The Atari 5200 version of Choplifter – first published by Atari, Inc. in 1984 – is more or less identical to the Atari 8-bit version released for home computers. Which is a little disappointing, as you’d maybe hope that it’d be enhanced in some way.

Choplifter is playable, but unforgiving, and it’s best to proceed carefully, rather than steaming ahead at full speed. That said, when you complete the first stage, the game ends unceremoniously, rather than continuing on, which is shocking. Surely the developers could easily have added more stages, with different colours and slightly different layouts? It boggles the mind that Dan Gorlin – Choplifter‘s original designer – thought that this was okay…

So Choplifter is a very short-lived prospect, even though completing the game is not easy. You can easily be shot down at any time, by aircraft, tanks or satellites, that appear out of nowhere.

More: Choplifter on Wikipedia