LHX Attack Chopper
Encyclopedia
LHX Attack Chopper is a 1990 war helicopter
simulation game
for the PC
by Electronic Arts
. The game was developed by Electronic Arts
, Design and Programming led by Brent Iverson
, also known for the PC-DOS
version of Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
, and US Navy Fighters
.
The game was originally for PC-DOS
, but versions for other platforms, such as the Mega Drive/Genesis
, were also made thereafter. The resolution of the game for the PC platform was MCGA
, 320x200 pixels in 256 colors. As many other games in those years, it had rudimentary copy-protection in the form of a question displayed after loading the game, which asked some specification from the game manual.
The game modeled 4 aircraft; two attack helicopters, the Light Helicopter Experimental
, LHX, based on the McDonnell Douglas-Bell LHX concept similar to the Boeing
-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche
, and a Boeing AH-64A Apache
, and two cargo helicopters, a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and a Boeing V-22 Osprey
. It also had three different maps, Libya
, Vietnam
and East Germany, on which a multitude of missions are available.
and AIM-92 Stinger
anti-air missiles to AGM-114 Hellfire
and BGM-71 TOW
anti-tank missiles.
After choosing one's helicopter and weapons, the player was put on an airfield, ready to fly. Curiously, one departed not from a helipad
, or helicopter landing area, but directly from the middle of the origin runway. The game featured some destructible structures (hangars, fuel tanks, bridges, and in Libya missions dromedaries
which would explode upon being hit), and portrayed Cold War enemy tanks, missile launchers, helicopters and airplanes, mostly Soviet in origin and all of them still in use in many countries of the world. All helicopters had state of the art IR and ECM countermeasures, including flares
and chaff
, which when used correctly, enabled the helicopter to avoid direct missile hits. Basic tactics were also included in the simulation, as flying lower to the ground tended to reduce the number of incoming missiles.
When taking hits, the helicopter would either suffer it with no visible consequence, or a component on the helicopter would be damaged and rendered inoperable. Such components include hydraulic systems
, one or both of the engines, hard points (weapons), tail rotor (which was devastating), countermeasures, oil or fuel (which would leak out until you crashed), dash screens, and more rarely, the pilot could be injured, which was represented with a bullet hole or two in the cockpit windshield. Some of these would cause the helicopter to crash, while others were merely inconvenient. Additionally, the helicopter could explode mid-air, although the view always remained until the helicopter hit ground. All of this affected game play, and it was very important to survive the mission, since getting killed would effectively erase all game points and medals earned up to that moment with that specific profile. The best option, if unable to complete the mission, would be to try to go back to friendly territory, and land at an airbase, or at least beyond the enemy lines. In an emergency, the player could land their chopper in enemy territory, in which one of a number of scenarios would be reported. These included being captured by the enemy, and later traded on a POW exchange or escaping, simply walking out, picked up by friendlies, or being found and killed. Landing too hard or taking enough damage would also kill the pilot, depending on the difficulty setting.
All missions had a debriefing at the end, which displayed the final mission results, how much damage was taken by the helicopter, how much it would cost to fix it, and any medals
awarded as a result of the mission. Medals available included the Purple Heart
, Air Force Cross
, and even the Medal of Honor
. These awarded medals were also saved in the profile, along with any earned gamepoints.
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
simulation game
Vehicle simulation game
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles...
for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
. The game was developed by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, Design and Programming led by Brent Iverson
Brent Iverson
Brent Iverson is a programmer best known as a simulations game developer. Among his credits are the PC-DOS version of Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, LHX Attack Chopper, and Jane's US Navy Fighters, all published by Electronic Arts.-Background:...
, also known for the PC-DOS
PC-DOS
IBM PC DOS is a DOS system for the IBM Personal Computer and compatibles, manufactured and sold by IBM from the 1980s to the 2000s....
version of Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat is a 1991 computer aircraft simulation game produced by Electronic Arts. Famed pilot Chuck Yeager was a technical consultant in the game and his digitized voice is featured in the game, giving encouragement and praise before and after missions.The game is characterized for...
, and US Navy Fighters
Jane's US Navy Fighters
Jane's United States Navy Fighters '97 frequently known as USNF '97 is a 1996 flight simulation video game developed by Electronic Arts. The game contains three campaigns: a Vietnam War-era campaign, a campaign involving a fictional Russian-Ukrainian war, and another fictional campaign detailing a...
.
The game was originally for PC-DOS
PC-DOS
IBM PC DOS is a DOS system for the IBM Personal Computer and compatibles, manufactured and sold by IBM from the 1980s to the 2000s....
, but versions for other platforms, such as the Mega Drive/Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
, were also made thereafter. The resolution of the game for the PC platform was MCGA
MCGA
MCGA may refer to*IBM Multicolor Graphics Array*Maritime and Coastguard Agency, in the United Kingdom...
, 320x200 pixels in 256 colors. As many other games in those years, it had rudimentary copy-protection in the form of a question displayed after loading the game, which asked some specification from the game manual.
The game modeled 4 aircraft; two attack helicopters, the Light Helicopter Experimental
Light Helicopter Experimental
The Light Helicopter Experimental program was a 1980s United States Army helicopter procurement project to replace the AH-1 Cobra and OH-58 helicopters.-Background:...
, LHX, based on the McDonnell Douglas-Bell LHX concept similar to the Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche
RAH-66 Comanche
The Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche was an advanced five-blade armed reconnaissance and attack helicopter designed for the United States Army. The RAH-66 program was canceled in 2004, before mass production began, after nearly $7 billion was spent on the program.During the early 1980s, the U.S...
, and a Boeing AH-64A Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...
, and two cargo helicopters, a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and a Boeing V-22 Osprey
V-22 Osprey
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing , and short takeoff and landing capability...
. It also had three different maps, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and East Germany, on which a multitude of missions are available.
Gameplay description
All missions were available from the outset, so there were no "locked" missions. The player could also choose the mission difficulty from five different levels, ranging from "Easy" to "Very Hard". Missions had one primary and one secondary objective, out of which only the primary objective was critical to successfully complete the mission. They were explained in a pre-mission briefing, after which the player could choose both their helicopter and the weapons they were going to carry on the mission. Some missions required carrying cargo or rescuing POWs or downed pilots, in which cases only the Black Hawk and the Osprey helicopters were available. Weapons available ranged from AIM-9 SidewinderAIM-9 Sidewinder
The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried mostly by fighter aircraft and recently, certain gunship helicopters. The missile entered service with United States Air Force in the early 1950s, and variants and upgrades remain in active service with many air forces...
and AIM-92 Stinger
AIM-92 Stinger
The AIM-92 Stinger or ATAS is an air-to-air missile developed from the shoulder-launched FIM-92 Stinger system, for use on helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache, Eurocopter Tiger and also UAVs such as the MQ-1 Predator...
anti-air missiles to AGM-114 Hellfire
AGM-114 Hellfire
The AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-surface missile developed primarily for anti-armor use. It has multi-mission, multi-target precision-strike capability, and can be launched from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms. The Hellfire missile is the primary 100 lb-class air-to-ground precision...
and BGM-71 TOW
BGM-71 TOW
The BGM-71 TOW is an anti-tank missile. "BGM" is a weapon classification that stands for "Multiple Environment , Surface-Attack , Missile ". "TOW" is an acronym that stands for "Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command data link, guided missile"...
anti-tank missiles.
After choosing one's helicopter and weapons, the player was put on an airfield, ready to fly. Curiously, one departed not from a helipad
Helipad
Helipad is a common abbreviation for helicopter landing pad, a landing area for helicopters. While helicopters are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard surface away from obstacles where a helicopter can safely...
, or helicopter landing area, but directly from the middle of the origin runway. The game featured some destructible structures (hangars, fuel tanks, bridges, and in Libya missions dromedaries
Dromedary
The dromedary or Arabian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back. Its native range is unclear, but it was probably the Arabian Peninsula. The domesticated form occurs widely in North Africa and the Middle East...
which would explode upon being hit), and portrayed Cold War enemy tanks, missile launchers, helicopters and airplanes, mostly Soviet in origin and all of them still in use in many countries of the world. All helicopters had state of the art IR and ECM countermeasures, including flares
Flare (pyrotechnic)
A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signalling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications...
and chaff
Chaff (radar countermeasure)
Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe , is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallized glass fibre or plastic, which either appears as a cluster of secondary...
, which when used correctly, enabled the helicopter to avoid direct missile hits. Basic tactics were also included in the simulation, as flying lower to the ground tended to reduce the number of incoming missiles.
Hydraulic machinery
Hydraulic machines are machinery and tools that use liquid fluid power to do simple work. Heavy equipment is a common example.In this type of machine, hydraulic fluid is transmitted throughout the machine to various hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders and which becomes pressurised according to...
, one or both of the engines, hard points (weapons), tail rotor (which was devastating), countermeasures, oil or fuel (which would leak out until you crashed), dash screens, and more rarely, the pilot could be injured, which was represented with a bullet hole or two in the cockpit windshield. Some of these would cause the helicopter to crash, while others were merely inconvenient. Additionally, the helicopter could explode mid-air, although the view always remained until the helicopter hit ground. All of this affected game play, and it was very important to survive the mission, since getting killed would effectively erase all game points and medals earned up to that moment with that specific profile. The best option, if unable to complete the mission, would be to try to go back to friendly territory, and land at an airbase, or at least beyond the enemy lines. In an emergency, the player could land their chopper in enemy territory, in which one of a number of scenarios would be reported. These included being captured by the enemy, and later traded on a POW exchange or escaping, simply walking out, picked up by friendlies, or being found and killed. Landing too hard or taking enough damage would also kill the pilot, depending on the difficulty setting.
All missions had a debriefing at the end, which displayed the final mission results, how much damage was taken by the helicopter, how much it would cost to fix it, and any medals
Awards and decorations of the United States Air Force
Awards and decorations of the United States Air Force are military decorations which are issued by the Department of the Air Force to Air Force service members and members of other military branches serving under Air Force commands...
awarded as a result of the mission. Medals available included the Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
, Air Force Cross
Air Force Cross (United States)
The Air Force Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Air Force. The Air Force Cross is the Air Force decoration equivalent to the Distinguished Service Cross and the Navy Cross .The Air Force Cross is awarded for extraordinary heroism...
, and even the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
. These awarded medals were also saved in the profile, along with any earned gamepoints.
External links
- LHX: Attack Chopper at GameFabrique