I first played a demo of this game which came with a GeForce 4 graphics card. I thought it was fun back then in 2002 and I kept playing it occasionally even in 2008. Now, 13 years later, I remembered this thing existed and found full version of Comanche 4 on Steam.

Pros:
1. Militaristic feel to the game. Still somewhat immersive.
2. Explosions looking good.
3. Distant explosion sound travels across levels, that means you don't hear explosions instantly when they happen a mile away.
4. Elevation toggle control and stuff, pretty solid controls.
5. Diverse missions.

Cons:
1. Only few 4:3 resolution presets. No custom resolutions support, not even using .ini tweaking. This is fatal. I can stand dated graphics, but playing 4:3 on a relatively small 16:9 screen never feels good. I could use scaling though, but I doubt I can accept stretched visuals nowadays.
2. You can't see much beneath you and can't shot what you don't see (unless you've locked on a target, but you need to see it in order to lock on). This is not how helicopter cannons work, m8. They should point atleast 45 down, but in this game it's limited by tilt and vertical FOV. This forces you to fly on low altitudes which is not what I'd expect from a game like this.
3. All intense fighting equals "rapidly clicking right mouse button to lock on targets and shooting down the targets with the corresponding weapon".

Will I recommend this game? If you are OK with playing on 4:3 resolutions and not afraid of arse ripping hardcore missions, this might be waht you seek. Otherwise, it's a thumb down.

I first played a demo of this game which came with a GeForce 4 graphics card. I thought it was fun back then in 2002 and I kept playing it occasionally even in 2008. Now, 13 years later, I remembered this thing existed and found full version of Comanche 4 on Steam. Pros: 1. Militaristic feel to the game. Still somewhat immersive. 2. Explosions looking good. 3. Distant explosion sound travels across levels, that means you don't hear explosions instantly when they happen a mile away. 4. Elevation toggle control and stuff, pretty solid controls. 5. Diverse missions. Cons: 1. Only few 4:3 resolution presets. No custom resolutions support, not even using .ini tweaking. This is fatal. I can stand dated graphics, but playing 4:3 on a relatively small 16:9 screen never feels good. I could use scaling though, but I doubt I can accept stretched visuals nowadays. 2. You can't see much beneath you and can't shot what you don't see (unless you've locked on a target, but you need to see it in order to lock on). This is not how helicopter cannons work, m8. They should point atleast 45 down, but in this game it's limited by tilt and vertical FOV. This forces you to fly on low altitudes which is not what I'd expect from a game like this. 3. All intense fighting equals "rapidly clicking right mouse button to lock on targets and shooting down the targets with the corresponding weapon". Will I recommend this game? If you are OK with playing on 4:3 resolutions and not afraid of arse ripping hardcore missions, this might be waht you seek. Otherwise, it's a thumb down.