[OFP] Apache Assault by Charlie Howarth

Review by The-Architect

Overview

Just what it's supposed to be. A taster of what's to come. I'm not a fan of authors putting their websites and e-mail addresses on the overview screen though. That's what the readme is for. It seems like red borders are this author's signature. A good pic of an Apache but nothing novel. Not bad all in all.

Intro

The Intro features some good camera work.

Briefing

There's everything you need to know here. Its all in place and there's even nifty little sounds as you switch between pages. I first saw this feature on an Anmac mission and I'm surprised more people don't do something similar. There was no weapon selection but that's expected as you are playing as a pilot and the notes section is BIS style (Diary). Like "Petrovice Salient" another of Charlie Howarth's missions, the briefing is further padded out as the mission progresses with the use of hidden objectives. So don't think the mission is going to be short just because the briefing is.

Mission

One word can descibe this mission. Quality. Charlie Howarth has given us yet another top notch mission. From start to finish it's brimming with touches that many mission makers could and should learn from. The action is intense and lasts a good half hour. I still think he needs to get some voice actors to take it from superb to superber.

It is not an easy mission, and players not used to chopper combat may struggle. However, there is an option during the mission to turn on tips, which guide you through the mission.

However, I think it is a fun chopper mission with plenty of action in it.

Outro(s)

There is an outro and I believe there was an outro lose as well. However I'm not too sure of that because I didn't need to find out. I especially liked the outro win. It had an element which was quite original.

Special

Good quality scripting here. Plenty of work has gone into getting this mission to play exactly as the author wanted it to, and with all the twists, the scripting had to be of a better than average quality. Sound and music files are accessed from their correct folders and there's even a stringtable in there too. Very good job.
 
The camera shots work properly and the ingame cutscenes are fluid. Even though I was pulling some pretty mean manuevers at times when they started, I always found myself safe at the end. Don't think that the cutscenes spoiled the mission either as they were short and didn't really interupt the action.

Overall

(Review Date: May 2004) What can I say? If Charlie had used some voice actors in this mission it would definatly be my favorite air mission of all time. I did think that it was going to be over in no time at all at one point, but was proved wrong as the action kept coming and coming. There were tanks rumbling all over Kolgujev and rocket smoke filled the air. I really want to tell you all about every aspect of the mission, play by play but that would obviously spoil the fun. Just look out for AA men and listen to the band play Ride of the Valkyres.

Go play! Go play!