Comanche 3 (PC DOS) longplay

Comanche 3 was released for MS-DOS in 1997 by simulation game developer Novalogic. It's an action focused light simulation game and is relatively easy to start playing with basic flight controls. It is however, more complex than an arcade game masked as simulation and as a heli-sim noob, took me a while to get proper hang of advanced controls. Heavy consultation of the manual is not required, but for example advanced flight instructions and targeting modes are recommended sections for reading. Comanche Gold is an "updated" Win95 version of C3 released the following year. It ads some new features such as possibility to give orders to team mates, configuring weapon loadouts and 5 extra (gold) campaigns. I felt uncertain about finishing a game I never played before so decided to record C3 instead of Gold, because it's less than half the length. I'd recommend playing Gold instead of C3 if you can get it to run properly. 

Briefings give some background information about each mission. Many missions are part of a larger operation and have several different allied units on the map doing their own thing. I found allied heli squads and the team mate pilot mostly useless. They are usually left behind quickly when racing toward the objective and just seem to go their own way, getting killed and leaving me to take care of everything by myself. Navigation points usually highlight a safe route to objectives. I sometimes ignore nav points when those are not on the fastest flight path possible to get through without being shot down. I found the missions entertaining with enough variation to keep me hooked to the end. It's a good solid game, although probably not as good as the best light simulation games I have played, such as Mechwarrior 4 and Freespace 2. Not sure if I'd want to go through the gold campaigns as well, instead of playing something else. 

This is easily the most resource heavy DOS game I have played. It requires very high cycle speeds in DOSBox to run on decent framerate with max details compared to other SVGA-games I have played. About 20 times the number of cycles required to run for example Wolf3D with max framerate was used. The video could have better framerate if I had used even higher cycle settings, but that would make the game stutter a lot and barely playable during recording. C3 doesn't have full CD sountrack and I had to use Soundblaster audio for capturing with DOSBox codec, instead of better quality MIDI options to avoid occasional stuttering and other problems caused by very high cycle speeds. These would show in video if I had used an external program to record. 

Operation: Gallant Venture 

00:03:38 Mission 1: Haystack 
00:05:54 Mission 2: Triple Play 
00:08:40 Mission 3: Hamel Lane 
00:11:49 Mission 4: Showdown 
00:14:44 Mission 5: Saving Grace 
00:18:10 Mission 6: Nightwing 
00:22:36 Mission 7: Onslaught 
00:26:38 Mission 8: Checkmate 

Operation: Frozen Friendship 

00:31:53 Mission 1: Ambush Alley 
00:35:12 Mission 2: Stormfront 
00:38:30 Mission 3: Ice Box 
00:41:28 Mission 4: Ghost Train 
00:48:16 Mission 5: Scalpel 
00:53:32 Mission 6: Spetsnaz 
00:58:11 Mission 7: Cold Warriors 
01:06:56 Mission 8: Tunnel Vision 

Operation: Firm Resolve 

01:11:43 Mission 1: Bastion 
01:19:00 Mission 2: Zunami 
01:24:33 Mission 3: Vanguard 
01:31:24 Mission 4: Easy Money 
01:36:14 Mission 5: Making the Grade 
01:43:10 Mission 6: Sucker Punch 
01:48:40 Mission 7: Boys Night Out 
01:53:08 Mission 8: Red Tide 

Operation: Desert Endeavor 

01:59:54 Mission 1: Guidelines 
02:02:48 Mission 2: Blackout 
02:06:44 Mission 3: Icarus 
02:10:51 Mission 4: Interstate 
02:13:48 Mission 5: Bloodhound 
02:17:39 Mission 6: NBC Express 
02:24:05 Mission 7: Big Al's Place 
02:27:58 Mission 8: Hail Mary 
02:35:18 Credits