The year 2000 is definitely the year of the helicopter simulation. There've already been two combat rotary-wing sims, including Ka-52 Team Alligator and Gunship. But the new Enemy Engaged: RAH-66 Comanche vs. Ka-52 Hokum is by far the best. Enemy Engaged is Razorworks' sequel to its popular 1999 sim Apache/Havoc, and while it bears a strong resemblance to its predecessor, it also stands on its own.

Enemy Engaged is a helicopter sim that puts you in the pilot's seat of either the RAH-66 Comanche or the Ka-52 Hokum. Both aircraft are the latest in attack helicopter technology, and Razorworks' game reflects this, as it seems to have the style of a classified government simulator. That's because Razorworks has done a remarkable job of detailing and fine-tuning all aspects of the game. From the active radio chatter and the detailed cockpits to the sweeping dynamic campaigns, Enemy Engaged sets a higher standard for how immersive a flight sim can be, while it also avoids getting mired down in the technical minutiae of combat aviation. Enemy Engaged is not a pure hard-core simulation, but this won't make it any less satisfying for hard-core simulation enthusiasts.

Enemy Engaged has actually been out for several months in the United Kingdom, so it's probably not surprising that the US release is relatively free of bugs, given how much time there has been to work out the problems since the game's initial launch. This obscures the fact that the UK release shipped with very few bugs in the first place, and those that did crop up were relatively minor and quickly fixed. However, the US release does fix a few other obscure problems and adds some new command line parameters.

Enemy Engaged's terrain graphics are similar to those in Apache/Havoc, and while the older game's 3D graphics engine was impressive when it was released in 1999, it's no longer as impressive more than a year later. But it's still good, and manages to be both reasonably attractive and quite fast. Razorworks has improved the look of the graphics to some extent, particularly through the skillful use of lighting effects. The graphics engine also runs very smoothly on a modest machine like a Pentium II-450. Also, if you're using a low-end computer, you can turn down the game's details and effects to ease the load on your processor. Nevertheless, terrain graphics are not the game's strong suit.

However, the aircraft and vehicle models are another story. These look outstanding, and they are certainly among the best in any simulation to date. The weapon effects are gorgeous, so much so that it's quite an experience simply to fly around at night and let loose with the chain gun while you watch from an external camera view. The effect of rain beading up on the first-person cockpit view in the darkness is positively eerie, especially when you're creeping up on a ridgeline to pop up on a row of targets. This combination of lighting and sound effects, as well as the detailed unit models, more than makes up for the mediocre terrain. While the graphics in Gunship! were simply flashy, the graphics in Enemy Engaged give you the sense of being in a helicopter in the middle of a war. Which is, presumably, the whole point of a simulation.

The flight model in Enemy Engaged is not just that of a generic helicopter, as the US and Russian helos handle very differently and require different flying styles. The Comanche is a good bit more agile, and the distinctive flight experiences offered by these two choppers greatly adds to the value of the sim. Complex dynamics such as vortex ring, blade stall, ground effect, and cross coupling can be turned on or off individually if you prefer not to contend with some of the challenges of realistic flight.