HiND... where to begin. You are so ugly, yet so beautiful. So majestic, yet so monstrous. So fluid and simultaneously chaotic. Whoever states that the flight dynamics of this immensely well developed simulator are 'satisfactory' is going to have some fuel air bombs dropped on them by a swarm of HIND's. The accuracy of the physics and aircraft logistic comes from the same camp as SU-27 Flanker - in other worlds, these guys don't mess around when it comes to realism. With your flying assists engaged, the game plays averagely: your hulkish craft lurches into the air, making long, dull arcs as it heads sluggishly towards 'waypoint 1'. Discard these aids, for Soviet Russia cares not for assists. In full simulation mode, you are looking at a whole different beast. As soon as you attempt takeoff, cylindrical drift (the effect of the rotor rotation have a cumulative affect on the rotation of the whole chassis) immediately throws you off course, your battleship groaning into chaotic spins. You try to counter with the tail rotor but it is too late: you've hurtled, spinning wildly, 200 feet into the air and there are RPG's all around hugging you like your least favourite nephew. Take 2: You slowly engage the collective, compensating tentatively with your rotor pedals (I pray you have pedals) and roar away, thudding the terrified terrain with the reverberations of your rotorblades. Now this is HIND. I could go on. But this taste of what it's like to pilot the most gargantuan monstrosity that ever filled the skies (comparable only with the A-10) should be enough to warrant a serious, heartfelt investment of time in this game that it's impossible not to love. Carrying 1000lb bombs on an anti infantry mission, tearing tanks in two with your vulcan cannon or erasing a small town with rocket pods more at home on the Death Star - this is a game that warrants blissful wanton furious destruction, provided the effort is made to truly appreciate it. Fly, Comrades!
