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If you search the internet for helicopter video games, you’ll see there’s actually quite a few out there. Some lean in the arcade direction, others in the simulator territory. I’m familiar with the Strike series, Zero Gunner, Choplifter, and one I rarely see people talking about, Chopper Attack. Developed by SETA Corporation and published by Midway, Chopper Attack was released for the Nintendo 64 in June, 1998. Chopper Attack definitely leans more in the arcade direction and features plenty of action and explosions. I forget how I discovered it but I was intrigued by the simple concept; fly around and blow shit up. Luckily for me, copies weren’t expensive at the time so I nabbed one and remember enjoying it.
As far as I can tell, there’s no overarching plot. Just a set of a missions that task you with specific objectives. Chopper Attack is a single player experience and comes with two game modes, Mission and Free Battle. The Mission mode is the real meat of the game where you progress through the stages and can even unlock things. Free Battle allows you to pick any unlocked environment and basically do whatever you want. There are two difficulty levels, Normal and Expert, and you do need to play through the Mission mode on Expert to access the final mission.
Before jumping into the gameplay, you must select your helicopter or chopper and are then given the option to buy weapons. Each chopper has its own pilot and stats and trying them all out to see their strengths and weaknesses is all part of the fun. After you select your chopper, you can spend money on weapons and some choppers can equip more than others. In the Mission mode, you are scored and earn money based on your performance in each mission and how much ammo you have left at the end of a mission is one factor that affects your score. Each weapon does serve a purpose and proves to be useful and knowing what types of threats your up against, how much ammo to buy, and your accuracy is all important if you’re goal is to achieve the highest possible score.
The controls to me some time to get used to and once I got the feel down, I was doing pretty good. One thing you can’t control is your chopper’s elevation. You can’t ascend or descend manually. Instead, the chopper will do so automatically depending on the terrain. This also means trying to aim at targets above you can sometimes be a pain in the ass. You do have to be mindful of fuel and your shield. If either bar depletes, it’s game over. Every chopper can fire their vulcan guns which come with infinite ammo and throughout the environments are buildings and structures that can be destroyed and some will reveal pickups like money, fuel, shield repairs, gun powerups, and even explosive traps that you should avoid.
Chopper Attack is not a very long game. With only eight missions total, it can be beaten in under an hour. Much of the replay value comes from trying out the different choppers and weapons. In the Mission mode, you can’t change choppers in between missions. Whichever one you choose at the start is the one you’re stuck with until you start a new game. You’ll be tasked with an objective in each stage or mission and most of the time you’ll have to destroy specific targets. One mission has you protecting Air Force One and the final mission is set on what appears to be the moon where you get to fight aliens. Stages do include POWs to rescue and you must clear the helipads so rescue choppers can land and pick them up. Rescuing POWs is an objective in one stage but they can be found and rescued in others and doing so increases your score. But if any of them die, that subtracts from your score.
By today’s standards, the environments are pretty simple. They showcase a lot of hills and valleys, one has a volcano, and it’s the different colors that really differentiate them. Each stage is like a square map that you can fly around freely. One of the standout stages is the one set underground simply because it features numerous narrow paths. Enemies come in different types including aircraft, vehicles, and ground troops. They will shoot at you, some fire missiles, and then there’s the Rambo-looking motherfucker who will jump onto your chopper and scream, messing with your aim until you can shake him off. It’s quite humorous.
While I enjoy the general gameplay, I do wish there was more to do. I think one of my bigger disappointments with the game is that the developer didn’t do more with the Free Battle mode, especially considering there’s no multiplayer of any kind. You can select one of the stages to fly around in but there doesn’t seem to be any goals. The game’s manual states, “When you Train, your training progresses to different stages of difficulty”. I don’t really know what means because I know I completed the objective for one of the stages and nothing happened. I guess the idea of this mode is to practice but I think it would have been cool if you could set conditions or choose what enemies will appear. It would have added much more replay value to the game.
Visually, Chopper Attack looks like a product of its time. In today’s world it looks bland overall, the textures even look muddy, and the draw distance is short. But on the positive side, it is colorful, each chopper looks distinct, and the explosions are satisfying which is good because you’ll be seeing a lot of them. The gameplay is accompanied by solid audio work and a truly jamming soundtrack that includes some awesome heavy metal tunes and the music did kind of get me pumped up and into the action. On the technical side, it does actually run pretty smooth.
I love Chopper Attack despite the fact there’s not much to it. Once you get used to the controls, it’s easy to jump into for a quick session of fun. It’s certainly not a helicopter simulation but it is a fun arcade-style action game. I think I just love the simplicity. Fly around and blow everything up. That’s really all there is to it. It is a shame it’s so short and that there’s no multiplayer or additional game modes. I feel the developer could have done more with the Free Battle mode. In general, I feel the game could have benefited from more content. More stages, more objectives per stage, and maybe a customizable Free Battle mode. As it stands, you can see most of what it has to offer in under an hour. The difficulty levels, different choppers, and trying for a high score are the only real incentives to come back. I still enjoy it, overall, and it’s actually one of my favorite helicopter action games as of this review. But I do think it could have been better.
I do recommend Chopper Attack because the gameplay is fun. It may not offer a lot but it can provide some good entertainment for an hour or so. I don’t know if it’s considered a hidden gem for the 64 and I remember the copy I found was pretty cheap. If you like the idea of flying around in helicopters, shooting shit and blowing stuff up, Chopper Attack may just be the game for you. Definitely check it out.