxes, as well as some more
conventional navigational aids. I was pleased that the game rules allow you to
return to the base for repairs and refueling during the middle o a mission.

 The Rescue at Sea Missions are a much improved version of the previous rescue
option. These are more challenging because you have enemy fire to contend with,
and they don't make you pick up nearly as many pilots, either. It's rather
difficult to hover low over the water and lower the hoist while trying not to
get killed.

 The Armed Escort Missions are the most dangerous and challenging of all. You're
escorting a convoy of troops through a canyon pass full of enemy snipers and
ambushers. They tend to pounce at close range. So far, I have never made it
through that canyon alive!

 I was pleased that SubLOGIC put a scenery disk option on this game, since I own
a pile of Scenery Disks for FLIGHT SIMULATOR VERSION 3.0; I was anxious to take
a look at this very familiar scenery from the vantage point of a hovering
chopper. At first, I was disappointed that the graphics were low res, but once I
got used to them, I had a ball flying around Paris, hovering next to Notre Dame
Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower.

 Since there are no side views available, I learned to fly around objects
sideways, using the tail rotor to keep the craft pointed straight at the
objects. That was a neat trick. You can use the three difficulty levels to view
the scenery at day, dusk, or night. After flying around Paris, I went to the
local airport to land and spotted the refueling station (an "F" in a square),
which I decided would be a perfect helipad. I was astonished at how difficult it
was to hit that little spot: I had no idea the helipads in the game must be
huge!

 Playing this game on a 12 Mhz '286 with VGA graphics, my first reaction to the
main control panel screen was "Yuck! Low res blocky graphics!" I'd become
accustomed to the beautiful VGA display of FS3. But most games for
IBM/compatibles are still low res, and I was quite pleased with the very fast
speed of the graphics: There's virtually no flicker on my system. The graphics
moved extremely well, and the chopper responded quite snappily. The ground is
textured with rows of dots, making landing and maneuvering close to the ground
much easier than in other helicopter simulators I've tried. This is a huge
problem in the rest of the programs: Low-level maneuvers are a necessary
component of almost all helicopter combat tactics, and accidentally flying into
the ground all the time is not fun. For some reason, though, THUNDERCHOPPER
offers only a forward view and no side views, which I find quite annoying.

 As a flight simulator buff, I was somewhat disappointed that this program is
primarily a game, instead of a serious simulator with a small game added (as in
FS3). However, I realize most people will consider this a plus, not a minus. In
any case, THUNDERCHOPPER is one of the best helicopter simulators I've seen so
far -- and it's a pretty good combat game, too.

 THUNDERCHOPPER is published and distributed by SubLOGIC.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253