Tomahawk is a flight simulator program from Digital Integration, the people responsible for Fighter Pilot and Night Gunner. However, Tomahawk is different from any other flight simulator available for the T/S 2068 or Spectrum.
To begin with, you’re piloting a U.S. Army AH-64A Apache Advanced Attack Helicopter. Flying a helicopter involves a significantly different set of aerodynamic rules than does flying a light airplane or even a jet fighter. For example, applying power doesn’t automatically propel you forward, but will propel you straight up! Also, any rolls exceeding 90 degrees are disastrous, since helicopters lack the large wing surfaces that provide the lift necessary to exit a roll.
In addition to the unique challenge offered by the controls, Tomahawk provides several options for game play. Since the helicopter is meant for ground and air attack, the four game scenarios from which you can choose all involve destroying enemy forces. In scenario one (Training Mode) you simply have to clear one map sector of all enemy ground forces (tanks and guns) and return safely to a landing pad. In scenario two you must clear four sectors of enemy ground forces, except in this instance the enemy returns your fire. Scenario three places you in the middle of the map, which you must liberate by destroying the enemy in all sectors. In scenario four you and the enemy hold equal amounts of territory and you must support your own ground forces while attacking your foe. The map is approximately 12 by 16 sectors in size. In all the scenarios you may specify other options such as day or night, cloud ceiling, crosswinds and turbulence, and your pilot rating. In addition to the enemy’s ground forces (8 to a sector), you must also contend with enemy helicopters.
So what kind of armament are you carrying to accomplish this destruction? Well, you have lots of cannon rounds, which have a range of 2000 feet. You also have rockets with range of 4000 feet. But best of all you have laser-guided missiles, with a range of approximately 3.1 miles! These buggers are very nasty– you simply pass the sight over the target, the laser guidance locks in, and a press of the stick button blows the enemy off the map. Lest you think all that armament makes things too easy, note that you can fire only eight laser-guided missiles before you must land at a pad (not an easy task) and get more.
Now I realize this review is starting to sound a bit martial and militaristic, and before you all start calling me “Rambo” let me tell you about the best feature of Tomahawk. THE GRAPHICS! Yes, we’re talking real simulation graphics here. Over 7000 ground objects, including buildings, lakes, trees, mountains, field guns, tanks, landing pads, and more. The realism provided by these detailed graphics is unprecedented. No more flying around for ten minutes, seeing only sky and horizon. The graphics in Tomahawk make it the kind of program you show to non-T/S users, and say “Look! This is what my computer can do!”
How good is Tomahawk? Good enough to keep me to five hours of sleep a night for the first week I used it. Good enough to make me long for more free time in which to play it. Good enough for me to hypothesize that, if I didn’t already have a T/S 2068, I’d immediately go out and buy one after seeing Tomahawk, just so I could run this program. The best flight simulator for any eight-bit computer! Better than Microsoft’s Flight Simulator for the IBM PC! They don’t get any better than this.
Tomahawk is available for the Spectrum or the 2068. T/S 2068 users owe a great debt to Knighted Computers, who secured the rights to Tomahawk and converted it to run on the unmodified T/S 2068. The program is available from Knighted for $16.95:
Knighted Computers
707 Highland Street
Fulton, New York 13069