The completely customizable controls were a definite plus. It allows the user to set up the game in whatever way is most comfortable. True, most games now have customizable controls, but it's still a plus. I especially liked the 5-way navigator support.

After a while though, the missions seemed to become a little repetitive, but they were definitely more challenging towards the end than at the beginning. I think a little more background story, or plot, for the game would serve to alleviate this a bit; after all, this is supposed to be set during the Cold War. Why are the enemy forces attacking in the first place? Or why are we attacking them?

A little more variety in the missions themselves would help too. It seemed like every mission had pretty much the same recipe: launch, take out some helicopters or tanks, and rescue some prisoners. Perhaps if some stealth, or intelligence gathering missions were thrown in there, and maybe a few more escort missions it'd be more fun. The addition of some "boss-type" adversaries would spice up the play a bit. Then again, a lot of good clean arcade fun is based on repetitive game play.

Overall, I give Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind from Astraware a 3 out 5. It's a good game with a lot of fun, but could use a bit of polishing to make it one of those great, can't-put-it-down games. One of the most important things would be to solve the problem of the audio clipping with Tungsten T2 devices. Truthfully, it was very distracting and may have been one reason why I didn't find this game as amazingly mind-blowing as I had originally anticipated.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and can be reached via email at david@zatz.com.