Copter Crisis is another example of a good concept for WiiWare that has been poorly executed. With bland visuals, repetitive gameplay and an absurd Pay and Play pricing plan, there's little that speaks in this title's favour. However, for all its faults, there is some fun to be had if you hook a Balance Board up to your Wii and try to master the taxing controls.
Copter Crisis, from Digital Leisure, is a third person flying game where you pilot a chopper through bland looking environments, the goal to pick up passengers, drop off crates or destroy things in record time. It's a neat concept that, in practice, failed to hold our collective interest long, especially with its loose controls, monotonous objectives and bizarre pricing structure.
The first thing that jumped out at us was the average presentation. Copter Crisis looks like a PSOne game, with a simply designed helicopter and sub par canyons and caves. In addition, there are no cut scenes that advance the story, just text that continuously scrolls down the screen. There's a plot (you work for the HRS- Helicopter Rescue Squadron), but most of it involves your superior barking orders and cracking lame jokes.
XGN writes: "We have everything already see on the Wii. But how will it be to your Wiimote to drive a helicopter? In Copter Crisis, we got the chance to do this once. We already put out the SOS signal, because the game does its name."
In each mission, you can fly through rings that will boost your score, as well as pick-ups to refill your health, fuel, missiles, etc. In each task, you'll have to drop off supplies or pick up stranded hikers, but they just end up being another target you'll have to fly through. In a few missions, you can shoot down balloons for target practice. You can replay the 30+ missions to improve your score and time completed.
