There are a lot of variables tossed into this mode, so that you can really put a new aircraft through its paces, and it is a fun way to sample the gameplay without being tied down by the campaign and its plot. Finally, you can choose a number of AI-controlled teammates, the aircraft type, weapon loadout, skins for your craft (a number of which are unlockable), the skill of your AI partners, the enemy craft, and their weapons. Then you can pick your starting altitude, which basically means whether you want to manually lift off from the ground or begin in mid-flight. You can also specify the weather, which doesn't have a great impact on how you play aside from your view. Then you can choose whether there will be ground units for either side, so you'll need to watch out for friendly units or shoot indiscriminately. You can pick the arena in which the flight will take place, using a number of locales found in the campaign. On the flip side, even if the difficulty can be brutal, the missions are short enough to make them tantalizing to try over and over again without much frustration, so you don't hesitate to jump in for another round since you haven't lost a lot of time.įree Flight mode allows you to pick a number of options for a unique scenario setup. This might not sound like a huge amount of time, but as I mentioned, you'll end up retrying quite often, so the campaign becomes more of a time sink than you might expect. Campaign mode is divided into 17 missions, most of which take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to complete. After all, you are taking the reins of a powerful piece of weaponry, and there's a lot of stuff you can lay waste to throughout the lengthy campaign.Īs you delve into Apache: Air Assault, you're given a few modes to check out. However, once you get a handle on the controls and piloting, and you figure out which view best suits you, it can be quite fun.
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I certainly hurled a fair share of expletives at the screen over the course of the main campaign, and I came dangerously close to cracking the TV screen a couple of times. At that point, I'd toss the controller on the couch and switch to something else for a breather. I struggled with the review for a while because I'd make some progress in the missions only to encounter a particular level that was unrelenting in its difficulty and precision. The helicopter sim aspect is probably going to put off a great deal of people from even trying Apache. Apache is neither of those things it's hard to play well, and it's even harder to finish. Most air combat games on consoles are strictly arcade affairs, so the controls aren't nearly as difficult to wrap your head and hands around, and they tend to be pretty forgiving. I can't even remember the last time I touched a game that focused on helicopter-based missions outside of the classic EA series, Jungle Strike and the subsequent Strike games, so Apache: Air Assault certainly stands alone among other air combat titles. Instead, it's such a unique console simulation title that it'll take a lot of time to wrap your head around it.
Apache isn't difficult because it's unfair I can't even say that I suffered cheap deaths. It can be tough as nails, even if you're playing on the easiest setting - which I did - and if you start to bump it up to Realistic or Veteran mode, well, good luck, fine gamer.
Apache: Air Assault isn't a game that you'll want to approach lightly.