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The Good, the Bad, and the Peculiar
The Good
- The basic user interface (not in game) is simple, intuitive, and efficient.
- The graphics are stunning. The feeling of speed during 'Nap of the Earth' flying is spectacular.
- The Optical Relay Tube view, selected after either the Pilot's cockpit view or the External cockpit, is fascinating to watch. Press 'W' for autopilot, then watch the Gunner's AI work. This may be the best training in the simulation.
- A mission builder, the Battle Builder, which allows the development of custom missions.
- Two simulations for the price of one. Flying in the Pilot's cockpit while your AI Gunner picks off the bad guys, or flying in the Gunner's cockpit, directing the pilot, and targeting weapons yourself.
The Bad
- The Manual - This is really the source of many of the complaints about things not working or working incorrectly. Player's do not know how a simulation producer planned for a feature or control to work unless there is an explanation someplace. Without an explanation the Player's must assume that the feature or control works like something they are already familiar with. This is often not what the producer conceived and is certainly not true for Gunship!
- Collision Detection - I am not a great helicopter pilot. I run into trees, buildings, and the ground quite frequently. I expect, on realistic settings, to be penalized for my poor piloting skills. If your helicopter hits something very hard it is destroyed.
- Campaign Play - I am disappointed in the lack of dynamics the campaign offers to the simulator. It lacks depth, and a true battlefield environment.
- The damage model seems to be an all or nothing affair. Other than the MFDs showing malfunction, I have not detected the damage reported by the voice cockpit warning system having any significant effect on my helicopter.
- No indication, either verbally or visually, for some of the more important toggles in the sim.
- Turn Left and Turn Right commands do not perform properly.
- Center View command does not function.
- Fire at Will only seems to free the Gunner to use the cannon.
SummaryThe Peculiar
I will not label these observations good or bad. These things were just not what I expected.
- No padlock system.
- Your AI Gunner says, "Unable" when you ask him to fire out of parameters. The AI pilot provides no feedback when you have asked him to perform a maneuver that he cannot.
- Pop Up command only brings the helicopter up to firing position. This leaves the helicopter exposed with the player madly banging on the Go Down key to return to cover. This command should have been a toggle to go up and go back down in the exact same position.
ResourcesI am beginning to enjoy this simulation after struggling to understand how its commands work. At this time there are two primary gaps that prevent me from recommending this simulation, the documentation and the lack of an announcement about a patch. A great concept poorly executed? A partially finished program acquired as part of a company purchase rushed to market? Another diamond in the rough from MicroProse? I don't know the answer. At this point I can only see the possibilities. Gunship! is a unique and novel approach to the concept of a combat helicopter simulation. I admire the concept but not the implementation. It has clearly been misunderstood by the 'hard core' community because of its release so close to the release of the survey simulation Enemy Engaged Comanche vs. Hokum. Simis did a much better job of positioning Team Alligator by describing their vision for that simulation in its manual. I enjoy this simulation and the opportunity to fly in the back seat of a combat helicopter. However, there are many aspects of the program that I love to hate. It is hard to recommend this software. MicroProse has not announced any plans for a patch. Although I am not a programmer, it seems that several critical things, like broken commands, could be repaired in short order with a patch. Unfortunately, MicroProse's parent company, Hasbro, is getting quite a reputation in the flight sim community for pulling the plug on support for simulations after they are released. Unlike Falcon 4.0, a previous victim of Hasbro's cost cutting, there is unlikely to be the support for trying to fix Gunship! in the user community that has arisen for Falcon 4.0. My advice is to wait three months until Gunship! finds its way into the bargain bins. Pick it up cheap and have a ball.
Here are a couple of resources I have for Gunship:
Printable Keyboard Map of Gunship!
Saitek X-36 Digital Configuration
