Helicops

Fast, Furious and Forgotten

A Review of Helicops

Edmond Meinfelder

Published by 7th Level, Helicops is a 3d action game. Using an amalgam

of Japanese animation for the background, the game is set in a troubled

NeoTokyo. As a helicop, players thwart drug lords and evil generals bent

on NeoTokyo’s destruction. Sadly, Helicops teeters between hit

and flop, leaning more towards flop.

Helicops is an arcade-style game. Furious action, power-ups, limited

lives, and levels are present in Helicops. Unfortunately, arcade style

games, regardless of quality, do poorly on PCs. The outlay of cash,

around $3-5k, keeps PCs out of reach for many pre-teens. Those

having the money for high-end personal computers, frequently lack the

time for repetitive level-oriented games and usually expect more. Origin,

for example, capitalized on older, more affluent gamers expecting more

with products like Ultima and Wing Commander.

Thus, older gamers, like myself, have trouble getting excited over

repetitive “shooter” games.

For a 3d shooter, Helicops is average in its use technology.

The 3d technology works

acceptably on a Pentium 150 without any 3d hardware acceleration.

Helicops employs 3d terrain with quality textures. The textures make

cliffs look like real rock, graffiti looks like true graffiti. Sometimes, as in

the caves, too many polygons exist and the texture mapper slows the

game noticeably. While the textures can shine, the game’s graphic

engine is not always up to the task.

While the texture-mapper works well, the art in Helicops lacks a

consistent style, giving the game an amateurish feel. Your helicopter has

an animation cell look, but the tanks and rocks have a photo-realistic look.

Then the buildings have a sort of drab, nondescript appearence which fails to

impress. Sometimes, when looking at a tank or your helicopter, Helicops

evokes a small “ooh” or “aah,” but otherwise the game’s art just sits

lifelessly on the screen.

The action is fast. Often, countless tanks, turrets, and jets surround your

helicopter setting their sites on you. Aiming is automatic. Get a target

near your reticle, shoot and you hit the target. To my aged arcade

sensibilities, this feels like cheating. Why not have fewer targets? With

fewer opponents, Helicops could forego auto-targeting. On the plus side,

the huge number of opponents gives Helicops that furious feel.

The game’s interface is admirable. You can map all the keys to your own

custom profile. The in-game radar gives height information by changing

the target’s icon — great for gathering power-ups. To play effectively, all

players need memorize is the keys to change weapon types. The tag

line for Helicops, “Just grab your stick and play,”

lives up to the promise. Gamers can open the box, install the game and

have fun within minutes. My only interface complaint is the use of

Windows ‘95 dialog boxes to confirm leaving the game. The use of Windows’s

dialogs in a game otherwise having its own interface is inconsistent

and further lends to the amaturish feel of Helicops.

The sound in Helicops works, but fails to engage. The engine drones,

weapons give angry reports and the fragile opponents audibly explode as

expected. These audio experiences are all passive. When players hear a

tank explode, gamers need not respond. One exception, the missile lock

warning, is a welcome change. When the claxon sounds, you have

seconds to evade an incoming missile. More audio interaction on this

level could serve to heighten the experience.

Helicops while not the most beautiful, is a fast 3d action game. Learning

the game is easy and the adjustable difficulties really do serve to make the

game widely playable by both novices and advanced gamers. Despite the

added replay value with a choice of different helicopters to fly, Helicops

suffers from unsatisfying gameplay. As the look of the game is less than

compelling, mainly due to mismatched art styles, all that remains is the

game experience. Flying about, getting targets near your sites, to hit them

automatically, was an empty experience for me. For younger gamers, still

attached to their console systems, Heliops may be a quick-thrill, but for

me, Helicops was only mildly entertaining. Helicops is a fast and furious

game, but years from now this title is likely to be forgotten.

Gamer’s Zone Scorecard

Product:	Helicops
Company:	7th Level Internet: www.7thlevel.com
Cost:	$39.99

System Requirements:

100Mhz Pentium processor, 8 MB of RAM,

Microsoft Windows 95 operating system,

40 MB available hard disk space,

Quad Speed (4x) CD-ROM drive,

256-color, 640 x 480 display,

Joystick, mouse, and Direct X compatible audio and video cards.

Breakdown:

Fun Factor 3
Graphics 3
Sound 3
Interface 4
Replayability 3

Overall Score: