BORSCH, VODKA, AND MISSLES
A Review of HIND: The Russian Combat Helicopter Simulation
by Rich Cunningham
Technology in the United States has skyrocketed over the past 3 or 4 decades. This technology has impacted all our lives in one way or another. How, you may ask? It is very simple to explain. Look up from where you are sitting, and glance around the room. What time is it? If you are looking at a clock with numeric digits, score one for technology. If you are in the kitchen, do you have a microwave oven, or a frost-free refrigerator? Technology again. Look at your cable TV or cable radio system. Heavens forbid, look at the computer screen that you are reading (or staring into.......). I can remember when a computer took up rooms, and calculators that do basic math functions cost as much as a computer does today.
Where is all this going? I am trying to show that the labor saving and luxury items we take for granted today are the results of many years of research and development. It shouldn't surprise anyone that a lot of that R&D took place in our military services. The space program started out using surplus Army rockets. It seems our government just had to have the latest and greatest of everything. If it didn't exist, it was no problem to award someone a government contract to build what was needed. Alan Shephard, first American into space, while laying in his couch waiting to be launched, reflected that every piece of hard ware under him was built by the lowest bidder. Not a very comforting thought, but true nonetheless.
The former bad guys in the world, the USSR and its satellites, also liked our technology. They always seemed to copy what the US had developed shortly after it was released. Have you seen the Russian space shuttle? It looks like a twin cousin of our Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis space ships. There are other instances, and today's program is an example of how the circle has been completed. We make a helicopter, they copy it. We improve it, they copy the improvements. Cold war is over, we publish software games, and copy them.
The name of the program is called HIND: The Russian Combat Helicopter Simulation. It is a flight game based on the Mi-24 Hind helicopter and is published by our good friends at Interactive Magic, located in North Carolina. The Hind, known as the "Bogeyman" by our NATO allies, is designed to carry and support army troops into a battlefield environment. This kissing cousin to the US Apache helicopter has been accorded a great deal of respect by our allies due to its massive and varied array of firepower.
This program can appeal of all levels of computer users. On one level it is a very well developed arcade style game, with the ability to jump right in via quickstart, and start flying and shooting and flying and crashing and .....well, you get the picture. But on a higher level, it is a true flight simulator. The pilot can take over complete control of the mission, from rudders and throttle, to keeping an eye on the instruments that monitor fuel and other equipment. There is an "Silicon" Weapons System Officer (WSO) next to the pilot, and he takes care of the weapons systems. But the pilot can take those over as well.
The flight dynamics for the Hind are based on true flight physics. These physics are modified somewhat in the each of the handling modes. There are three modes: novice, stable, and realistic. In the novice mode, recommended for green and beginner pilots, the complexity of flying is reduced considerably, and allows an emphasis on action (ala arcade action). The realistic mode is a true flying experience, so real you will find yourself rolling and tilting with the screen action. It is so real, an airsick bag nearby would be handy. This mode is recommended for advanced pilots with experience. The use of a minimum of two joysticks is recommended, along with rudders. For example, when you move one control, it will usually have to be compensated for with another control (sort of like Newton's Laws of Gravity). In the mid-stream is the stable mode. This allows flight with a greater degree of maneuverability than the novice mode, without having to deal with the complexity of control secondary effects.
There are several areas which missions are flown in. They can be flown in either 10 single missions or as a series of interlinking missions called campaigns. There are three geographic area in the game, Korea, Kazakstan, and Afghanistan. The latter campaign has become known as the Vietnam War of the Soviet Union. There are also several multi-player options available. In the two player options, players can fly head-to-head against another friend or foe, both fly the same helicopter, one as a pilot, one as a WSO, and fly cooperatively in 2 helicopters in any of the single missions or against an Apache chopper. In the Network options, it is possible to fly up to 16 players simultaneously in a survival of the fittest, or a team game where the object is destroy the other's headquarters.
The manual is very descriptive in how to play the game, as well as the history and development of the chopper. The installation is well covered, both in the main manual and in a separate supplement. To me that shows there was some extensive game testing, and issues that developed during that testing were added in the smaller manual. Everything you need to fly this bird is between these pages. It would have been nice to have had some larger maps of the geographic areas, but that is a minor niggly on my part. The manual is also available on line as well.
While this game in very interesting in its concept, it shows me nothing that I would consider new or revolutionary. I do not consider a run of the mill game, because it is very difficult to play at the higher levels, and is very realistic. But compared to other helicopter simulators that exist, it fails to bring anything new to the game table. The graphics are superb, the sound great, the realism is, well, realistic. The concept, of fighting and flying from the Soviet point of view, is unique, but there have been other flight simulations that have gone down that road before. So where does it stand? In my opinion, it is a middle of the road game. It has the misfortune of being a very well written game at a time when there are a flood of well-written simulators already on the market. If you like to fly helicopter sims, this is for you. If you are new to them, this would not be a bad game to start with. But if you are looking for some new "gee-golly-whiz-bang" developments, then leave it on the store shelf.
Gamer's Zone Scorecard
| Product: | HIND: The Russian Combat Helicopter Simulation |
| Company: | Interactive Magic |
| Cost: | $49.99 |
System Requirements:
IBM:
486DX-33 mhz minimum (tested on Cyrix 6x86),
8 MB RAM, Double Speed CD-ROM,
VESA-compatible video driver, 800x600x256color monitor,
MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 95, 100% MS compatible mouse and driver,
100% Sound Blaster-compatible sound card (digital and FM/MIDI audio),
dedicated game card recommended for joysticks, throttles, and foot pedals.
Power Macintosh:
16 MB RAM, Double Speed CD-ROM.
Supported input devices:
Standard 2-button joysticks,
CH: Flightstick*, Flightstick Pro, ProPedals, and Virtual Pilot,
Thrustmaster: FCS*, WCS, and Rudder Control System,
F-16 FLCS and TQS,
Gravis: Gamepad, Firebird**, Phoenix joystick.
*- Macintosh compatible
**- Macintosh only
Breakdown:
Fun Factor 3
Graphics 3.5
Sound 3.5
Interface 3
Replayability 3
Overall Score:
Copyright © 1997 InfoMedia, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.