Air Missions: HIND

The objectives a player has to complete are quite diverse – they feature clearing the path for the allied ground units, supporting other troops in battle against enemy forces, advancing on the enemy artillery positions, and attacking hostile convoy vehicles. There are times when seemingly simple missions have some tweaks – when storming a structure in which the enemy holds captivated allies, one cannot use the standard missile arsenal since direct bombardment might hurt the hostages.

Mechanics

Air Missions: Hind is a PC and XONE gunship simulator, in which a player can adjust the level of realism as they see fit. Developers prepared three craft handling systems (Casual, Novice, and Pilot), along with a set of adjustments: general difficulty level, collision damage level (separately for hitting trees, ground, buildings, and other choppers), chassis damage (can be turned on and off), friendly fire damage level, and many others.

The level of realism can be adjusted during the briefings taking place before each mission. After a player confirms chosen settings they can choose the gunship they want to pilot (owners of the base version of the game can pilot only the titular HIND, while other machines can be unlocked by purchasing proper expansions), as well as the type of hull camouflage and munitions settings.

Under the gunship’s wings, one can attach diverse pieces of military gear – intermodal pods filled with unguided missiles and cannons, as well as guided anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. Since the titular craft has been designed in the Soviet Union, the available weapons arsenal comes from the same country. This is why players get at their disposal a number of unguided rocket missiles, from the light S-5 and S-8, carried within one pod, to the powerful S-13 and S-24. One can also utilize the FAB bombs, weighing from 100 to 250 kilograms, as well as KMG-U mine pods, and the interesting GUV-8700 pods able to shoot a rain of bullets upon the enemy from its multi-barrel machine guns – one 12.7 mm and two 7.62 mm in caliber.

Before one decides on the weapons configuration, it is worth to read the briefing on a given mission and consider what equipment the enemy might use. In order to accurately destroy enemy tanks, one can equip his gunship with the 9K114 Storm anti-tank guided missiles. However, when the enemy dispatches air units, one should consider using the R-60 IR-guided missiles. If a player is not familiar with all the weapons’ functionalities, they can learn all this from descriptions that are attached to each piece of munitions.

Air Missions: HIND delivers a wide range of targets to eliminate: players can zero in on tanks, armored transporter tanks, transport trucks, artillery stations, and even gunships similar to the machine operated by the player himself. In the vicinity of the vehicles and structures, one can often encounter infantry units armed with light weapons. The AI-controlled units appear also on the player’s side – allied gunships actively help him in his missions by shooting at the enemies from their onboard weapons.

One can observe the area from different perspectives, i.a. from the cameras located on the outside of the gunship, the pilot’s eyes, weapons operator’s eyes, and also via the thermal imaging camera. One can zoom in on the target for more precise shots.

Game modes

The single player mode includes the campaign (comprising 15 campaign missions as well as several training missions), the instant action mode (featuring a number of missions grouped in terms of their location), and the test flight mode. One can also use the mission editing tool to design his own scenarios.

Multiplayer mode includes both competitive (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch) and cooperative modes.

Technical aspects

The audiovisuals featured by Air Missions: HIND do not stand out in any particular way; however the polished model of the titular gunship deserves praise. The outside design is bound to please players’ eyes, while the interior satisfies with an impressive number of animated devices.

Air Missions: HIND allows players to carry out diverse missions taking place in four different corners of the Earth – thick forests of the Eastern Europe, deserts of Central Asia, the exotic South-East Asia, and the airspace over the Arctic Ocean. Some of these locations feature adverse weather conditions that make for a visual diversity and add both realism and appropriate atmosphere to the game.

The developers implemented into the game a Mission Editing Tool, allowing players to design their own scenarios and share them through the Steam Workshop system. With this editor, one can modify many elements of a mission – they can set the starting points for all the players, choose the objectives, dispatch AI-controlled units, and even assign them with routes to follow.