After spending a couple of hours behind the controls of Choppa: Rescue Rivals, it didn’t take long for me to understand exactly what the developers were going for. This is a game built around the simple pleasures of arcade gaming, where the objective is less about realism and more about mastering the controls, completing increasingly challenging missions and having a good time along the way.
The story puts me in the cockpit of Rick, a legendary rescue pilot who is pulled out of retirement for one last mission. After a disaster strikes an oil platform, Rick is called upon to rescue those stranded in the aftermath. Things quickly become more complicated when Burdock, his former teammate and now rival, enters the picture alongside the mysterious A.C.R. corporation.
The premise is deliberately over-the-top, and that’s exactly what makes it tick. Choppa: Rescue Rivals feels like a lost animated series from the ’80s or ’90s, complete with colorful characters, exaggerated personalities and a story that knows when to have a little fun with itself.
Choppa: Rescue Rivals is also a particularly good fit for the Nintendo Switch. Its short missions make it easy to pick up for a quick session, while its colorful presentation translates nicely to both handheld and docked play.
I would also like to thank Parta Games for providing the Nintendo Store key used to test the game. This key was obtained through a collaboration with Keymailer.
Visually, Choppa: Rescue Rivals immediately caught my attention with its bright colors and charming retro-inspired art direction. Rather than attempting to deliver realistic helicopters or environments, the game embraces a cartoon aesthetic that gives everything a playful personality. The various characters, vehicles and environments feel like they belong to the same exaggerated animated universe.
The environments offer a decent amount of variety as well. Oil platforms, industrial facilities, urban areas and other locations provide different visual backdrops as the campaign progresses. While I would have liked to see even more variety, the game generally does a good job of keeping things visually interesting.
The helicopters are also particularly fun to look at. Their exaggerated designs fit perfectly with the game’s tone, and the animations reinforce the arcade-like nature of the experience. Watching the helicopter bounce around while trying to maneuver into position can be just as entertaining as the rescue itself.
The Nintendo Switch version is also well suited to the hardware. Choppa: Rescue Rivals obviously isn’t designed to be a technical showcase, but its stylized visuals mean that it doesn’t need to be. The art direction does the heavy lifting, allowing the game to remain attractive without requiring cutting-edge graphical technology.
I especially enjoyed playing in handheld mode. The smaller screen actually complements the game’s arcade presentation quite nicely, and the short missions make it an easy title to play in short bursts.
Ultimately, Choppa: Rescue Rivals proves that technical complexity isn’t everything. A strong visual identity can go a long way, and Parta Games has created a game that is immediately recognizable.
Gameplay is easily the strongest aspect of Choppa: Rescue Rivals. The premise may sound simple, but the masterful developers manage to get a surprising amount of mileage out of its rescue mechanics. Controlling the helicopter requires more precision than I initially expected. Moving through tight spaces, avoiding obstacles and positioning the aircraft correctly to pick up survivors can be surprisingly tricky, particularly when several hazards are introduced at once.
The controls are straightforward enough that I was comfortable with them almost immediately. However, learning how to properly control the helicopter takes a little more time. There is a satisfying difference between simply knowing what the controls do and actually becoming proficient at flying.
As the campaign progresses, new challenges are introduced to keep things spicy. Different pilots also come equipped with their own rescue tools, adding another layer of variety to the gameplay and giving me a reason to experiment with different approaches. Secondary objectives and collectibles are another welcome addition.
This works particularly well with the game’s structure. Missions are generally short enough that replaying them doesn’t feel like a major commitment, while the additional objectives give me a reason to come back and improve my performance.
The local multiplayer mode supports up to four players and takes a rather unexpected approach. Instead of simply allowing players to tackle the campaign together, the mode turns the helicopters into participants in a chaotic game of aerial hockey. The single-player campaign remained for me the main attraction.
This time capsule in our childhoods deliberately leans into the storytelling clichés of retro cartoons and action shows. Rick is the veteran hero pulled back into action, Burdock is the former partner who has become his rival, and A.C.R. is the shadowy corporation whose motives aren’t exactly difficult to question.
Normally, this kind of setup might feel overly familiar. Here, however, the game’s willingness to embrace those clichés works in its favor.
The story has a lighthearted tone throughout, and the characters have enough personality to keep things entertaining between missions. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between Rick and Burdock, which gives the otherwise straightforward narrative a little more substance.
While I wouldn’t recommend the game specifically for its narrative, the story succeeds at giving the campaign some personality and reinforcing its retro-inspired identity.
The audio presentation fits the game’s aesthetic surprisingly well. Its music is similarly effective. Its energetic, retro-inspired presentation complements the colorful visuals and reinforces the feeling that I’m playing through an interactive Saturday-morning cartoon.
While this banger of a soundtrack probably won’t be something I’ll be listening to outside of the game, it does exactly what it needs to do. It creates the right atmosphere and helps Choppa: Rescue Rivals maintain its distinctive personality from beginning to end.
Choppa: Rescue Rivals is a charming little arcade game that understands exactly what it wants to be.
Its helicopter controls are simple to learn but surprisingly challenging to master, while the various rescue tools, secondary objectives and collectibles provide enough variety to keep the campaign engaging. The colorful art direction and retro-inspired presentation are also a perfect match for the game’s lighthearted tone.
I came away from Choppa: Rescue Rivals with a positive impression. It is colorful, accessible and consistently entertaining, and its short missions make it particularly well suited to the Nintendo Switch.
This awesome game takes a simple idea, surrounds it with a wonderfully nostalgic presentation and lets the gameplay work its magic ; it certainly managed to put a smile on my face.
If you’re a fan of retro-inspired arcade games, colorful animation or simply looking for something fun to play in short sessions on Nintendo Switch, Choppa: Rescue Rivals is definitely your next purchase.
Choppa: Rescue Rivals can be purchased on Steam and the Nintendo Store :
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1173100
https://nintendo.com/us/store/products/choppa-rescue-rivals-switch
Content creator from Quebec covering news, reviews, opinion pieces, interviews, and contests. Married and a dad of two little monsters. Michel is constantly immersed in a deep nostalgia for Japanese cartoons from the 1980s and 1990s.