I’d wager that pigs will come earlier than the Strike collection in relation to chickening out once more. What started with Desert Strike in 1992 was final seen with Nuclear Strike in 1997, except you depend 2006’s EA Replay for PSP. In the event you even do not forget that.

The Strike video games – significantly Jungle Strike – are one among my leisure titles. I feel it’s the fixed drone of the helicopter blades mixed with heat recollections that calms my soul. I want I used to be taking part in it proper now.

With the collection AWOL, it then turns to different creators to take classes from it and craft their very own distinctive twists. Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess is one such, and it’s definitely a singular course.

Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess (PC)
Developer: Pizza Bear Video games
Writer: Pizza Bear Video games
Launched: June 21, 2024
MSRP: $15.99

If I needed to outline what made the Strike collection so memorable, it might be the truth that it didn’t comprise the motion you’d anticipate from an isometric helicopter recreation. As an alternative, you needed to be extraordinarily cautious as you tackled the vary of aims in every map. Assets, equivalent to therapeutic objects, gasoline, and ammunition, have been each uncommon and restricted. Flying round, taking potshots at every little thing would finish in your individual burning wreck earlier than too lengthy.

Megacopter isn’t that. It’s far more action-based. There’s a winch that you simply use to gather well being, ammo, and different provides, however there’s greater than sufficient readily available to blaze a path of destruction with out slowing down. In that manner, it’s extra like Military Males: Air Assault, should you’ll forgive the deeper minimize.

Nevertheless, it is aware of this about itself. You play as Jack Copter who is chosen to pilot the eponymous Megacopter. Earlier than lengthy, he learns that this piece of army {hardware} is definitely some type of Aztech deity that thirsts for blood. Fortunately, This discovery offers Jack pause, however everybody else round him appears actually a fan of blood, so no matter.

The crew is coping with an invasion of Reptoids. They’re perhaps utilizing pizza to, I don’t know, enslave humanity or one thing. I’d say pizza is a fairly good vector for undermining humanity. I wouldn’t belief anybody who stated they didn’t prefer it.

Gameplay is basically flying round and capturing at issues. Between missions, you may spend Pizza Bear Tokens and sacrificial hearts you choose up on upgrades. Throughout the missions themselves, you may spend a while blasting open crates for more cash. That’s in regards to the lot of it. Oh! You may have a winch.

Not that I used to be anticipating far more. Nevertheless, the Strike collection obtained a whole lot of additional mileage out of its maps by having you accomplish totally different aims. That’s one of many greatest letdowns of Megacopter: there isn’t actually a lot by way of mission selection. There are a couple of the place you must defend an object on the map, and so they aren’t nice. Probably the most artistic it will get is a late mission the place you ship pizzas. Which, to be truthful, is fairly nice.

There are bosses, that are the place issues are at their most enjoyable. There’s a whole lot of aiming, projectile dodging and figuring out when to select up provides. There isn’t a winching, nevertheless, which I feel is a missed alternative. Like, you may pluck out their eye or drop one thing on their face. Simply spitballing right here. Winches needs to be treasured.

Even when it isn’t fancy, the fundamental gameplay is enjoyable. There’s some satisfaction in determining essentially the most environment friendly solution to take out a number of the enemy items, and the flight mechanics are well-tuned. Nevertheless, it’s all fairly tough and unambitious.

The graphics, specifically, are inconsistent. Most of the close-ups aren’t nice, with odd proportions and perspective. Worse is the truth that, throughout cutscenes, it usually shows quite a lot of blurriness that implies heavy picture compression.

It additionally makes an attempt a retro model with a pixellated look however doesn’t absolutely decide to it. Past simply having pixel decision that’s far and wide, the decision for lots of the objects, typically, is so excessive that it loses the retro really feel and as a substitute simply seems awkward.

Alternatively, it reaches for a neon-lit, comedian ebook aesthetic that largely works and really almost offers Megacopter a particular model. It’s merely undermined by its inconsistencies, however it’s not completely misplaced.

Nevertheless, the UI is monstrously ugly. It’s utterly purposeful, providing you with a simple learn of all of your essential very important indicators. It’s simply one of the crucial hideous HUDs I can keep in mind experiencing currently. The colours, the transparency, the location of sure home windows, and the font all really feel like placeholders that have been by no means changed. It’s additionally one other case the place a high-resolution font is positioned over pixellated graphics, and that’s one among my greatest pet peeves.

I wouldn’t usually bang on in regards to the look of a recreation’s UI like this, however it’s one thing I had issue getting previous each time a textual content field appeared overlapping one other window.

The music is okay, however I’d swear there’s actually just one music within the combine. It’s a reasonably easy artificial cyberpunk sound, so it’s pleasing, but when it ever modified, I didn’t acknowledge it.

The dialogue is extra constant in its high quality, which I’m undecided was meant to be any type of focus. There’s a blase high quality to its storytelling, the place context is given with a sledgehammer. A very memorable instance of that is when it wanted to be defined why these army varieties would sacrifice folks to energy up their death-copter. The reason is simply, “Properly, these guys are dicks anyway, so we in all probability shouldn’t really feel unhealthy about it.

Simply by the character of humor, it’s not going to click on with everyone. However there’s an unabrasive playfulness to it. Even when it doesn’t take itself too significantly, it nonetheless manages to crack off a couple of pleasing exchanges. The characters aren’t deep, however they’re distinct sufficient to get the jokes throughout.

The narrative, as a complete, doesn’t profit from its unfocused, lackadaisical strategy to the purpose the place I usually couldn’t inform what the grand conspiracy was or the place issues have been going. Nevertheless, contemplating Megacopter is a helicopter motion recreation, which doesn’t present a lot alternative for depth in storytelling, the dearth of a strong narrative isn’t a lot of a difficulty, whereas the entertaining dialogue is considerable.

On the very least, it’s over earlier than it wears out its welcome. It’s perhaps 6-8 hours, which might be how lengthy it might take to get by Jungle Strike. There are 4 bosses throughout 4 areas and an honest quantity of missions that transfer at a great clip. There isn’t a complete lot of purpose to replay it in spite of everything is alleged and carried out.

The mileage you get out of Megacopter: Blades of the Goddess will rely upon how malnourished you might be from Strike depravation. It’s enjoyable however very tough. It’s moderately however not mind-blowingly enjoyable. It’s considerably however not unforgivably tough. The previous is definitely extra essential than the latter. Nevertheless, extra consistency is required to offer this fowl its blades.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

6

Alright

Barely above common or just inoffensive. Followers of the style ought to take pleasure in them a bit, however a good few shall be left unfulfilled.

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