You are in command of a modern wing of military helicopters with orders to stop the drug cartel from engaging in illegal activities and prevent them from spreading their ideologies and political mayhem. Over the course of 4 campaigns you will carry out your objectives in geographic locations such as the Caribbean, the Asia pacific, Turkey, and the Balkans. You will find yourself carrying operations like destroying drug labs, disembarking ground forces, escorting and transporting journalists, seek and destroy, and the list goes on.

You will have the chance to pilot 6 flyable helicopters. They are the AH-64A Apache, RAH-66 Comanche, PAH-2 Tiger, Ka-50 Hokum, Ka-52 Alligator, Ka-58 Black Ghost (concept helicopter of the future). My favorite is the Apache. Nothing like hitting targets with some Hellfire Missiles to save the day! The game boasts precise modeling of the helicopter's weapons, physics and avionics. I have never had the opportunity to fly in one of these awesome displays of firepower, but I like what I see, and doubt they are pulling our leg. I like the fact that you can choose your helicopter and customize its weapons and camouflage before the mission. This can be key to your survival, especially once you realize the limitation of your weapons. You can do the same for your wingmen, which you can order certain commands for them to follow. Commands like follow, get repairs, attack target, etc.

Overall the game is enjoyable. Each mission has a number of objectives that get increasingly difficult to carry out. One thing I did like is that everything is destroyable including trees. This makes for great fun if you are just out on a rampage. At the time of review I was unable to find any multiplayer games via Gamespy. There are games like Deathmatch, Team assault and CO-OP play. This will give the game longevity after you complete all the campaigns once more people get it and go online. LAN is also supported. I did find a few annoying nuances that bugged me a bit. For example you are getting ready to take off and your ground guy who waves those orange wands to direct your take off seems to like to run around in circles like a crazy chicken with its head cut off. I found that no matter how hard I tried to eject, I just couldn't do it. Not that I would have completed the mission, but I was near death and wanted to live to see another day…DENIED. Until I Re-mapped my keys to allow more choices from my Force Feedback Sidewinder two, rather than the keyboard, I was uncomfortable with the default settings. That may be personal choice, but I think it's worth mentioning. The Force Feedback felt realistic and you can toggle the amount of force that is used. Very Nice.

For a MSRP of about 30 bucks, It's not a bad deal. A couple of complaints here and there but there is some good stuff too. The graphics were decent and I really liked the water effects. The sun glares could get annoying, but made the game very realistic. The sound effects and the music were also pretty good and added to the experience. Skimping on a tutorial may have some gamers a bit frustrated, but after you take the time to toggle some things on and off and re-map the keys you will find it really is not that hard. Those hard core helicopter fans will find the simulation mode quite challenging.  

Graphics: 7.5
Not too shabby at all. The water effects are stunning, the maps are not too bad but in my opinion the ground targets could have been a bit more realistic, that is compared to other titles that require a Direct X9 version to play. The explosions were nicely done.

Sound: 7.5
Realistic sound effects and a nice musical score. Not exactly mind blowing, but not too shabby either.

Concept: 7
Nothing new here, your basic combat helicopter flight sim.

Overall: 7.5
For 30 bucks not a bad deal. Still a few bugs to be worked out but nothing that would hinder gameplay.