"Take on Helicopters" Catch All

Bohemia Interactive, continuing its proud tradition of releasing games with awkward names will be coming out with Take on Helicopters on Oct 28.

In this season of so many releases, how many of us will want a dedicated helicopter flight sim from the creators of ARMA?

At least one.

Spoiler:

Me.

From Steam

The brand new helicopter game from independent developers Bohemia Interactive – creators of the award-winning military-Sim series Arma 2. Built upon over 10 years of experience in cutting-edge simulator development, Take On Helicopters immerses players within beautifully rich landscapes and an authentic flight model.

The player takes on the role of a civilian helicopter pilot. Harry Larkin’s aviation business has fallen on tough times. Built up over decades, it’s now only days away from closure. His sons face an uncertain future, struggling to save the company their father spent his whole life building. Together, they must take on contracts and competitors; together, they take on helicopters!

Take your first steps towards mastering rotor-wing flight across a massive range of enjoyable challenges, or create your own missions using the powerful easy-to-use mission editor.

Take to the air above two beautifully rich and expansive environments, based upon real-world North American and South Asian terrain-data.

Take on cutting-edge technology, helicopters modeled in stunning detail, a large-scale, open-world sandbox and authentic flight dynamics…

Basically, it looks like a great way to finally use that joystick I bought, and the helicopters were probably my favorite part of the ARMA series. I think this has a lot of promise.

I really want this to be SimCopter 2, but without a demo I'm not dropping $50 on it. I'm not really into flight sims, but I remember having good times with SimCopter.

You can't really tell what the focus of this game is. It's clearly not a combat flightsim, but is it Microsoft Flight Sim like? Is it a bunch of single missions? Story based?

Not a lot of info here, but I'll be watching it. I was a massive flight sim guy back in the day and still blaze a few of them up from time to time.

From what I understand it's kind of story based.. like the Flight Unlimited series. It looks decent.. but with the number of sims I have on the go right now: DCS A-10, DCS Black Shark, Falcon 4.0 BMS, I'll pick it up when it's 5 bucks.

I was a flight sim guy back in the day too.
Well, I tended to just learn the basics and then lose interest. Games like Falcon 4.0 had a LOT of basics, so it was worth it to me.

From the available videos Take on Helicopters looks like it might be very realistic, which has got me interested.
I don't think I can drop money on it until I know more, though.

I preordered earlier this week, which gave access to the beta. The beta has two helicopters, a light and medium, a smaller portion of the final Seattle terrain, and 3 missions not including tutorials. The way the missions play out, voice overs etc, there will definitely be a story line here. What I've gathered from the beta is that you're a young man who has recently acquired the family's helicopter business, in a down economy, and are doing everything you can to keep it afloat including hiring out to private military contractors. They mention some Asia terrain, so I imagine there will be some flying in combat zones. This is the Arma engine, so you will also have lots of free reign to develop your own missions and scenarios in the editor. If you have never messed with any of the Arma mission editors, understand they allow you a lot of creative freedom in designing missions from scratch but require a bit of technical instruction to get the most out of it.

I can not guarantee this, but I have a feeling that you'll start out with the smallest light chopper. As you complete more missions you'll be able to buy better choppers, and possibly add upgrades to the ones you already have.

As far as detail goes, this is not DCS Black Shark. That said though, there is much more sim here than flying choppers in Arma II. The most noticeable thing for me was the availability of switches within the cockpit. Start-up is still a simple process, but can be more than clicking a button for auto start. There is a much more pronounced HIGE(Hover In Ground Effect) and HOGE(Hover out of Ground Effect) here than in the Arma games. Also, there is the option of manual trim which I feel makes a good push for this in the direction of a sim. There are different difficulty levels, allowing you to tailor control input/response to your liking.

So far, in the beta, the missions have you doing combat insertion training with the little bird, fast roping a swat team onto the top of a building, and slinging loads via long line between construction sites.

As someone who enjoyed the Search and Rescue series, including Vietnam Medivac, I'm finding that this is filling a thirst for some easy to hop into helicopter action that has some sim depth.

If you own Arma II Operation Arrowhead, they had a public preview last summer for ToH. I'm not sure if it still available though.

Also, the best price I found for my preorder was through Sprocket, Bohemia Interactive's own store and download distribution service.

who has recently acquired the family's helicopter business

Heh.

necroyeti wrote:
who has recently acquired the family's helicopter business

Heh.

Meh.

It unlocked today and I've put a bit of time into it.

The first thing that caught my eye was the autorotation tutorial mission. I can't recall ever receiving autorotation training from the MSFS games. It's right up there with stall training in a light aircraft.

After that I checked out the career(story) mode of the game. As advertised, it's you and your brother trying to keep the family business afloat, taking whatever jobs come along to pay the bills. In between jobs you can upgrade your helicopters with additional equipment such as cameras, seats, doors, skid upgrades, and so on. Certain upgrades will open up more mission options for you, I have not experienced this yet but I imagine buying the camera would get you some traffic reporting jobs.

They've taken an interesting approach to putting you in the Asia war missions. After a job, you will speak with your brother back at the heliport where he will start reminiscing about his days in the war. You have the option to continue listening, which starts the mission with you now playing as your brother. Basically a flashback event.

So far, I'm satisfied with my purchase. While I enjoyed the Search and Rescue and Vietnam Medevac games, they would get very repetitive very fast. With the story line, and additional upgrades for the choppers, I feel there's enough variation here to keep my ADD addled brain entertained for a bit.

I really enjoy non-combat flight sims, and have spent some time with helicopters in FSX. This one is on my Steam wishlist, and i'm hoping it hits a nice sale price during the holiday sales.

Jeff-66 wrote:

I really enjoy non-combat flight sims, and have spent some time with helicopters in FSX. This one is on my Steam wishlist, and i'm hoping it hits a nice sale price during the holiday sales.

+1, tagged

Thanks for the detailed impressions! I look forward to hearing more.

Are you flying with a joystick?

Subscribed for later flights, hopefully.

I use a joystick. If you've played ARMA, and flown helicopters, you've experienced the main focus of this game.

Haven't put any more time into this, so I don't have any more info/updates.

I'm using the Saitek AV8R joystick and TrackIR 5.

Although it will take a lot to drag me away from Black Shark 2, BI has announced the first expansion for TOH, and it's a Hind sim!

And yes, it looks like there will be combat.

Range of Hind Variants - Mi-24 V, Mi-24 P and Mi-35 Super Hind models included.
Realistic Sound Effects - Samples recorded from real-life Hind helicopters for an extra level of detail.
Paint Schemes - Over 25 different liveries, covering most nations operating the gunship.
Singleplayer Challenges - A variety of light, medium & heavy airframes & cockpits modelled with stunning detail.
Singleplayer Challenges - A set of gameplay challenges showcasing ground attacks and aerial support.
Time Trials - Put the helicopter through its paces in 5 tough timed checkpoint races.
Multiplayer Gameplay - New adversarial scenarios available over LAN or Internet; battle it out against other Hind teams.
Military Content - Expanded military content of all sorts: weapons, vehicles and static objects.
Retractable Landing Gear - Functional wheels, wheel brakes and manual retracting.
Improved Weapons Systems - Enhanced targeting of guided missiles.

http://takeonthegame.com/take-on-hel...

Hm, that sounds like an odd addition. Like, how does one "tack on" combat to a core game? I think I'll probably just wait for ARMA 3 and get my combat chopper fix then

I purchased Black Shark from Steam a few weeks ago. Anyone know if I can get the BS2 expansion to work with a Steam install?

Indignant wrote:

I purchased Black Shark from Steam a few weeks ago. Anyone know if I can get the BS2 expansion to work with a Steam install?

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.ph...

PS, the party is over here. Get BS2 and join the fun! http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/4...