Game:

Jane's Longbow 2 (1997)

Duration: 37:20

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Another classic from Jane's Combat Simulations Origin/Skunkworks studio lead by Andy Hollis - former employee of Microprose who worked on many iconic flight sims, such as: Gunship, F-19/F-117, F-15 Strike Eagle 2 and 3, Jane's F-15, now he seems to spend more time on a race track (which can explain the sport car photo in his locker as well as his callsign in Longbow 2). This game is basically spiritual successor to Gunship 2000. It was released in late 1997 for Windows only.

It takes Jane's Longbow and builds upon it - the avionics of the AH-64D Longbow Apache are taken from the FPK/Gold version - you have pilot and CP/G cockpit fully functional. Two new choppers have been added - UH-60L Black Hawk utility/transport helicopter and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior light scout helicopter. There is no Alpha Apache model though known from first installment.

The biggest change however is the campaign. The multi-path predefined missions structure known from the first game wes scrapped in favor of dynamic campaign fought with the unit consisiting of 8 helicopters that can simultaneously take part in the battle. There is a wide range of mission types, from simple scout where your task is only to observe the enemy without revealing your presence, through troop ferry, to deep strikes and whatever Apaches likes best.

The graphics were improved, with proper Glide (3dfx) and Direct 3D API support, which was somewhat introduced with first Longbow in a late patch (which took away Alpha Apache so I never used it). There was proper virtual cockpit view added, in previous installment you only had IHADSS symbology and no 3d cockpit view you could look around in. 3d models were also improved and lighting effects added, which turned night engagments into awesome light shows.

Because of the problems this game have on modern(ish) PCs (even in Windows XP times it had issues) I never really dove into it. This time with the help of PCem v17 I was able to run it pretty flawlessly, though there is one issue thought to be caused by faster CPUs - the unguided rockets falling short of target - it happens here also, eventhough the CPU emulated is Pentium clocked at "only" 200 MHz. I might experiment with slower CPUs but the gameplay smoothness may suffer.

You can get PCem here: https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/

For this particular PCem config I used:
Machine: [Socket 7] Shuttle HOT-557
CPU: Intel Pentium MMX 200 MHz
128 MB RAM
GPU: S3 Virge + Voodoo 2 graphics
Sound Blaster AWE32
HDD: your preference, I used 2GB (Sectors: 63, Heads: 16, Cylinder: 4096, Size: 2014MB)
Joystick: CH Flightsick Pro

Since I'm showing the beginning of the campaign there are only recon missions generated for every flight which basically means that there should be not much action, but we'll see...

0:00 intro
3:40 army base menu
3:50 pilot select - note personalized lockers
4:47 starting new campaign
5:20 campaign intro
6:25 mission planner
9:58 mission start
10:45 virtual cockpit
11:19 enroute to WP2
12:25 report from Flight 4
12:48 sighting primary targets
13:10 mission accomplished (Flight 1)
13:45 RTB, checking out cool views
14:21 landing clearance
15:17 checking status of other flights
16:09 Flight 3, note how pilot heads follow the camera :)
16:57 Flight 4
17:12 checking out other objects
18:02 Flight 2 reporting position - grid C6
18:21 Flight 2 engaging enemy
19:03 Flight 2/2 taking damage
19:40 ... and going down
21:19 report from ABCCC about hostile helos in my area
21:49 going hunting, wingman weapons free
25:50 uneventful flight, some more cool views
26:25 approaching FARP
27:20 Flight 3
27:35 Flight 2 landing, Flight 4 stuck?
28:30 ending mission, debriefing
29:45 credits...
33:20 ...with some easter eggs (iwannasee)
36:18 Jane's F-15 promo video found on CD1 (bonus clip)

Check out my Jane's Longbow playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIku_oD9y-RAT3y9G5-sbwJNy3fkMCz28

#RetroFlightSims #RetroGaming

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