It has been quite a while, but now I am back with a new video game review! This was a game that I got for the 5 dollar bin a very long time ago. It was a fairly fun game and I finally decided to go back to it. It was fairly short so I managed to beat it in roughly 3-4 hours. While this may look like the kind of game that wouldn’t be very good…or even good at all, it was actually a lot of fun. The Wii has still got it!

There is no real plot. You are simply launched onto the World Map. There are 7 worlds and each one has 5 missions. Each mission can be completed in 3-5 minutes so you can see why the game isn’t very long. The worlds follow a specific formula that only changes a little. The first mission involves landing on various helipads that are scattered throughout the stage. The 4th mission always involves flying through a good number of rings. The other 3 missions are the ones that vary and they typically require you to carry some objects and put them where they belong. This includes picking up the trash and turning the lights on. It’s time to see how your MiniCopter holds up!

As for the gameplay, you need to hold your Wii Remote sideways to play this one. You tilt it forward to move in that direction and likewise for the other 3. You can alternate between your Air Cannon (Which shoots pennies) and your Magnetic object, which pulls things in. This is how you will defeat all of the levels. I’ve never been crazy about using the Wii Remote and my view has not changed. That being said, holding it sideways is a large improvement over the traditional use so that’s a good thing.

The gameplay is fairly basic and the only thing that can stand in your way is the fact that the controls can be a little unresponsive. Given that you are playing as a remote controlled copter, perhaps that is to be expected. Your first copter will start off with three health points and you lose when you get hit three times. (By banging into objects) Your plane also has 3 orbs of energy and you have to refuel every 30-60 seconds by landing on a Helipad.

Of course, this is all just valid when talking about your initial MiniCopter. There is a store where you can buy upgrades for every area and even whole new MiniCopters. I bought two new ones by the end of the game and what a difference! My new one had around 3X the health and energy that the old one had and I bought upgrades, which increased its speed as well. The game becomes much easier than it already is with the new copters. There’s simply no comparison since you don’t need to constantly head back to charge up and you can focus on completing the mission.

The shop is the main form of replay value in the game in case you decide to buy all of the models. I’m not sure how long that would take you, but you earn about 2200 in one of the shorter missions that takes about a mission. A lot of models are 20000 so, it would be a bit of a grind, but certainly not a very large one. You can also replay the levels that you have completed to get higher scores and try to get Perfect Ranks on every level. I’m not sure if there is some kind of reward for doing so, but hopefully there is. If not, you still have your personal satisfaction for accomplishing such a task.

Again, the game is very easy. There’s almost no way that you will ultimately be unable to complete the title. There are a pair of levels that are a little tricky since they don’t properly explain what you have to do. The examples were the mission where you had to make a combo meal and the one where you had to assemble the armor in the house. You will still be able to do it though as it just takes a little more time and then you will know how to ace it the second time around if you want to boost your stat sheet.

As for the soundtrack, it actually reminded me of Megaman Network Transmission for some reason. I don’t think that the game would actually be able to steal tunes from that title, but at the same time…you never know right? It is very peaceful and fits in well with the gameplay. You won’t get stressed or upset while playing no matter how many times you lose. That’s what separates the good games from the truly great ones. This isn’t going to be the next 5 star masterpiece, but it really holds its own.

Graphically, the game is also fairly impressive. Again, it’s not going to be the best looking game out there, but it is quite solid and can hold its own. Everything looks very clear and distinct so nothing is blurry or pixelated. The game is very balanced and I don’t know why MiniCopter didn’t end up selling better than it did. This is a game that had tremendous potential and I like to think that it lived up to it. It was certainly better than I had anticipated.

Finally, MiniCopter has one more point in its favor. The game actually has a Vs Mode! This is a game changer and while I have not tried it out yet, simply having a multiplayer option is brilliant. It certainly adds even more replay value to the game and battling an opponent with this gameplay style sounds like it would be a lot of fun. The actual gameplay was good so while the main mode may have been easy, battling against a human opponent would likely present you with more of a challenge.

Overall, MiniCopter is a game that you will not want to miss. It is a breath of fresh air for the gaming world and I would actually like to see a sequel. I don’t have a large amount of plane games, but the ones that I have gotten have all been a lot of fun. I recently bought WW II Aces so I look forward to more of the same from that title. MiniCopter is certainly not a challenging game, but playing a walk in the park can be decent as well. It is a pretty good contrast to the tough games and as long as the title is fun, that’s ultimately the only thing that really matters. Some levels still do take patience and some thought on the player’s part so don’t think that this is one of those games where you don’t have to think about what you are doing. Like I said, it is all about balance. When you also consider how much replay value is in this game, you’ve got a winner. This is easily worth the 2-4 dollars that it is being sold for at Gamestop and you should be willing to spend a little more if you need to get it elsewhere. This title is worth the money!

Overall 7/10