"Longbow" was named the best flight simulator of 1996 by "PC Gamer", GameSpot, "Computer Gaming World" and "Computer Games Strategy Plus". CNET Gamecenter and the Computer Game Developers Conference nominated it in their "Best Simulation Game" categories, but these went to "NASCAR Racing 2" and "", respectively. In 1996, "Computer Gaming World" ranked it as the 100th best game of all time for being "the first helicopter sim to match its fixed wing counterparts for realistic play". That same year, it was also ranked as the 73rd top game of all time by "Next Generation", for being "an unbeatable marriage of graphics, gameplay, and armor-blasting fun".