A good, but odd, mix of flight sim and arcade action.
Liked:
The graphics - While it is not the best looking game around, it's hardly a pig. The Helicopters themselves are beautifully detailed (and are shown off at the menu screen in close up.
The Realistic controls - Flying well takes practice on this setting, but it pays off once you crack it and you'll soon be performing Hydra strafing runs on convoys and flying fast and low though valleys. There is an auto-hover mode to help with landings and when firing the gun in FLIR mode, but once you get used to the controls you'll rarely use it.
Mission variety - From all out assaults to convoy protection to spotting targets for AGM strikes.
The music - With an epic main score and other fitting tracks, it'll make you want to fly under low bridges and blow up APCs.
Disliked:
The arcade factor - While still being a flight sim, the game takes an arcade approach to missions. This means that the enemy will be ridiculously accurate and will have a bizarre amount of SAM weaponry (even if they are Somali pirate stand ins). You'll also find drug cartels with entire Hind helicopter fleets, which you'll have to dispatch. The amount of enemies you'll have to fight at one time gets pretty insane on some of the later levels.
The Training difficulty - While having an easy arcade control setting can be helpful, in this case it just restricts manoeuvrability. Your pitch angle is restricted to prevent you ploughing into the ground so you can't fire as far down as you need (especially in dog fights) and the whole control scheme just feels weird). I don't recommend use this setting, even for beginners; it'll be hard to switch to the realistic handling afterwards.
The Story - Following 3 different campaigns in different areas (Afghanistan/Somalia/South America stand ins) while the individual mission are fun the over arcing stories are pretty bland.
Both:
The multiplayer - It's great when you can get a squadron together and tackle the separate squad operations, however very few people play online. The game has no join in progress, so you have to sit in a lobby and hope or organise something with your friends.
Summary:
I recommend this game to fans of flight sims and helicopter fans, others may find the unengaging story to be a bit of a turn off.