The same people that brought us GTS Racing Challenge
WHAT’S
HOT
have developed Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind. The game has 16 missions,
real time 3D graphics, and dynamic sound effects. You have a choice
between two superpowers and four levels of difficulty. That translates
into a lot of game play. The levels become increasingly harder
as you progress because in each level you encounter more and more enemies.
Can you handle the pressure?
There is no need to go into specifics since the
SETUP
setup was pretty simple. Once the game is installed, you have
the option to enter an unlock code based on your device’s user name.
If you do not have an unlock code, the game will play in demo mode,
which is basically a stripped version of the full game.
PROGRAM
FEATURES
The graphics are awesome right from the time you launch the game, until
the very end. Tapping the opening screen with your stylus directs
you to the game mode screen, where you can choose which type of game
you want to play.
As you can see there are many options. I suggest choosing "Trial"
first, so you can get a feel for how the game plays. Once you
have learned the skills needed to play the game, try flying a campaign
or a mission. In campaign mode, the objective is to complete a
series of operations. In the missions mode you will be taken through
several different areas to complete your objectives.
Once you have chosen the type of game you would like to play, you will
be taken to another screen where you will be able to select your rank.
Sergeant is the easiest rank, and Colonel is the hardest.
After choosing a difficulty level, you will be directed to a screen
where you can select which of the two superpowers you want to be.
You can choose between the USA and the USSR.
Depending on which of the two superpowers you select, you will be shown
one of the screens pictured above. These screens provide you with
information about your helicopter and it’s weapons. Tapping "Accept"
will take you to an overview of the mission.
From
here you can scroll through your objectives by tapping the up or down
icons on the left side of the screen. Once you know your objectives
select "Play," and have some fun.
The
game begins with you hovering over your base. For a brief moment,
the first objective will be flashed on the screen. Read it and
head out.
Once
you have completed all the objectives, the game will let you know that
your mission is complete.
You
will then be debriefed. The debriefing let’s you know how long
the mission took, the amount of enemies killed, and the amount of men
that were rescued.
Unfortunately, if you need help, you will
HELP
SUPPORT
have to go to the Astraware website. Once you get to the website
you will see a very limited, two topic, support
section. I found the lack of help to be a little frustrating,
especially since I had some problems early on. If there was some
sort of help support, or even a section to inform users of known problems,
I would have been able to determine the cause of the problem.
In addition, you can email
Astraware’s support. They promptly returned my email, and addressed
the issues I had.
By tapping the screen, you can pause the
OPTIONS
game and access game options during play.
You
will be given options to quit the game, change game settings, or change
the controls.
If you decide to quite, you will be prompted with a screen asking you
if you really want to abandon the mission. I like this because
sometimes I am a little careless and accidentally select options I really
didn’t mean to select.
One of the great features of Hellfire is that it automatically saves
your game when you quit. So the next time you launch the game,
you will have the option to "continue" where you left off
or "restart" and begin a fresh game.
A
"Settings" selection will provide you with options to adjust
volume, brightness, and game speed. The default settings worked
well for me.
Selecting
"Controls" will provide you with a means to reassign your
hardware buttons.
Hellfire will load on any Pocket PC 2002
SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS
or 2003 device that has an ARM processor and a color screen. It
requires approximately 1.2 MB of memory.
As I mentioned in the Help Support section,
BUGS
AND WISHES
I encountered a couple of problems early on. The first problem
was that there was an annoying clicking sound when I pushed a hardware
button. The second was that I was having problems assigning my
hardware buttons to perform some actions. I wrote the Astraware
team asking for their help.
Not too long after I emailed them, I noticed the clicking sound was
occurring when I wasn’t even playing the game. I realized I must
have had my hardware buttons assigned to make sounds. So, needless
to say, I was a bit embarrassed that I asked that question. Nevertheless,
they kindly explained how I could get rid of the clicking sound by adjusting
my device’s sound settings.
The second problem, or shall I say the only problem I encountered with
the game was assigning hardware buttons for the fire, land/take-off,
and select weapon features. By default, they are set to the "action"
button, but when I press the action button on my Jornada, nothing happens.
The Astraware team addressed this issue in the email response stating:
"…It
seems that the problem with not being able to assign controls on your
Pocket PC is endemic to the Jornada 56x range, a legacy of the fact
that the Jornada’s use a radically different set of response codes for
the buttons internally to almost all other Pocket PCs, and outside the
range that Hellfire is "expecting" to work with…We don’t
have a Jornada 56x series of our own…but fortunately one of our beta
testers does own one and is working with the developer on fixing this
problem…"
To work around this problem, I reassigned the down button to perform
those actions, but doing that disabled my ability to fly backwards.
Hopefully the next release will have fixes for these problems.
A possible solution would be to have icons to land, fire, and select
weapons on the bottom of the screen. This would allow the user
to use a stylus in conjunction with the directional pad.
Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind can be purchased
PURCHASING
as a download from the Astraware
website for $19.95. You will also find a trial
on the same page.
PROS
Action
packed gameplay
Real-time
3D rendering of graphics
Realistic
helicopter sound
Sixteen
combat missions
CONS
Problems
assigning hardware buttons with the Jornada 560 series
No
in-game help support and limited support on the website.
Despite having to reassign my down button to perform
OVERALL
IMPRESSION
certain actions, I still really enjoyed playing the game. Hellfire:
Apache vs. Hind is an awesome. I foresee it being an award winning
game. So don’t let those problems discourage you from giving Hellfire
a try. You have to remember this is Hellfire’s first public release,
so I’m sure the bugs will be worked out. The game was brilliantly
designed and is a must have if you enjoy action games.
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