Better than you expect from a $15 game.

User Rating: 7.5 | Choplifter HD PC
I downloaded this off of Steam for about $12, but it's normal price is $15. The first thing I noticed about Choplifter HD is its graphics: it uses the Unreal Engine. While not on the level of say, Battlefield 3 graphically, graphics are definitely above-average for a $15 game. In other areas, the budget price shows, but all in all a good game for your money's worth. Some of the pros can also be seen as cons, though, which we'll discuss below.

Pros:

* Great graphics and high production values for a budget game.
* The game boasts many different types of choppers to fly, but there are really only variants of 3 models, each with a different skin on it.
* Solid shooter action, and there's an interesting mechanic where your chopper turns sideways to shoot foreground enemies.
* Some of the cheesy humor works.
* Whiel the first few levels are not too hard, the difficulty quickly ramps up to maybe a notch below Demon's Souls level. The upside here is when you beat a level, you are basically flying like a pro in order to do so, and you get a good sense of accomplishment from that.
^ Chopper unlocks and 1-5 star ratings for each mission add to the game's replayability. (Once you get a new chopper, you can replay old mission's to try and get a higher rating, which in turn helps you unlock new choppers.)
* Several dozen missions to play.
* Earning points for meeting time goals adds a sense of urgency and having to prioritize targets and goals in order to get the highest mission rating.

Cons:

* Some may find even the lowest difficulty level frustrating.
* Some time limits seem almost impossible to meet.
* Most of the cheesy humor does NOT work.
* Voice-overs can be repetitive.
* Voice acting is sometimes annoying.
* Only 3 types of missions (rescue, search and destroy, and escape.)
* Essentially only two types of weapons (guns and rockets), although your guns and rockets do get more powerful as you unlock better choppers.
* Not a lot of depth to the gameplay, although it is fun for a while.

All in all a solid game. For $15, you definitely get you money's worht. Just take the game for what it is and don't expect Skyrim or GTA IV for $15.