Recent reviews by BrianRubin

I skipped this back in the day because I'd already had dozens, if not hundreds of hours of F-19 under my belt and didn't see the need to play this one.

Wow, what a mistake.

This has now, for all intents and purposes, supplanted F-19 as one of my favorite flight sims ever. It not only looks better, it has more than twice the amount of theaters to play around in and a lot of other little fixes and enhancements as well.

I'd honestly say, if one were getting into combat flight sims, this one would be a great place to start. It's just such a good game that one could play for eons.

Really fun game, very satisfying and doesn't overstay its welcome. Happy to have backed its Kickstarter.

Updated Review, June, 2024:

So, Atari launched this in an absolutely abhorrent state. Clearly ripped abandonware, not even fully functional. It was just a mess.

However, to their credit, the folks at Atari heard our cries of foul and endeavored to fix these two games:

Gunship - Less crash-prone (It used to crash after the third mission, but others have now reported getting well past that). I've only gotten a few missions in before dying -- this game is TOUGH -- but had no crashes. This one still has copy protection, but they now include a reference sheet to get past it.

Gunship 2000 - Now the final CD-ROM version with no copy protection. Also includes the expansion, and all the documentation, including both manuals (original and expansion), and now has property DOSBox settings.

Gunship 2000 is my favorite flight sim ever, and now it's at a state in which I can recommend it to people. It's also very playable with a gamepad!

So yeah, I feel now I can recommend this pack. If you can get over the old graphics, I feel Gunship 2000 has so, so much to offer for the flight sim fan. It's my favorite helicopter sim and flight sim of all time because of its sheer variety. Please do check it out, and thank you for reading.

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Original Review, February, 2024:

Do not buy this. It's broken abandonware. I say this even though Gunship 2000 is my all-time favorite flight sim.

Just please. Do not buy this. I bought this so I could tell you not to buy it.

Man, this game is just what I needed. Put a build together, see what happens. I don't have to worry about dodging or feinting or blocking or any of that nonsense, just turn-based visceral slaughter using a variety of spells, weapons and armor. Delightful.

I saw some friends had bought this, and it looked like it was right up my alley.
APRG. Check.
Varied weapons? Check.
Simple crafting? Check.

And it was cheap, so I dove in,

MY god, what a fun time. It starts a bit slow but then once you get some accessories that do splash damage per hit, my GOD it's a delight, especially with so, so, so many enemies on the screen.

It's still in early access and it's clearly not done, but so far, my gosh I am having a great time.

Fan-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-tastic. Loved it from beginning to end. Almost worth it all for the ending credits alone, very VERY Bond-like. Also Idris Elba is awesome.

Tornado is one of the finest flight simulations you can buy, bar none. With multiple dynamic campaigns, multi-flight command, a very detailed simulation and a brilliant sense of place (thanks to very beautiful and active maps) and you're really setting yourself up for a good time.

It has an amazing manual, plenty of training simulation missions, plus live training as well, so you'll be plenty prepared to take on this detailed and amazing sim. If you have any interest in flight sims, do check this one out. It's still one of the best, thirty years later.

Reminds me of Enduro on the 2600. This is a big compliment.

Enjoying this very much so far. It's still early so it's buggy, but it's so fun and has a ton of potential.

My god, this game is a delight.