Comanche: Maximum Overkill

From one extreme to the other. Comanche: Maximum Overkill distributed by US Gold, is possibly the most graphically-intense, power-hungry game I have ever encountered. Make no mistake, though. If you have a 486DX with at least 4MB of ram and a decent sound card, there is nothing around that looks and sounds so good. This game makes Strike Commander look like some- . thing you would have seen on a Spectrum.

But, of course, there is a catch. This claims to be a simulator of the new Comanche helicopter. It isn't. Although I have not yet had the pleasure of flying the real Comanche (nobody has), I can be fairly certain about a few things. When you fly into a mountain, you will crash and probably die. When you hit the ground at 120 knots, you will not get the voice-warning system advising you that you have damaged your targeting system. And when you come around the corner and find that half the Russian army is trying to kill you, flying at them with guns blazing is highly unlikely to increase your longevity.

Guess what? Comanche is not a simulator. It is an arcade game on your pc. I can't criticise the flight model because there isn't one to speak of. This is one helicopter game which flies more like a spacecraft than an aircraft. There is no inertia, no torque, no translational lift, and, for the extra-nervy helicopter-sim players, nothing to give you grey hairs.

I can't knock the presentation because it is superb. You will want to bring your friends, colleagues, mother in law, anybody over just to show off. You will duck and wince as you go screaming down narrow gorges. You will believe a man can fly. But the lack of realism, coupled with the small-world area and too easy to kill enemies, makes for boredom after a pretty short time. It is easy to learn, though, and you barely need to look at the manual at all.