Air Assault Task Force – Game Review (PC)

Air Assault oozes military doctrine and terminology. Gamers with military experience will be right at home with the concepts and presentation. Each scenario’s map has an operational overlay that uses standard NATO markings to graphically outline the plan of operation. Scenarios realistically start with a player briefing in the form of a military operations order (OPORD); a format very familiar to those who have heard them in real life. The Ia Drang Valley campaign even uses an actual image copy of the OPORD used by Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, before the 7th Cavalry descended into the valley of death in 1965.

For gamers who have never muddied their boots in real life, AATF could be intimidating at first. Trying to understand the symbols and terminology creates a learning curve that must be overcome. It’s comparable to the lay football fan who has only watched it on television suddenly trying to coach a team using cryptic playbook graphics and terminology. But this is hardly rocket science, and these uninitiated players are encouraged to wade into the mechanics with gusto. The game does offer some out-of-the-box help. There is a good set of tutorials that present the major concepts and allow players to get into the game without cracking open the manual. But for those who like to read, the 130 page printed manual is also a great, well organized resource. Finally, for those who really want to immerse themselves, the CD comes with two US Army manuals, that cover both air assault tactics and terminology.

Air Assault is the latest game in the Armored Task Force series, also by the ProSIM Company. There is a very complete set of editing tools that allows players to create scenarios for any game in the series. These powerful tools allow users to edit the weapons database, and even create new maps from scans of military maps, or imports of topographical data. The documentation of these tools is provided on-line, and some of them are quite technical. Still, with such a robust tool set, someone will probably create that 1985 NATO vs. Warsaw Pact scenario yet.

The game does have a few weak points. Graphics and sound aren’t ground-breaking. Fire teams and helicopters tend to bunch up, making it difficult to tell them apart on the map. The AI is sometimes quirky. Players can give their units broad orders, letting their AI sub commanders work out the details. This often works well, but is frustrating when AI captains and lieutenants occasionally screw up with no explanation. In one game a platoon was given screen orders, and they started running away; not a clue as to why. Helicopter units with orders to land infantry will hover forever just on the edge of a clearing and without disgorging their troops, just because the available area for landing did not meet the neat cookie cutter pattern the AI was looking for. All of these issues can be worked around, but they do take away from the game.

In the final calculation, AATF is a great game, putting the player in the shoes of a US commander leading an air assault. The game is deep and somewhat technical; probably not good fare for casual players. For those players willing to immerse themselves however, the game provides the best understanding of the power of this new way of warfare, this side of actually joining the air cavalry yourself.

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