I’m not quite sure what’s up with the 1984 ColecoVision version of Choplifter, but the game seems to run faster than any other version I’ve played. Arguably too fast…

The graphics aren’t too bad (although the lack of scrolling in the background is puzzling, and a mistake IMHO), and the explosion sound effects are meaty, but for some reason the chopper moves around so quickly that it’s sometimes hard to control (or at least hard to line up with tanks to shoot them below).

On the plus side: the enemy jets aren’t quite as random and unpredicable (and annoying) as in the original, although they do seem to be more accurate with their bombs if you’re on the ground.

The biggest disappointment with the ColecoVision port, though, is the fact that the game just ends when you’ve rescued all the hostages. While this is in keeping with the original, I think that it’s a bad way to end the game. There was nothing stopping the developer allowing the player to carry on their game at a higher difficulty, with levels that have different colours and slightly different layouts. Just ending the game with a “game over” message when you beat the first level feels like a betrayal to me. You paid a lot of money for a cartridge game, and it only allows you to play one level?! How can that be possible?

Yes, there are four difficulty levels to play Choplifter at, but I tried them all, and they really don’t seem that different from each other.

More: Choplifter on Wikipedia