Apache

Apache is a video game in the action genre developed by Digital Integration Ltd. and published by Digital Integration Ltd. originally released in 1995. It is currently playable on DOS.

Digital Integration's first foray into the helicopter simulator market was very successful.

With a very realistic flight model that could be scaled down to beginner levels, Apache Longbow had it all. The cockpit is very realistic, as is the modeling of the weapons. However, there were two problems with this game.

First, the graphics, while very clear in its SVGA glory, could not really produce the rolling landscape that a helicopter uses, having you stuck on some plains, with a hill here and there, and the occasional valley.

Secondly, there is no texture mapping, just simple shaded polygons. While this didn't bother me, some people were spoiled by Jane's latest AH-64D Longbow, which had rolling terrain, texture mapping, and better sound.

The sound is nothing exceptional, but it's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. What you have in this game is a very immersive helicopter simulator, whose strengths are the flight modeling, the mission planner (straight out of Tornado) and the ability to connect with other games (namely Hind). Later, DI added support for 3DFX in a patch that can be downloaded from several sites. This improved the graphics quality a bit and increased the frame rate considerably.

If you get Hind, be sure to try this one, because if you put the two games head to head, you'll have a great time. Other similar games are Longbow 2, Team Apache and Apache Havoc.

Apache is available at a reduced price on the following websites and is no longer abandonware.