Recent reviews by George

While obviously a very well made module, and even the multicrew seems to be working OK, a big issue at the moment is game performance. Compared to other modules, the AH-64 performs considerably worse, so this is why I'm giving it a negative review for now. I suggest you only buy this if you have a very high-end PC, or wait until they optimize it a bit.

Here are my results, comparing the AH-64 performance to the Ka-50, Mi-8, Gazelle, A10C-II:
i7700K / Geforce 1070 -- usually 60-72fps -- 48fps with AH-64.
Ryzen 3600 / RX5700XT -- usually 75-91fps -- 64-70fps with AH-64.

The 3D addon to the Gazelle is OK, but nothing special. It's basically a grey metal box on top of the dash, looks best when used with the grey cockpit mod. Gives me an extra 4-8 fps compared to using the 2D overlay and adds a bit of extra immersion.

As for the actual NS 430, you should read the reviews about it on its main page.

The new water in version 0.25 is a big step forward, but the station controls used to be much better in version 0.24.

In addition to the clunky new controls, now you cannot see the gauges properly on the trim tank, you get zoomed into the alarm button when entering the helm station, etc. The hand animations are really low quality too. The bug with invert mouse not working on the ladder was reported long ago while it was still in beta, and still hasn't been fixed.

Overall, I'm glad the developers are making some effort to improve this otherwise very promising sim, but it's unfortunate that some of these changes have made the game worse than it was. The fact that it has taken them a year to go from 0.24 to 0.25 is also troubling. If you are thinking of purchasing this game, I suggest you hold off until the problem with the station controls has been addressed, and more significant progress has been made.

Getting killed in every fight? Want to improve your skills? Quick Play could be the solution to your troubles.

Like many others, I enjoyed the game most before the matchmaking system pitted me against the multiple prestige level players. Even as I soldiered on to level 50, I got killed every time by a fully equipped elite team. The game just wasn't fun any more, so I stopped playing.

Recently I came back to check out the new update, and I discovered Quick Play mode. Quick Play is solo only, and I find it to be a lot more balanced. The playing field is evened out by every player starting with minimal weapons and having to find better ones scattered around the map. Quick Play also gives you a great opportunity to get combat experience without losing all your money and equipment. I usually manage to get 2-3 kills during a game, which is beginning to give me a bit more confidence and is starting to bring back the enjoyment I felt when I first played this game. Spectator mode is also very useful (it's available after you die) for watching and learning from the more experienced players.

So if you're one of those guys playing solo and struggling with the matchmaking system, I recommend you give Quick Play a try. It's a great way to get real experience in gunfights, and when you finally win a match, you will feel you are starting to become a seasoned Hunter. Soon it will be payback time.

Still trying to get past the first lesson. I usually end up with the instructor saying: "Study more and we will try tomorrow." He's right. The stuff in the briefing is a lot to remember:

"After takeoff, at an altitude of 15m and speed of not less than 200 km/h, retract the landing gear. At an altitude of 50-70m and speed of not less than 250 km/h, retract the flaps. When speed of 350 km/h has been reached, set the RPM to 100% and continue climbing with an acceleration to 350 km/h to 200m."

Add six more paragraphs like this and you get the picture. A proper challenge indeed, but I'm enjoying it. I like the voice acting, too.

I bought this module years ago to play in multicrew with friends, but ever since the release, there have been gamebreaking bugs with the multiplayer synchronization. The biggest problems are that some instruments don't sync properly, the rotor blades don't turn from the copilot's point of view, and the copilot cannot slew the targeting camera correctly.

Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend it for single player either. As others have pointed out, the flight model isn't the best, and the annoyingly posh British accent of Meatboy-1 ruins the campaign.

Edit 26/11/2021: after another year and a half, the bug is still there. Here is the link[forums.eagle.ru] to the problem. This is especially noticeable when playing the Mi-8 Spring Tension campaign.

Edit 27/03/2020: although I really like this module, I'm changing this review to negative for now, because the terrain data in a large area of the Caucasus map is missing, and all you see is blue terrain as if flying over water. This bug was reported in 2017 and the problem is still there. Original review below.

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Makes navigation much easier and more fun. Now you don't have to cheat by marking your position on the kneeboard all the time. The 2D overlay mode works with all the aircraft (except the A-10C and Ka-50 which have built-in moving map sytems), and it's very good that the window can be enlarged and positioned to your liking. However, there's a couple of things you should be aware of:

- The MSA (minimum safe altitude) function doesn't seem to be working.

- The NS-430 works nicely in 3D mode with the Mi-8 helicopter, but in the L-39 Albatros, it can only be mounted in the front cockpit, and to do so, the gunsight has to be turned off. I would have preferred to have it in the back, so that when flying in co-op multicrew, the guy in the rear cockpit could do the navigation. Of course it's still possible using the 2D overlay, but it's not the same feeling.

- The game takes a performance hit of about 10fps when using the NS-430 in the 2D overlay mode.

A beautifully made map, the desert terrain is a nice alternative to the forested hills of the Caucasus. The only problem is that there is absolutely no multiplayer content to go with it. Not even the Red Flag DLC campaigns, since they are single player only! So if you want to play on this map in multiplayer with you friends, you will have to spend countless hours in the (slightly obsolete 2D) editor designing the missions. Even so, I'm going to give this a thumbs up, because the map itself is really nice.

I get 12FPS with low settings on my AMD FX-8350 4Ghz, 12GB RAM, Radeon 7850 2GB... unplayable.

This module is my personal favourite. It's probably the best attack helicopter sim available today. Great for co-op gameplay if your friends own this module too, because you can see you wingmen on the ABRIS (moving map system) and send target information to each other using the Datalink. As with all advanced modules, the buttons in the cockpit are clickable and functions as they would in real life. The trimmer is a bit difficult to master at first, but youtube is your friend. The gameplay is actually quite peaceful: you fly to wherever you need to go, stop and hover (staying out of range of ground targets), and then pick them off one by one using your missiles. The single player campaigns offer a lot to do, and can be converted to co-op fairly easily using the editor.