Chopper 2: Grand Gimmick

App Name:	Chopper 2
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
Publisher(s):	David Frampton
Version Reviewed:	1.0
Genre(s):	Action, side scorller
Release Date:	July 27, 2010
Price:	$0.99, 66% OFF! (Was $2.99)
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Majic Jungle Software and David Frampton go for the “wow factor” with Chopper 2, an iPhone and iPad compatible game that features a truly innovative use of Bluetooth to turn one into the control pad for the other. It’s a phenomenal technical achievement, one that elevates a good game to nearly must-try status for those who own both devices.

The game play of Chopper 2 is very straightforward, and will be very familiar to players of the original Chopper. It’s a side-scrolling flying adventure, where you dodge missiles, shoot down enemies, and pick up passengers across 36 different levels.  The generic plot won’t wow you, but it serves well enough to set up missions (which themselves are delivered in a very cool 3D sort of way — in keeping with the graphics themselves, which are slick and understated).

The missions are fun, though they mostly involve small variations on the same theme: fly left and/or right, shoot enemies, and pick up friendlies for return to base. There’s the occasional tank or structure to bomb, too. Your biggest challenges are avoiding enemy fire and – more importantly – birds. Birds will KILL YOU in this game. It’s actually kind of annoying. But luckily they’re not too prevalent beyond the first few levels. No, for the most part, it will be missiles that kill you, plus the occasional crash landing or bad dodge around a tree.

The control scheme works out pretty well. Default control involves tilting the device up and down for lift, left and right for forward motion, tap anywhere to shoot, tap a certain button to launch bombs.  It’s fairly usable, though I would have liked the ability to calibrate it; I tend to be a big tilter, and this game definitely requires more finesse. You can also switch to a joystick control option, which I personally didn’t like; it didn’t control well, or at least not as well as the tilt control.

And it’s a good thing tilt control works so well, because it’s a key feature in what is THE Key Feature of Chopper 2: the ability to use the iPhone as a Bluetooth controller when playing the game on the iPad.

This is one of those things you just have to kind of experience for yourself. I for one didn’t realize how impressed I’d be with it until I set it up and played it. When you have Chopper 2 running on your iPad (or going out from your iPad via a VGA connector) you can start the game on the iPhone and put it into remote mode, aloowing you to use the iPhone in tilt control mode as a wireless control for the iPad game. It works phenomenally, and it really adds a level of “wow” to the proceedings. The developers should be commended for pulling this off.

I will say this, though: it’s technically impressive, but in practical terms it’s a bit of a novelty. Setting the devices up to do it is a bit cumbersome, and unless you’ve got a good iPad stand, you’ll have to prop the iPad up on something to play through (I used the arm of my couch). While I really enjoyed toying with it and showing it to some friends, ultimately I abandoned it as a practical way of playing through the game.

Aw, heck, who am I kidding? In a lot of ways, the iPad itself is something of a novelty. But we love our novelties, and so of course most of us will love Chopper 2. If you own only one device or the other, it’s merely a good game that’s certainly playable; but if you own both an iPad and an iPhone or iPod Touch, then this game really becomes a must-buy, if only to revel in the showcase of possibilities.

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5. (4 out of 5 if you don’t own both devices.)

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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