Choplifter HD – You may want to fly over this one

[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”Choplifter HD” developers=”inXile Entertainment” publishers=”inXile Entertainment, Konami” platforms=”XBLA, PSN, PC” genres=”” release_date=”Out Now”]

I remember sitting down as a young lad and playing Choplifter with my sister on our Sega Master System (My dad didn’t want to buy us the NES, but that’s another story entirely.) Although, maybe too difficult for us at the time, we had some fun with it. So, when Choplifter HD was announced I immediately thought, “Gotta review that.” So here we are, is it just as fun? How great are the graphics? And is it still ridiculously hard? Answers, yes, eh and yes.

Choplifter has gone from being strictly 2D to 2.5D. Obviously the graphics have been noticeably updated. Higher resolution, better textures, more details. Now that’s in comparison to the 1980’s version. This is definitely not a “bad” looking game, but it’s not all that great either. This is easily noticed when it comes to the foot soldiers and zombies on the ground. Yes, zombies but we’ll come to that later.  Depth has been added to background and your chopper kinda of bobs and weaves from background to foreground as you move left to right or right to left throughout each level. You’re able to control which directions the chopper faces with your bumper buttons.

You’re also able to have the chopper face the foreground to take RPG-wielding terrorists or anti-air guns that lay in wait there. In the heat of rescuing hostages, taking out enemies and trying to dodge the deluge of destruction headed your way, the controls take a hit. You’ll be facing the foreground when you should be facing the right or facing the left when you need to face the foreground. When the pressure starts to pour on this control scheme really just starts to be, frankly, a pain in the ass.

As you you complete each level you’re graded on a five star system. You’re able to unlock other choppers in the game depending on how many stars you’ve accumulated thus far. The choppers differ on the amount of armor they have, personnel they are able to carry, ammo storage and how fast they move. Let’s say you’re on a tough level where you’re dying to have a chopper with extra armor, the designers know you want this chopper, so what do they do? Lock it up until you complete the level once, then if you have enough stars you can unlock it. Why? If I have unlocked the heavy armor chopper it should stay unlocked, this is not the best way to implement replayability.

Now this game has a couple of different level types. There’s your standard rescue the hostages, the “blow up these things” objective based, the rage-inducing “don’t stop” levels and finally something great, the zombie apocalypse levels. Yes, these were easily the most enjoyable part of the game. Time and fuel management is what these levels focus on. You’ll have to choose on which group of victims to save first, where to land for fuel and so on. You’ll come upon people barricaded against the zombie infection and have to beat back the zombie without taking out the living. Once your chopper is full it’s time to take the victims back to safety, but wait, you’re low on fuel. But you can’t just land at any fueling station. If you haven’t cleared out the surrounding zombies, once you land the flood of infection will be on a tear straight to your chopper.

Lastly, the difficulty spikes in this game make no sense at all. You’ll no doubt be enjoying your self as you start this game, but as you get into the later levels, be warned, if you’re a controller thrower, you’ll be throwing controllers. You’ll literally have to play through some levels ten times to complete them.  At these later levels “fun” was not taken into account. I mean there’s thirty levels in this game, do you not want the players to see them all? It seems like the difficulty was raised just to have the game last longer, but even that seems absurd when there’s thirty levels to play through. I don’t know how to explain it, all I can say is that fun is traded for “time spent playing” towards the end. Don’t get me wrong, I like difficult games. I loved Catherine which was notoriously difficult,  but while being difficult it was still fun. Choplifter HD throws fun away when it becomes difficult.

Choplifter HD is a blast at first, but somewhere around level fifteen that seems to decline and fast. But if you’re into difficult games with an old school feel you may want to give this game a shot. Everyone else, go spend your $15 on something else.