City Crisis
This is a very small game. When I load up to the menu, a plain female voice prompts me to “Choose arbitrary item.” Lady, I’ve been doing that my whole life. You don’t have to tell me.
When I choose my helicopter, I’m given the option to turn “auto-hover” on. I think to myself; I don’t know what that is, but it will stop me from being a master pilot. When I start flying, I can’t stop my helicopter from spinning. It twists to the right, I correct it, and then it twists to the left. I smack between buildings like a pinball. I assume that I need to reset my controller but that’s not it. I need to turn auto-hover on.
For half of the missions in this game, I fly out and extinguish fires. This is very satisfying. I have water canons that shoot out a constant stream and water missiles that lock-on to fires. I run out of water but if I wait, it comes back. I don’t know where from. I see people who need help and I lower my hook so my partner can grab them. Sometimes I help dogs instead of people. Sometimes the people are wearing mascot uniforms for the local amusement park. Sometimes I’m not careful and I swing my partner into the fire. The game admonishes me but my partner is okay. They will always be okay.
I get another mission to fix my searchlight on dangerous drivers. I need to be low to the ground and weave through skyscrapers. After I explode several times, I get used to it. I even grow to love the rhythm of it. Then I notice something strange. The car I’m chasing can drive into buildings, clipping in and cutting my combo short. I’m trying to hold back my emotions. I worked so hard to keep this combo going and this bus is just reversing into a shopping mall to get away. I suppose there’s nothing one can do sometimes.
I earn the final mission and the city has been devastated by an earthquake. The train has derailed, buildings have fallen over, and there are fires everywhere. At this point, I am a pro. I get an S rank on my first try and find myself rewarded with a pigcopter. Trust me, there is no greater reward.
There was another helicopter rescue game up for selection earlier in this series. When I finished the game, I wondered aloud if I was playing the inferior helicopter game. My wife interrupted, “What are you talking about? You’re playing the one with the pig helicopter. There isn’t a better one than this.” She was right.