Tonight on Fox, we investigate what happens…When Choppers Attack!
Initially released in Japan under the slightly cooler name Wild Choppers, Chopper Attack is… It’s not an especially celebrated title (even its Wikipedia page is remarkably brief), though it was published Midway Games, who were still a pretty big deal at the time. The Mortal Kombat hey day had passed, but they were still making good stuff.
So what’s this game’s deal? First off, it’s unrelated to this other kind of chopper attack:
Chopper Attack consists of a handful of missions (just 5, disappointingly), with varying goals. You have a handful of different characters/helicopters to choose from, including, one of Lady Gaga’s wildest outfits yet:
I always knew she’d end up being an attack helicopter at some point. At the start of each mission, you’re given a budget for missiles and other weapons. There’s a generic gun that you’ll always have, but you’ve gotta spend money for extra firepower.
The amount of money you have depends on how much you accomplish in each mission – the better you do, the more money you’ll have for more missiles and bombs and stuff. I enjoyed this aspect of Chopper Attack – while you’re ultimately just causing a bunch of explosions, you need to actually be smart about it. Fiscal responsibility! What a concept.
The gameplay is generally always the same (flying around a big square field), though what you have to do can vary a bit from mission to mission. In one case, you need to simply fly around and destroy all of a certain enemy structure. Another time, you have to escort Air Force One, which is bright orange and blue for some reason:
In addition to the story mode, there’s a “free play” mode where you can try out different choppers and weapons. There are a decent number of them, so this is a nice feature to have. However, the overall feature set is pretty bare bones – as previously mentioned, the game has just 5 levels, and they’re all at least mildly similar.
Overall, I feel like Chopper Attack is…fine? It has a welcome amount of variety in terms of vehicles and weapons, and missions that are each somewhat unique. At the same time, it doesn’t do any of those things phenomenally well. It’s so hard to get excited about a game like this, because while it’s not bad by any stretch, this is such an expansive genre with so many great titles that a game that’s “just fine” or even “pretty good” just doesn’t make a dent. There are certainly more frustrating options out there as well, though…
If you’re like me, you’re angry just looking at this image.
Anyway, while it isn’t awful, I just don’t see much reason to recommend Chopper Attack. If you have an N64 and think helicopters are just the coolest, I suppose you can justify picking this one up.
Next week’s game is a real trip. A trip back to 90s TV, that is. It promises to be the nicest Retro Roulette yet. See you then?