Chopper Squad

Copyright : Interceptor Software | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Chopper Squad is yet another of those pesky but popular helicopter based shoot-em-ups from the Amstrad era. This one was released by the popular Interceptor Software license and no doubt sold quite a few copies in it?s time, the question now is...is the game actually worth playing or should it be dumped forever?

Graphics

Chopper Squad, like so many "chopper" games, looks like it has been written for the MODE 0 screen resolution. For those that don?t read our reviews often, this means that the graphics look a little bit on the chunky and oversized side. Colours are nice and varied though which certainly makes a change as so many of these games where released with appaling colours and extremely chunky sprites.

There are a few problems however, you need to keep pushing up on your joystick while hitting the fire button in order to lift off the ground and survive longer than 10 seconds. This is fair enough you might think but considering the slow-down this generates in the game itself it can be a little annoying, you will also note that the rapid fire from the chopper doesn?t make it past the edge of the screen (visibly) but still manages to hit the oncoming enemy.

While there are no major bugs that make the game 100% unplayable they can still be a little distracting.

Sound

Sound is a little bit of a let down as yet again we do not get to hear the music that our CPC is capable of. On the other hand we do get some excellent and seriously varied sound effects for the game itself, just listen to those choppers explode and the sound of your guns when you hit the fire button - great stuff really.

Gameplay

There are many many "Chopper" games on the classic machines and not only the CPC either, some of them have fond memories in our hearts where as others have simply been erased and are probably best left where they are.

Chopper Squad sort of sits in the middle of both boundaries and while it is a fair way from being a shite game that should be left alone it does have a few problems and can quickly become boring. The control system needs a little bit of work too as the slow-down is distracting at times.

Overall, it?s not a bad game but we have seen better chopper games for the CPC and even the BBC model B.