Quick View Ratings

Gameplay: 95

Graphics: 100

Sound: 95

Intelligence: 95

Learning Curve: 12 Hrs

Fun Factor: 100

This is probably one of the hardest simulators to review because of all the wonderful things you get with it. I am not even sure where to begin. If you have a 3dfx card, this is probably the best sim out on the market today. The Janes group has once again gone beyond the call of duty and delivered a true masterpiece. From the 3dfx graphics, to the true feeling of being there, along with a great manual, reference card and all the other things you get with this sim, it is a true piece of art. Ok, now that I got that off my chest lets take a peek inside.

What’s in the box:

A great 7-chapter 200 plus page spiral bound manual that goes over every part of this simulator. One fold out Reference card for quick glance keystroke help. Install guide for troubleshooting, joystick and Windows 95 information Multi-player Guide with information on how to connect Longbow 2 to other virtual pilots out there.

Installation:

The install for me at least was very painless. Slipped the CD into the PC and away I went. You choose from three different options, 170MB, 290MB and 420MB. I choose the 420MB installation since I only have an 8x’s CD ROM drive and had plenty of hard disk space. The option for installing Direct x is there and it will allow you to bypass if you already have it installed on you machine. Longbow 2 will also create a shortcut on your desktop if you so desire.

Once everything was installed on my PC I quickly started up Longbow 2! The recognizable Janes intro was the first thing you’ll see and then your greeted with a great intro movie with Tanks assaulting a refinery and blowing up all kinds of buildings while under the watchful electronic eye of a Kiowa Warrior. I’ll leave the rest of the intro to you so I don’t spoil the movie.

The first screen you’ll interact with is the Base screen. Here you will choose all the different parts of Longbow 2, Select Pilot, Training, Multi-play, campaigns and single missions, plus quick combat. Just move your mouse around the different buildings and hangers and select where you want to go. Bootcamp!

Longbow 2 Dynamic Lighting. Click for 60 K image.

Training is fantastic. You can select Basic Longbow, Kiowa and Blackhawk training. These training missions are full speech and will step you through and get you flying in no time. The only thing I noticed here was if I was in autohover mode it would disengage every time the next speech element was being loaded. Not a big deal, but something to keep your eye on. You can also select Flight training, Advanced Longbow training and free flight Gunnery training to sharpen your sword with. Free flight gunnery is a great way to practice flight techniques and bob-up tactics before entering combat since you can’t get shot down and it’s a fun way to just blow stuff up.

The graphics in Longbow 2 are jawdropping. I can’t tell you how many times I had to change my shirt from drooling over the things I was seeing! With 3dfx it is truly a marvel. The helicopters seem to be alive! Rotors spin, transparent smoke, lens glare from the sun and the terrain looks like real terrain. If you don’t have a 3dfx card and can afford to drop down some cash this is a good reason to do it.

Longbow 2 has pushed the simulator market to a new level. The night vision feels and looks like the real thing. To be hovering at 50ft in pitch black and then fire off a hellfire is truly incredible. Call in an artillery strike on a group of enemies and sit back to watch the fireworks and lighting show. The ground illuminates as each round hits and shadows of tanks appear out of nowhere for brief instances as the rounds hit home. The tracers look like desert storm footage. I recently hooked up a multiplayer session where we each were in our own Longbow. As we approached the enemy tank column some infantry opened up on us from our flank. Tracers were flying everywhere and made me crouch in my seat for cover. You really feel like you are there!

Along with the great graphics, you get more than just the Longbow to fly. Also included are the Black Hawk transport helicopter and the Kiowa Warrior scout. Each is fun to fly and is a challenge to learn. In the Black Hawk you can fly in the pilots seat or from its two door gun positions. Coming in on a HOT LZ is a real "pucker factor" in the Black Hawk, seems like you can’t get those troops off or on fast enough. The Kiowa allows you to fly as the pilot or the co-pilot and can carry a limited amount of ammunition, but enough to get you out of a tough spot.

Incoming:

Instant action and the single missions are where you will spend a lot of time before taking on the dynamic campaigns. You can select a wide variety of options before you fly. Choose random weather or choose to have heavy artillery support etc… its all there. Want to fly a night mission in the fog? Just select the options and away you go. You can fly all of these missions in multiplay also.

Multiplay is very easy to access also. Select from Modem, LAN, Direct connect or TCP/IP. I have not tried the modem links or direct connect, but I have tried the LAN and TCP/IP connections. Over Kali I have tried numerous times to connect via IPX (LAN) but have never got it to work correctly. (Ed. Note: LB2 does not purport to support Kali. For Internet play, Longbow 2 supports TCP/IP. For real LANs, it supports IPX. Kali is a hack, albeit a good one, that pretends to be a LAN over the Internet. Kali was invented because so many games did not directly support TCP connectivity very well. Kali can, however, be used as a meeting place for LB2 pilots).

TCP/IP on the other hand is flawless. The only limitation there that I have witnessed is you are limited to two players. I have heard that some have gotten 3 players to link successfully, but I have not. Flying over the Internet with a friend is a lot of fun and really adds to the feeling of "being there". Watching your buddy take out a column of tanks while you cover his six and then mop up the area with you cannon is a real treat. You can also sit in the front seat while your buddy fly’s in the back, picking out targets and laser designating targets for them to take out with their cannon. Get overwhelmed and call in some air strikes or artillery it’s all there and in 3dfx cutting edge style.

I have not gone into the dynamic campaign, as I have not flown many missions yet in this mode to give you a fair review. I have flown only three missions in campaign mode and it is a real treat. You can fly in three different campaigns. Azure Rune NTC Ft. Irwin US equipment vs. US equipment. Azure Rune NTC Ft. Irwin US equipment vs. Russian equipment and the third campaign in Azerbaijan. All are fully dynamic and a new war is created each time you start a new campaign. You can select time limits, enemy AI and limited equipment if you choose or keep the options off and not worry about those things. (Ed Note: for more info on the campaign see Preview 2).

There is so much to this that it will take a lot of time to touch all aspects of the simulator.

Longbow 2 has stunning graphics and loads of options to choose from, this is truly a fantastic buy. If you were wondering what to ask Santa for Christmas, ask for Longbow 2 and a 3dfx board if you don’t have one. You will definitely be glad you did.

Editor: Combat Simulations awards "Simulation of the Year" to Longbow 2. Its innovative, exceptional, flexible, and a LOT of fun! Congratulations to the Skunkworks team for a fine piece of work and for raising the bar for 1998!

Part II

In the last document, I reviewed Longbow 2 as a whole and promised to take a closer look at the Mission Builder and Campaigns in the simulator. So after spending more stick time in the single missions and in the Campaigns I feel its time to give you that closer look. Since I am not a professional writer/ journalist, I hope you will forgive me if I have some grammatical errors and also hope that you will forgive me if I miss something you wanted discussed.

First let me say again that Longbow 2 has put PC simulators into the next generation and set the stage for things to come and expect. This is truly a work of art and really gives you a sense of "Being there". The terrain looks real and the lighting effects are a wonderful sight to see. I have had some of the best times flying Longbow 2 via Single play and over the Internet since the days of Falcon 3.0! Here is a typical example of a coop mission I played over the Internet with a friend the other night.

ATO 12195

December 3rd, 1999 Lt. T. "AWOL" Bishop

The mission was to attack an enemy camp with 3 flights of longbows. It was a coordinated flight so timing was everything. I was flying in the back seat (Pilot) and my friend (Aniles) was to fly as my gunner in the front seat of our Longbow. We took off from our FARP (Forward Arming & Refueling Point) and started towards waypoint one. "Charlie 88 you are cleared for takeoff at pilots discretion" came cracking over the radio.

Since this we had to be at our waypoint at a certain time I had to fly fast and low to get there when the rest of the team showed up. We flew at an average of 120Kts and about 50 to 75 ft. above the ground (On the Pucker scale about a 4). In the Virtual cockpit mode the feel of speed was fantastic. I don’t think Aniles was expecting such a high speed roller coaster ride, because he was pretty quiet on the way to our target except for an occasional "wooh or WOW" over the chat function.

We got locked up a few times by enemy AAA but by the time they acquired us we were already over the next hill and broke their lock. Aniles was telling me the time to target via the chat function so I knew how fast to go and we could time the mission. Waypoint 3 was our station to hold, acquire targets and wait for the attack. I came in low and fast, pulled back to a hover and waited. 5 minutes to go. Aniles told me to "bob up" and get a picture of the target area. We peeked our radar over the hill and acquired our primary targets. He set up our priority fire zones and we got ready for our attack. About a minute to go we started to hear radio chatter from the other Longbows and saw streaks of Hellfire’s across the sky. "Go, Go go!…" Aniles said. So I "Bobbed up" over the hill and all hell broke loose!

There were tracers flying everywhere! Aniles was launching our Hellfire missiles into the target area while I was trying to stay calm in a hover until they hit their targets. I also called in some artillery to keep the enemy pinned as much as possible. It was really incredible to see all the explosions and tracers going up at once. Aniles then told me "Left, Left and we locked up a Cobra gunship trying to sneak up on our flank! "Stinger away" then Boom "That’s a hit Sir" and Aniles "Wooah". I started in on the enemy camp and Aniles locked up targets in the TADS for me to finish off with my cannon.

Well, I could go on but I think you get the idea. This is truly incredible to do over the Internet. The sights, sounds and teamwork are a lot of fun!

When you start a Campaign you can select from three. Fallen Crescent and Azure Rune which has two options, US vs. US equipment or US vs. Russian equipment. Once you select a campaign you can then choose your campaign options listed below:

Challenge Level: Easy, Average, and Hard
Force Advantage: Neutral, Friendly advantage, Enemy advantage
Campaign Limit: Controls the amount of time the campaign will take.
Limit Radar Longbows: Destroyed Longbows will not be replaced immediately.
Limited Other Helicopters: Same as above for the other helicopter in the sim.
Limited Missiles: Effects the supply of you missiles.
Ordinance Replacement: Controls the speed of when your ordinance will be replaced, Slow, Average, Fast.
Helicopter Replacement: Controls the speed of when your helicopters will be replaced, Slow, Average, Fast.
Limited Intelligence: This, when toggled "On" will give you a Fog of war.
Time of Day: Random. Always Day, Always night for missions.
Visibility: Random, Always good, Always Bad.

So as you can see, you have quite a bit to choose from. These options also allow re-playability of the same campaigns. After you select the options you wish you are greeted with either a Video sequence in the Fallen Crescent campaign or the MMPC (Mobile Mission Planning Cell) for the Azure Rune campaigns. The MMPC is a tent or truck mounted system where you will spend most of your time in planning your missions. You can plan your mission, Read Janes, Fly or Trash your mission here.

The Mission Planner is the heart of the campaign. Here is where you will control not only your own flight, but also an entire squadron of helicopters. You will plan their waypoints, arming and rehearse their every movement. You are presented with a Battle map view and on the side of this screen, you will see the various flights for your squadron. You can select different overlays to view and select different map views like Satellite and Contour, NATO Icons and Picture Icons etc…

The first thing you will probably want to do is read the briefings for the different missions assigned to your squadron. These will be broken down into Four flights of two helicopters each. The briefing will tell you what kind of mission is in each flight. For example, Flight One might be a Recon Patrol, Flight Two might be to Escort a Friendly truck convoy to a resupply route, Flight Three to drop off a forward observation combat crew and Flight Four to provide Close Air Support for an attacking Tank group. Once you have read the briefings you will the want to go to the Tasking Screen. Here you will assign the type of helicopter for each flight and here is where you will see you supplies dwindle down as the campaign moves along. Loose those radar Longbows and you might not have any later to choose form for the mission assigned. So you will select Kiowa Warriors for the recon flight and Blackhawks for the insertion flight and Longbows for the attack and escort flights.

Next you will choose to arm the various choppers in the Arming Screen. Here again you will see the results of your supplies. If you used up all you radar Hellfire’s all you will be able to get is Laser Hellfire’s etc… After you have armed each flight with the type of weapons you feel are best you will select the flight you want to fly. This is done by right clicking your mouse and re-assigning yourself to the pilots pool and then re-assigning yourself by right clicking on the flight you want to fly. From there you can go to the Map and change any waypoints you feel necessary.

The Waypoints can be changed and then rehearsed by selecting the rehearse button. So you can actually time your missions for a complete coordinated attack on an enemy position. You can also change the loiter times and the type of action each waypoint has. Another nice map function is the Profiler. Here you right click on any part of the map and "Drag" your pointer to another part of the map. Once this is done you will be presented with a cross section of the terrain between these two points. This is very helpful in positioning of waypoints for attacks. You can move that waypoint behind a hill as to mask your position to the enemy. You can literally spend hours planning out your missions if you so desire. Of course you can use the default waypoints and just go fly!

Once you have planned out and armed each flight its time to fly! At this point the program will de-compress any terrain for the given campaign. So make sure you have already done this if you plan to fly any Multiplayer flights. If you don’t then the other players must wait for your machine to de-compress the terrain before you can fly. This can sometimes be annoying if you’re in a hurry. Once de-compressed your in your cockpit and ready to go!

Dynamic Campaign

The Dynamic Campaign in Longbow 2 is very complex. Each mission is calculated by the DMG (Dynamic Campaign Generator). The DMG tracks all friendly and enemy units on the virtual battlefield. Its keeps a running tally of destroyed units and casualties. All of your actions in the mission effect the outcome. So waist those Hellfire’s on some trucks along the way and you might not have them later when you really need them to stop an enemy advance. Here is what the manual for Longbow 2 says about the dynamic campaign (pg. 6.19)

" Based on cumulative results from all missions, the DMG formulates successive missions (approximately one per day) that are based on your performance, not on a static set of data. Each generated mission has random elements as well, giving every mission the potential for surprise. This allows the campaign to unfold differently each time you play, producing a different theater with different conditions."

So as you can see it is truly dynamic and powerful. You might think twice about abandoning your convoy to go pick off a group of tanks. They might get jumped and your supply route cutoff. It is very interesting to see the battlefield come alive. While your flying that escort mission you will see and hear the other flights and ground units go to battle. I have seen fire fights off in the distance and heard the grunts call in air support. Then minutes later see an A10 swoop overhead to go help. Or pass over a line of forward artillery units and then jump out of my seat when they suddenly open up to support the frontline. I have been hiding behind a hill waiting for that right time, then suddenly hear a chopper approach from behind! Turn, and find a Kiowa approaching on a recon mission. It’s all very alive and exciting. I have captured some screen shots of various missions in the campaigns and also from some multiplayer sessions to look at. Enjoy!

Editor: Combat Simulations awarded "Simulation of the Year" to Longbow 2. Its innovative, exceptional, flexible, and a LOT of fun! Congratulations to the Skunkworks team for a fine piece of work and for raising the bar for 1998!