Ludography
Chopper Command cover

1982 · Arcade · Shoot 'em up

Chopper Command

Atari exclusive

Chopper Command is a video game by Activision released for the Atari 2600 in June 1982. It was designed and programmed by Bob Whitehead.

Released
1982
Platforms
Atari 2600
Genres
ArcadeShoot 'em upShooter
Developers
—
Publishers
—
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Action
Country
United States
Age ratings
ESRB E
Languages
English

About

Chopper Command is a horizontally scrolling shooter video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in June 1982. It was written by Bob Whitehead. The player flies a helicopter left and right over a scrolling, wraparound landscape, shooting down enemy airplanes to protect a convoy of trucks below.

Keywords

  • helicopter
  • flight
  • high score

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Chopper Command, the player controls a military helicopter in a desert scenario protecting a convoy of trucks. The goal is to destroy all enemy fighter jets and helicopters that attack the player's helicopter and the friendly trucks traveling below, ending the current wave. The game ends when the player loses all of his or her lives or reaches 999,999 points. A radar, called a Long Range Scanner in the instruction manual, shows all enemies, including those not visible on the main screen, similar to Defender.

The player's helicopter is destroyed if it collides with an enemy aircraft or a truck (which destroys the truck as well) or is shot by an enemy. Each enemy bullet splits in two, one going up and one going down. Using the "A" difficulty level results in a slower player shot.

Reception

Richard A. Edwards reviewed Chopper Command in The Space Gamer No. 56. Edwards commented that "It is well-done, but if you wish to avoid another arcade shooting match, even if it has nice sound and graphics, then pass it up."

Computer and Video Games magazine reviewed the game in 1989, giving it an 83% score and noting it was very similar to Defender. Brett Weiss referred to it as "Defender in the desert".

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Atari 260031 December 1982North America · Worldwide 31 December 1983

Editions and related releases

Included in
Activision's Atari 2600 Action PackA Collection of Activision Classic Games for the Atari 2600Activision AnthologyActivision Flashback Blast!Atari Flashback XAtari Flashback X DeluxeActivision Hits RemixedActivision Anthology: Remix EditionAtari Flashback 8 Gold: Activision EditionActivision Collection 3

Games like this

Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.