Rescue Copter Game Sample - PS1

Because Gaming Sanctuary likes using information from other websites and "plugging them in" from time to time (knowledge is power and not every piece of knowledge is gonna come from a "mega website"), I decided to grab the synopsis for this game from:

They seem to have found some information from the following website:

Anyway, the first link describes the game as follows:

"The company behind the Jet Copter and Jet Stream series in Japan, AquaSystem, flies its Rescue Copter across the Pacific for this stateside PlayStation release. Players engage in fifteen missions consisting of border patrols, daring rescues, transport runs, crop dusting, treasure hunts, and fire fighting. Four types of helicopters, each geared for specific tasks, include the R-22 (training, crop dusting), AS350B3 (equipped with cables for external transporting), BK117 (rescue and transport), and the 47G4A-Soloy (low flying crop duster). Five practice modes allow players to ease into the controls by offering take-off and landing, hovering, flight, cargo, and fire fighting drills. Scores and medals (gold, silver, or bronze) are based on the amount of time it takes to complete a mission, and mission replay videos are available at the touch of a button. Other features include two difficulty settings, easy and expert (which factors damage and wind into the challenge), three camera angles, and a free flight mode using maps unlocked in successful missions."

Now, currently, I am unfamiliar with the other games AquaSystem has developed, but speaking for this game...it was a late "green light" game in North America, like stuff you would find near the end of the Playstation life cycle from publishers like "Mud Duck" or "A1 Games" (through Agetec). This one was brought over by "Conspiracy" in December of 2002...with just about all the green-lit games at the end of the PS1 era, the game is essentially a budget title and one probably shouldn't expect too much. All of that considered though, Rescue Copter is...decent! HOWEVER, it is only decent once you get a grasp of the controls and the somewhat janky "transport" mechanics of the game. It is a game where practice makes perfect and haste tends to make waste, as hooking up cargo or picking up a passenger requires you to hover very slowly and get close. You can't just zip over a target and expect to hook it and sometimes, the height in which you must hook cargo seems to take a second to "register". There are also crop dusting/fire extinguishing missions, that are typically among the easier ones, IMO. You simply hover low and near an area and spray until the target is done with.

The music is serviceable, as are the visuals, with a pretty smooth framerate (in the 25 to 30fps range?)...the fps normally don't dip much in-game; during my video conversion process, there was some odd frame drops that occurred sporadically in spots...not many at all, so I decided that it was not a big deal. The footage was somewhat corrupted by my recording hardware, so it was either try to "save it", or completely discard it. I went with the former. However, know that the FPS drops you see in select spots are not normal within the game. Also, the game was originally recorded on the PS3 (not the PS1) and captured with the HD PVR 2 (Gaming Edition). Objects are distinguishable, weather effects actually alter the gameplay experience a bit (heavy fog makes it so that you have to be really close before objects are visible, instead of being able to see from a great distance, for example) and overall, the game is mildly entertaining for a couple of hours, I suppose. It still doesn't come close to other "budget" offerings like Puzzle: Star Sweep, Top Shop, or Battle Hunter, IMO.

- ADDITION -