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The Apache helicopter gunship has gained an awesome reputation as an engine of destruction. MicroProse have an equally impressive reputation as the creators of realistic and playable simulations. Gunship, now released on the Kixx XL label, brings the two together.

The game follows the classic simulation style. You give yourself a hairy name, pick a part of the world to cause trouble in and arm your Apache with a suitable selection of nasty hardware. You can also choose the level of reality and the effectiveness of the opposition. Missions all revolve around the destruction of a target or group of targets. If you do well you get a medal and possibly promotion, that's if your guts aren't spread around some corner of a foreign field. Controlling the Apache isn't easy at first, it uses a realistic combination of collective and cyclic controls. There are also plenty of keyboard controls to learn - which takes a bit of time. Flying a helicopter is quite a different affair from an aircraft and it can take a while to suss out the crate and the tactics for success.

After a few embarrassing ground-kissing, flak-collecting missions you soon get the hang of popping up from behind hill and ripple-firing hellfire missiles like the best of them.

Gunship is getting very long in the tooth and the quality of the graphics and sound is poor in comparison with games such as Thunderhawk. What hasn't aged is the gameplay, it's still excellent. The helicopter flies realistically and the enemy units and weaponry are authentic enough to make you think you could handle the real thing once you've mastered it. It's far from state-of-the-art but the basic solidness of the game makes it a joy to fly. Get blasting.

1. Realistic helicopter flying and equipment.
2. Still very playable.

1. Poor sound and some crude graphics.
2. The missions are all very similar.