Reviewed: August 3, 2007
Reviewed by: Jeff Gedgaud
Publisher
Strategy First
Developer
G2 Games
Released: July 17, 2007
Genre: Flight Simulation
Players: 1-16
6
4
6
5
5.8
System Requirements:
Recommended System:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Enemy Engaged 2 from G2 Games is the second Enemy Engaged simulator that puts you in the pilots’ seat of the best attack helicopters in the world. You fly and fight either the US Comanche or the Russian Hokum attack helicopter in an open-ended mission style game fighting new wars.
Enemy Engaged 2 does a very good job of recreating the close combat of fighting in an area where you can see and hear other units doing their thing. The game does lack an overall finished look and is very buggy throughout in many areas.
Once you get the game installed and working you can start your tutorial missions to learn how to fly the RAH-66 Comanche or the KA-52 Hokum B attack helicopters. There are several tutorial missions to get you ready for some real combat. There are also more than a dozen single missions to jump into the pilot seat quickly and get into the action faster than the campaign missions will.
The campaign missions are where this game really shines and it is truly a shame that they could not have fixed more of the bugs in the game before releasing it. Control issues and a general crash issue top the list but there is also a really odd bug that has some perplexed. It seems they left some invisible objects in the game for you to run into while flying.
Many people call these invisible platforms as sometimes you will land on them automatically when passing by them but I only found this to happen once while playing. One minute you’re racing along skimming the water on the way to a mission and the next you’re sitting some sixty feet above the ocean with no movement.
Other than this bug there are many that are related to pressing keys and controls. Many times I have had the game crash to my desktop by pressing a key during flight or in combat. It is not the same keys or controls every time or in the same areas of a mission.
The campaign missions start you off in the beginning of three separate campaign areas and after you start in on one campaign the missions list will give you plenty to do. Each campaign will have several missions that you can choose from at the start but that is not the half of what you can do.
At any time in any campaign you can take off on your own and strike at the enemy or help out allies anywhere on the campaign map. G2 Games has done an excellent job of recreating a battlefield in its entirety and you can use the whole thing as your own playground. Don’t like the recon mission you’re on, just stride a little out of your way and take on that tank group for some added fun and a good use of that ammo you expend. If you hear a group near you that needs help you can also deviate from your course to help them out. You will not get penalized or get any extra credit for your efforts but it is very much like real life and how there is so much going on during your gameplay.
During missions in the campaign you will hear constant chatter over the radio and have to pay attention to your call signs so you know when something pertains to you. Several times I missed my wingman telling me we are under attack or that there is some situational awareness report intended for me due to my not paying enough attention to the chatter.
The AI in the missions and the skirmishes are very good and many missions find you getting yourself out of trouble due to rushing into the situations with little intelligence of the situation. If you use the helicopters advantages of slow and steady approach and stand off capabilities you can have a fun time pulverizing the enemy.
The Hokum helicopter is a bit easier to fly than the Comanche but both are fun and pretty easy to get the hang of. There are all kinds of controls and settings due to the nature of modern aircraft but you can keep things simple enough and not have to worry about a lot of them to start with.
Simple targeting and using your weapons has been made as easy as possible and it is possible to complete many missions without using a lot of the sophisticated equipment. With the varied mission structure you can easily go out and come back home from every mission without any ammo so you can make other missions easier later on. Due to the battlefield being the same for each campaign the more damage you do on each mission the more things will be easier for you on the next if you do take out plenty of enemies.
One thing you do need to watch out for and that is a very realistic addition to the game is reinforcements during your missions. You can call in for reinforcements you’re your wingman during a mission using the voice-actuated system just like VOIP but so can the enemy. If you attack an area or target you should do as much damage as possible and then leave in a low hurry to avoid the reinforcements the enemy always calls in.
Enemy Engaged 2 has a very nice control system for a joystick but if you have a HOTAS Joystick it can be pretty hit and miss setting up. I have no problem getting a Logitech Attack 3 joystick to work but cannot get either of my Saitek or Thrustmaster HOTAS sets to work in the game. The Xbox 360 controller works well but I like the better control I get with a full joystick for flying.
Graphics were a large disappointment in Enemy Engaged 2 and could have been a lot better. Having not played Enemy Engaged I cannot compare this game to the previous one but can say this games graphics are outdated.
I did play Comanche 4 and that games graphics are on a very similar rating to this which is a shame. There are some better effects and updated texture graphics but the same lack of much detail and frame rate loss when there is a lot of detail in the area make for a depressing game in the area of looks.
Explosions and crashes look pretty bland with a fair fiery effect and then some modeled damage of the target but they have no flying objects or other types of effects so each explosion looks pretty much the same. During the missions launches of rockets look decent but again they have the same look to them just about every time.
The ground texture and other textures look good but are very bland and drab for the entire game which should have some different areas and looks to them when you’re in a different part of the world. The vehicle models look pretty good and the cockpits are very nice which balances out the score for the graphics.
When there are some nicely modeled objects such as trees or city buildings the frame rates drop lower and could be a problem on some people’s computers. The trees and other objects look decent but again everything here looks rather drab and bland.
The sound effects and voice acting in Enemy Engaged 2 is very good and sounds very realistic. They have added in a good number of different people for all the various characters you hear so you get the feel of being in battles with the various communications flowing around the battle field. The special effects and sound effects are realistic but the voices and feel of being in a real battle are what make this game shine for parts of it.
The voice commands using your voice recognition software works well with very simple commands being understood by the AI like Flight Group Hold Position. There are about 25 commands with Flight Group, Wingman and Local Base as recipients of your voice activated controls.
The system works just fine and is a nice feature for some hands off work while you’re busy with other matters. Being able to call in air strikes, artillery and assistance during a mission using the voice commands is very helpful when you’re in the thick of it and cannot take the time to press buttons.
With the open mission design of Enemy Engaged 2 there is not so much of a linear campaign and this works very well in the favor of making a simulator much more realistic. The open-ended design of the battlefield with so much going on at the same time makes for some very fun action. Being able to alter your own mission and help others at a whim makes Enemy Engaged 2 a great simulator as far as value is concerned.
The campaigns will keep you very busy for many hours of game play with the three campaigns and it will not get boring quickly with the pretty decent AI. Enemy Engaged 2 also comes with some multiplayer gaming but it does not work very well. There is an IP address you can type in for a server at Strategy First but the server is down often or has problems and often drops people.
The multiplayer gaming that I did play was pretty much like the campaign missions with a much better pilot behind the sticks of some of the vehicles flying around. Other than playing against others instead of the AI there is not much difference between the multiplayer and the single player sections.
When there are fixes for Enemy Engaged 2 the game will be greatly improved but until then the game does have some serious problems. I had fun playing the campaign missions and especially being able to continue on after my mission was completed to take out other targets. The games open-ended gameplay makes for a truly unique mission setup and is about the best way to run a war, at least on a computer.
Enemy Engaged 2 has some serious problems but they do not make the game unplayable, just detract from your enjoyment. The graphics and visual effects of a bleak terrain do not help the game out but the great open style of mission setup add greatly to the look and feel of a real battlefield.
If some improvements are made to the game it would be a decent and even great helicopter simulator but until then it might be better to wait. Enemy Engaged 2 is a pretty average game at the moment but if you just have to have a helicopter flight sim it will work.