retro gaming Choplifter review

["AirRaid" <AirRaidJet@gmail.com>]

Choplifter (Coin-Op/Arcade)
Review written by Faididi and BlueSory on 2002-03-16

"Help! Help! ... No, wait!" *BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!* "AGGGH!!"

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This is Sega's arcade port of Broderbund's Apple II Choplifter.

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STORY: Average

The hero is known as the Choplifter, and his mission is simple. He must
fly a heavily-armed helicopter into terrorist hot spots, bust out some
hostages, and then bring 'em back to safety.

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GAMEPLAY: Excellent

Forget the overly-complicated sequels. Forget the weaker console ports.
The only serious versions of Choplifter is the original Apple II one
and the brilliantly updated arcade one. Dan Gorlin and Broderbund's
Choplifter is a cool action shooter, and Sega's arcade adaptation of it
is even better, because of the new level design and the revamped visual
and audio effects. Fans remember this as an addictive quarter-sucker
for very good reasons.

This arcade port is divided into 4 side-scrolling Sorties, but the
general concept is the same. In each Sortie, the hero begins at one end
of the level, at his home base (complete with a nice little US flag).
He has to pilot his chopper into the rest of the level, blasting enemy
planes and turrets while avoiding returning fire. To complete a Sortie,
he must bring back a certain quota of hostages.

The chopper comes with two weapons. The first one is a rocket launcher,
which the hero uses to blow up most of the targets that get in his way.
The second weapon is a machinegun, which is used to strafe enemies in
the foreground. The hero has infinite ammo for both weapons, so he
never has to go easy on the bad guys. Everybody in the game, including
the hero, dies with a single hit.

Now comes the best part of Choplifter. Rescuing people from angry
terrorists isn't a stroll through the park, and the hero will
constantly be rushing to get the hostages out in one piece. If he sees
a structure where hostages are being held, he has to shoot it to break
out the prisoners. When they're free, he should land and wait for them
to climb aboard. But after a while, tanks will roll up onto the
foreground, attempting to kill him and the hostages. If the hero
manages to pick off or evade the tanks, he's still gotta make it back
to his base without augering into the ground. The hero's chopper can
only hold so many people, so it pays for him to go about doing his job
efficiently, making as few trips as possible. The enemy fighter planes
constantly flying onto the screen always make the skies an unfriendly
place.

Each Sortie offers vastly different challenges, due to the cool level
design in this port. The first Sortie takes place over a desert, where
the clear terrain serves as a perfect environment for the hero to warm
up in. The second Sortie brings him to a sea, where he must avoid
artillery fire from battleships and missiles from submarines. The third
Sortie puts him in a forest with some caves, where maneuvering becomes
tricky when he's trapped between erupting volcanoes and a rocky
ceiling, all the while having a load of people crammed on board. The
fourth Sortie dumps the hero into a city at nighttime, where tall
skyscrapers will be the norm. Once he finishes this last Sortie, the
game loops back to the first one.

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REPLAY VALUE: Above Average

The game's fun and furious action is addictive, no small thanks to its
captivating and exciting challenges.

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CONTROLS: Excellent

The chopper handles responsively, and firing its weapons is simple
(depending on whether the hero is facing to the sides or to the
foreground, he will fire a different weapon). Spinning the chopper
completely around or making it face the foreground becomes second
nature quickly. All of this gives the hero superb control over his
craft, which already has some realistic physics behind it (he can kill
himself accidentally by diving into the ground or by clipping his
propeller blades against structures).

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GRAPHICS: Excellent

Sega gives a major overhaul to the original version's graphics,
bringing out some really colorful and pretty stuff in the arcade port.
The characters are animated well in a cartoon-like manner, and you can
see all the little details from glowing fires to the hostages waving
their hands while jumping up and down. The backgrounds are nicely
textured, and they even use multilayering and parallax effects to add a
better sense of depth to the game.

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SOUND EFFECTS: Above Average

The gunfire, both the hero's and the enemies', is loud and frequent,
but perhaps the best audio effect is the one for the helicopter's
propellers. You can really hear them whipping up the air, with the
pitch of the engine changing according to the hero's speed. If there's
anything wrong, it's the effect for the missiles, which sounds more
toony than explosive.

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VOCAL EFFECTS: Above Average

The hostages actually say, "Help me!," and, "Thank you!," as the hero
tries to rescue them, plus they scream out whenever they die. You can
even hear some bad guy laughing if the hero crashes and burns.

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MUSIC: Above Average

The heroic music in the arcade port matches the boldness of its
gameplay. Every Sortie has its own distinct tune, with the ones for the
first and the third Sorties being quite inspired and memorable.

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OVERALL: Excellent (9/10)

Like the Apple II version it's based off of, the arcade Choplifter
offers simple yet highly enjoyable action, and the new level design,
graphics, and audio certainly help. Rescuing hostages has never been
more fun, so throw on that helmet and go check this out now.