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Upon starting the game, one views the Amazing
Games splash screen, followed by a gorgeous animation of a helicopter
pulling away towards a sunset from the emerging words "Chopper
Alley". At the main menu, choosing Scramble! leads to the
choice of 25 missions, ranging from simple target exercises to
more complicated search-and-rescue or search-and-destroy type
missions. Next, one chooses from the five helicopters included:
the Bell H13 (of MASH fame), the Huey Uh1b, the Super Cobra, the
Apache, and finally, the Sea King. Depending on the number of
pylons a helicopter has, one would then load up on any required
weapons. Keeping in mind payload constraints, one can choose from
two manually aimed Rocket Pods, one with four rockets and one
with seven, Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, Maveric air-to-ground
missiles, and machine guns.
Once loaded up and ready to go, Chopper Alley
presents a first-person view of the landscape, with a gauge for
bearing (0° - 360°), and controls on the left and right
for direction (forwards or backwards), and for altitude (relative
to the surface). Displays for available weapons, fuel, and damage
occupy the upper corners of the screen, and a targeting sight
resides in the center. On the bottom are controls for strafe (lateral
movement), and rotate (left and right). To start flying, one gets
off the ground by tapping the desired altitude on the control,
and can then go forwards, backwards, and rotate from side to side
with the iPAQ's joypad. Pressing the Q-Menu button will bring
up a 2-dimensional map that eventually will display one's present
location in relation to landmarks, bases, and enemies. The Q-Start
button brings up an Options menu, which will be explained in more
detail very shortly. The Contacts button shifts to the next weapon
in the selected arsenal, the Calendar button shifts to the next
target, and pressing Action (down) on the joypad will fire the
selected weapon. An interesting and for me, a rather convenient
feature is the Screen-shot function, which is activated by pressing
the Recorder button. Hyped as the ideal way to torment Palm users,
it allows players to store up to five of their most glorious moments
in the form of .jpg images into their My Documents Folder.
The Options for the game, accessible via both
the main menu and by pressing the Q-Start button during gameplay,
allows one to adjust orientation of the display, draw distance,
and image quality as far as Graphics settings go. In addition,
one can opt to skip the Introduction or view the Credits.
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