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Publisher Hit Capped Studios
Developer
Released: June 27, 2012 |
Genre: Arcade Players: 1 Also on: + Universal app
Supported Features: |
What We Liked: What We Didn't: The Final Score: (?) |
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Coast Guard Chopper I’m sure everyone remembers back during computer lab sessions in high school those games you could play in those obscure websites full of ads but also laden with what seemed a never ending amount of addicting and fun games. There was always that one game, for us it was Penguin Swing, that everyone always had to play and try to get the high score on so he or she could brag to the class that it was their initials we were all seeing on our screens. As far as I can tell, once my friends and I left our respective schools none of us have ever gone back to those sorts of sites, especially not now with console and PC games having our undivided attention. With the introduction of mobile games things have changed once again and we are now able to game anytime and anywhere, but some games are, in my opinion, too complicated for such small mobile devices. Lo and behold during my travels of the deep web aka “Reddit” a post about a new developer giving out codes for people to try out their game caught my attention. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a code immediately but I asked for one and they were kind enough to rustle one up for me.
Coast Guard Chopper is true to its name. Your one and only job is to save stranded citizens lost at sea during a shipwreck and who else but the ace chopper pilot that you are could do it? The idea behind the game is simple, you fly your chopper by pressing on the screen to lift off and tilt your iPhone left and right to maneuver and hover over shipwrecked sailors to let them board your lift and take them back to safety to your Coast Guard ship all while collecting coins that appear in the sky to unlock upgrades for your chopper all the while seagulls screech in the background while waves crash around you. Sounds easy right? Wrong, but it is addicting. During the tutorial I thought to myself that there was no way this could be a challenge for anyone to do and I was proven wrong. First off, you have a time limit of usually 2-3 minutes to rescue as many people as you can one and get each one back to your ship. Thankfully each survivor also gives you a 5 second boost to your time left so it is possible to rescue everyone, but as I found out during a few levels it’s not just about picking one up and taking them to your ship then rise and repeat; these guys actually drowned! In the first level alone I didn’t quite get the idea that the draining bar above their heads meant something and lost half my shipwrecked crew while trying to pick out the ones with fuller bars first; a terrible mistake as I got a low score for letting so many people drown. Along with the constant danger of your targets drowning you also have to control your altitude by carefully tapping on the screen and tilting your phone to maintain balance and making sure your chopper continues to fly. As you continue to beat levels and earn coins you can upgrade your chopper for increased capacity, stability, and survivor endurance and save time which increases the speed at which survivors board your lift helping you clear those levels with increasing scores. You could also go the easy route and pay a few bucks to unlock coins and get even further in without so much playtime, but I leave that up to everyone’s discretion. I will say that without a few upgrades flying your bird is going to be quite a challenge if you aren’t used to repeatedly adjusting your altitude and life. Many a times I lost a survivor just because I flew into my own ship since I tilted too far left and crashed thus wasting precious time. For an iOS game with a relatively simple idea Coast Guard Chopper is actually quite addicting and fun to play. I personally started to load it up whenever I finished a status update and just wanted something to keep me busy for a few minutes but usually spent a good twenty minutes trying to save as many people as I could without even realizing I had. Maybe I’m a sucker for nostalgic games or this could actually be a pretty decent game to play, who knows? I prefer the latter though, and so far I don’t regret it playing this as much as I have. For only 99 cents what’s not to love? Screenshots  
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