Game:

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 (1995)

Duration: 34:53

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Playing Thunder Helix recently reminded me of this fine game from the past.

Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 was developed by Core Desing Ltd. and released for PC (DOS), Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn in 1995.

When I first played it back in 1996 I though it was direct sequel to the Thunderhawk from 1991 which I played on my Amiga 500, but there was another Thunderhawk game released for Sega CD in 1993.

The game was pure arcade action, which isn't a bad thing since it was really well done. You flew missions divided into several campaigns all around the world. Before each mission you could arm your chopper or use default loadout. The armament was diverse - as in the original you had your trusty gun (with unlimited amount of ammo), unguided rockets, guided missiles, bombs and even runway cratering system.

The graphics were fully 3d texture mapped, rendered at 320x200 resolution (on PC). I remember the game running great on my Pentium 75MHz back in the day. The CD included redbook audio with music tracks as well as spoken briefings for the campaings and missions.

Gameplay was simplified but entertaining. There were plenty of unit types - from simple vehicles like trucks, tanks, AAAs, SAMs, light (Defender) and heavy helos (Hind), and even attack aircraft (Frogfoot). You could even see soldiers running away from their burning vehicles.

The missions were diverse and often required you to think before you acted. Like in the mission where you need to intercept the retreating forces, if you try to take out each primary target most likely you wont get them all in time before some of them escape - it's easier to take out the bridges that most convoys will take and attack directly only those running for the west edge of the map.

Overall the game is still fun to play. It's easy to pick up but can get pretty challenging at times.

If you want to emulate this on modern PC use DOSBox - make sure to set the cycles no more than 40000 - the game doesn't have frame limiter, meaning it will run too fast on faster settings / CPU equivalents.

More flight sim showcase videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIku_oD9y-RD5mg8f9ganyHBOBO8l7lQk

0:00 Intro
1:33 Main menu
1:49 Opearation overview
2:06 Mission 1 - attack radar stations and airbase
11:33 Mission 2 - defend forward command base
19:15 Mission 3 - halt the retreat
24:25 Mission 4 - destroy manufacturing plant

#RetroFlightSims