C.H.A.O.S. Pro for iPhone, iPad, iPod-touch Review

Our rating:

By: V.Veko, A. Kostusev, A. Lappo

Version #: 3.0.3

Date Released:

Developer:

Price: 5.99

User Rating:

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So color me skeptical when I heard that Sky jet International had released, not just a flight simulator for the iOS, but a combat helicopter simulator. I remember the glory days of flight sims on both the Mac and PC. Games like A-10 Tank Killer, or Aces of the Pacific where challenging enough. I remember the daunting task of piloting a combat helicopter in Apache AH-64 Air Assault and that was with a joystick littered with buttons and switches and separate throttle controls. Combat sims can be some of the most challenging computer games to master. CHAOS take this head on with a surprising amount of control for the target device. The question is, is CHAOS actually fun to play, or is it only wishful thinking.

This combat sim offers twelve helicopters that can fly in nine missions with three difficulties. This may seem like a lot but there are really only two maps that the missions are played in and there is a lot of replaying involved to earn money and experience to unlock new helicopters. As you progress, you must upgrade your machine to better handle the harder difficulties. One nice feature about CHAOS is the built in restore which lets you bring back your helicopter exactly as you had it if you switch devices, or have to reinstall the game. You can also play multiple pilots by logging in a different player so families that share a device can all enjoy their own character.

The game comes with several tutorial levels which I highly recommend you play until you are proficient. This game takes quite a bit of practice to become good at piloting. The controls are a combination of virtual buttons and tilting the device itself. This design is understandable if you understand the physics of flying a helicopter, but it isn’t like the controls we are use to in most games. Acceleration is controlled with tiling the device forward and backwards. Turning can be performed by tilting left and right, though sharp turns can be accomplished by a combination of tilt and trim control. The trim control is a virtual analog stick on the lower left that allows you to change elevation and tilt the helicopter. On the right are your three weapons of choice: Machine gun, rockets, and guided missiles. There are limited ammo for each and extra ammo can be found throughout levels.

There isn’t any air to ground missions in this game, it is all air to air with other helicopters. If you thought dogfighting in a fighter jet was hard, wait until you try it in a helicopter flying around an offshore oil rig. Some missions are basic seek and destroy, while others are defensive in nature. Between missions you can upgrade and repair your helicopter for the next round. Replaying missions will help earn you more experience and money.

When you grow tired of playing against the computer, you can cut your teeth on the multiplayer games. Here you select one of the rooms for either team, or deathwatch for each level. If there are not any other players, you can play against bots. When there are other players the bots tend to distract you just long enough to get killed by the said players. Games play for a set amount of time after which the winning player/team receive a cash prize to help upgrade their rigs. There is a chat function, but in the heat of combat I wouldn’t dare touch it unless you just want to offer others some free points.

This game has a lot of expectations to fulfill. There is a lot of critique in the app store reviews of the controls and while I understand their pain, I don’t think they should change it. This kind of game isn’t a causal game that you might pull out on the subway for a minute or two. This is a flight sim that, while it may not be the more realistic, it is quite serviceable for the mobile platform that it is on. I applaud the developer for doing as good of a job as they did to strike a balance between fun to play and technically challenging. My only major concern is that with only two maps, this game will become stale, but hopefully we will see more maps added in the future. As it stands I would say this is the best combat flight sim available on the iOS.

We rate this app 4 out of 5 stars.