Search And Rescue 2
By Edward Munns (5 September 2000)
have just bought Search And Rescue 2 developed by
InterActive Vision and very impressed by it I am.It places you in the pilots seat of a Dolphin HH65 Search and Rescue helicopter and presents various missions to complete from rescuing mountain climbers to customs checks on ships. There is also a campaign option.
The graphics are excellent--very detailed with quite varied terrain from coastlines to high mountain peaks and built up areas. Power lines and trees are also modelled. I did not notice any delays with the graphics with all settings maxed out. Graphics are smooth on my system that struggles to run FS2000!
The external view of the helicopter is similar to the detail you would expect from FS2000, perhaps more so. The external views are useful for locating your position in relation to the person or area you are detailed to land on or rescue. I fly from the internal views of cockpit and winchman.
The cockpit is a very highly detailed virtual cockpit with the most
important gauges permanently on display at the bottom of the screen. You
can look around to operate switches, etc., or to look out of the windows.
The view from the cockpit is good.
Sounds are adequate although the engine sounds could be beefed up a bit (maybe I can adjust them in the sim?). The rotor is fully animated from slow windup to full speed. The winchman and cable are also animated.
Control of the helicopter is demanding but not impossible. After several hours of flight I am quite proficient however transiting from forward flight to hover is still tricky. I have yet to make a perfect landing. Obstacles are placed around the helipads to make sure you get it right! There is a computer assisted hover mode which is useful when operating the winch position. The helicopter is very responsive and requires constant adjustment of the cyclic, collective and torque controls. I use a MS ForceFeedback Pro and control is quite easy with this although no ForceFeedback is used in the game.
Ground effect and wind are all modelled. Flying off the edge of a cliff
gives a sudden loss of lift for example.
Installation was easy. The game failed to detect my Voodoo3000 card however it still works with it in 3D.
Documentation is minimal and quite poor. The quick reference guide (for once) is more useful than the booklet. Important topics like lowering the winch are not covered which had me initially trying to land the winchman with him dangling out the hatch. I then discovered you can lower him! I don't feel the documentation detracts from the sim though.
to spool up to full power. Co-Pilot says `Engines Started` so you release
the rotor-brake and engage the engines. The rotor slowly spools up to full
power (you can watch this from the cockpit). Lifting off, you follow your
waypoints to the mountaineer.To avoid long flights the simulation `warps` to the next scenery area. This places you several miles from the mountaineer. The warping is good because it prevents long boring flights or having to accelerate time. It also means that there is no need to have lots of low detail areas, just several high detail ones.
Climbing high above the mountains (which are highly detailed) you visually locate the mountaineer and position the helicopter near enough to open the cabin door, extend the winch, order the swimmer (the winch man is known as the swimmer, the cable as a rope) to attach and lower him to the ground (all with crew command voices). Once attached you winch him aboard, close the door and head off to the drop off point. After a short flight you see a carpark near the coast to land and drop him off.
Test System:
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The carpark is complete with animated cars and gives you a feeling of not
being alone--nice touch! (FS2000 always gives me the feeling of being the
only person on the planet). You then return to base, and if you're like me,
hit a tree on landing and write off the copter!You are given a score and any mistakes are detailed. In the campaign you progress your career.
This is a great sim that presents you with varied challenges in different weather conditions (perhaps 60 knot winds in rain at night) and has just the right amount of flying and challenge to make it really enjoyable. I managed to fly it first time unlike FS2000 where I have never managed to get the helos in the air.
Bad Points: Well the only one I could see was a slight porpoising when switching to the autopilot modes but as you will have to fly manually to complete your missions this is not a problem.
I would give it 9/10.
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Visit the SAR 2 developer's web site at:
http://www.iavision.com/sar2
Visit Swing! Entertainment, the European publisher at:
http://www.swing-games.de/
Visit Global Star Software (a division of Take 2), the North American publisher at:
http://www.globalstarsoftware.com/