Game Review
Jane's Combat Simulations: Longbow 2 is a helicopter simulation game developed by Origin Systems and released by Electronic Arts in 1997 for PC.
As you can imagine, it is the sequel to Jane's AH-64D Longbow, a game released the previous year. Both belong to the Jane's Combat Simulations series, which started with Advanced Tactical Fighters in '96 and concluded with F/A-18 in 2000. However, the two chapters featuring the AH-64D helicopter are undoubtedly the most famous.
Set during a hypothetical war between the USA and Iran, the simulation allows you to pilot the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter and lead a team that includes other helicopters like OH-58 Kiowa and UH-60 Black Hawk.
As you can deduce from the title, the game's strength is realism. At the time of its release, Jane's Longbow was the most accurate helicopter simulation available, with meticulous detail. But unlike many accurate simulations that eventually become boring, Longbow is an engaging and fun game that keeps you glued to your seat. Jane's AH-64D Longbow 2 retains all the winning features of its predecessor but adds accelerated 3D graphics, the new helicopters mentioned above, and numerous other additions. Missions are randomly generated, so you can play multiple times without ever getting tired.
It's no coincidence that Longbow 2 was voted the best flight simulator of '97 by numerous specialized magazines and the Game Developers Conference. PC Gamer even included it in the list of the best computer games ever created.
Remember to download the Nglide libraries to emulate 3Dfx graphics cards if you haven't already.
Review by: GN Team
Published: 30 August 2023 5:06 pm
Users Reviews
No! Unfortunately it doesn't work, however I expected it. It is one of the most difficult games to run on new generation computers. When I bought it, I had a pc with Windows 95, after some time, on the same computer, I upgraded the operating system to Windows 98... Well then I already had several problems. Apart from the operating system, there were problems related to the type of video card, in fact the game preferred video cards that used the "Voodoo" functions. And, if I remember correctly, there were problems with the sound as well. Well, it may have been the best war helicopter simulator ever written, but it was also the most "delicate" I've ever seen. In my opinion it was also made taking into account the type of single chip set of each single motherboard. And I'm not kidding... wanting to run Longbow 2 on modern computers has always been a very difficult undertaking. If there is anyone who, by who knows what lucky coincidence, managed to make it run, my congratulations. You are holding a product which, despite having extremely specific hardware/software requirements, runs smoothly. But I think they are very few. I installed the "Nglide" as suggested in the "read me" file. I also tried almost all the compatibility configurations, but the merciless message was always the same " Can't open.iff .....etc..." ! Well ! You tried, and this is to your credit, but the game, at least for me, DOESN'T WORK and I don't think it will ever work! I am sorry...
I don't think it's of much use, because I didn't get any response to my previous comment... but I would like to add other experiments I've done about this game. I tried to make it work on another PC with Win 7 32 bit... with no result! I also tried to start it using pcem 95 and pcem 98, two attempts to simulate, on modern computers, the old windows 95 and windows 98 operating systems, using "Virge" video card and 133 Mhz processor configurations (on pcem 95) and 233 MHz processor (pcem win 98). The result was always the same, namely the display of the depressing message .....Error can't open .\error.iff -C:\lb2000\lib\src\Ferror.c. Changing the compatibility options, as the included Read me file suggested, has no effect, it only changes the graphics with which the same error is displayed. The strange thing is that just yesterday, I wanted to try again, WITHOUT using the compatibility options and...to my great surprise, the game this time managed to load the home screen. You can imagine my joy at seeing such a result. I couldn't understand why the game seemed to work now, but I was still very happy. My satisfaction was very short-lived, because when I tried to do a quick mission...the program made fun of me by asking me.....THE CD OF THE ORIGINAL GAME!!! GOSH!!!!!!!! Devastating disappointment...However, I thought to myself: Calm down, maybe because you didn't use the compatibility options, so, even without believing it too much, I went to change the compatibility options exactly as the Read me file suggested...But this time, the game had no mercy......... Error can't open .\error.iff -C:\lb2000\lib\src\Ferror.c....Him again. ..that damned mistake. Bah! Obviously it wasn't meant to be, however I would like to point out another problem that affected this game even when it was purchased regularly. Perhaps due to inaccurate programming, the simulator, when it detected "TOO MUCH" RAM memory... crashed to the desktop. I remember that, at the time (1997-1998), to overcome this problem, we used a RAM memory limiter. Another negative aspect of a beautiful, but extremely fragile game.
Review by: Maurizio Petta
Published: 31 August 2023 11:44 am
Review by: GN Team
Review by: Maurizio Petta
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