Community member Zorrin sent us his hands-on review of DCS: Blackshark
Initial thoughts after just a few hours at the helm… Installation was a b**** as the first time I did it, I had installed it without running it as an Administrator and it just didn’t work. I uninstalled and reinstalled as an administrator (thanks Windoze Vista!). Second install went fine and I then got the game fired up. It activated happily enough and there I was ready to go rock ‘n’ rolling with my darling little Kamov.
I had originally ordered a DVD version from qpig.ru but as an impulse bought the download version from 1C. And what a revelation DCS Black Shark really is.
Initially the GUI is very slick and so easy to use I’m half expecting to come home and find my cat tapping away changing all the key commands for me! Thankfully the incoherent babbling menu music of Lock On is gone for good. Replaced with orchestral and soothing sounds that actually build tension rather well.
Changing key commands isn’t such a great idea… Printing them out on the other hand is what you’ll need to do. There are only 9 pages of them…
Right, that’s enough rambling about the GUI. On to the main course, and what a delight that ED have cooked up for you!
I jumped straight into the Mission Editor to set myself up ready to roll on the runway in the post-summer dawn with a few wispy white clouds and a gentle 3m/s breeze blowing in off the coast.
Hit fly, and at this point you are wondering what’s happening. It may take an eon to load but it is worth every second of anticipation.
You are finally in your noble steed and hit unpause… The whirl of the blades and whine of the turbines and vibrations are making this sim come alive. You really feel a part of it. No other sim has ever made me feel like I am actually in the cockpit like Black Shark does.
Just lifting the collective you can feel it getting light on its wheels, it already wants to weathercock into wind as your mind boggles at just how lightly you have to use the controls.
It twitches just like a real helicopter does and as I lifted off I had flashbacks to sitting in Robinson’s R22. Pull too much collective in and you’ll soon find out the hard way as to what happens.
The damage modelling is as good as the developer’s claim it to be. And oh boy can you abuse the Ka-50.
Rather than follow a structured flight plan I ignored the ABRIS. Set it to display NAV mode and went about my determined cataclysmic destruction of my Ka-50. First up lets try some high-speed on the deck turns. Oh boy does the Shark accelerate fast. In no time at all you can be approaching VNE and the nasty effects that going past it can bring on.
Turn number one involved rotors hitting the ground and subsequently an impromptu need for a new machine. Second Ka-50 is ready to go… Lets try breaking it in another spectacular ball of fire and twisted metal.
Pedal turn in the vertical just after lift off… Lifted off, nose forward keeping it low and letting the speed accelerate. Pull it into the vertical let the airspeed decay and feed in right pedal… Seems simple right? Well on this occasion the airspeed dropped too much and before I knew it I was in reverse and seemingly on track to kill my virtual pilot… Again. Welcomed by a bang and Nagging Nadia there’s what looks like a fuel leak… Switch to external and the entire tail is missing… But it still flies! Off we totter to maintenance and beg for another.
The systems truly present a humungous challenge. My first Cold and Dark start ended in an engine fire after 23 minutes of infuriating frustration. I have to say, I am totally hooked and I’ve not even got as far as loading a single Vikhr onto my whirlybird.
It’s possible to just jump in and really enjoy the flight model and damage modelling. Seeing how hard you can push it before you end up having rotors touch and that inevitable drop from the sky.
The Vortex Ring modelling is truly impressive. You get the Shark into it and it scares you rotten… It just drops as it truly should.
Enough rambling… What do I like about it after just a few hours? I love the damage modelling and how you can almost feel what the Shark is doing. The head movement is brilliant and really immerses you. You really can almost feel it… At the moment I’m using my old MS Sidewinder 2 over my Cougar. Simply because I have no pedals and while in other sims you could get away using one of the rotaries for rudder, a set of pedals will be high on my Christmas wish list. What is there I don’t like about it? So far nothing, other than one bug I have found… Seems the SU33 AIs like to land on Neutrashimys instead of the Kuz… Most bizarre.
What’s the first thing you should do when you get your Black Shark on the runway ready to go? Abuse it. Push it hard and sit back and watch it crumble. Then go and read the manual and understand how it works!

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