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
|
| 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:
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