Choplifter — stories left

He noted that, as a story developed, the film camera techniques seemed appropriate, including the final message "The End" instead of "Game Over".

Although the Iran hostage crisis ended the year before the game was released, Gorlin said that the game was not intended to be a "tie-in" to this event during the game's development.

Softline in 1982 called the game "the first Interactive Computer-Assisted Animated Movie", describing it as a fusion of arcade gaming, simulation, and filmic visual aesthetics.

The magazine praised the animation and the helicopter's "subtle flight control" and concluded that seeing the hostages' "hope and excitement, their faith in you" made the game "hard to play".

The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 gave the game an overall A+ rating, calling it "a masterpiece".

InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari Computers cited it as "innovative" and a "winner".

Choplifter II, subtitled "Rescue Survive", was released for the Game Boy in 1991, then remade for both the Game Boy and Game Gear as Choplifter III in 1994.

In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the magazine Family Computer Magazine,it scored 14.31 out of 30, as listed separately.

Debuting in May 1982, the game sold 9,000 copies by June, appearing on Computer Gaming Worlds list of top sellers.

Console XS magazine reviewed the Sega Master System version, giving it a score of 85%.

Computer and Video Games magazine reviewed the Master System version in 1989, giving it a score of 87%.

They also reviewed the ColecoVision and Atari 7800 versions, giving them scores of 81% and 84%, respectively.

It is said to have been made from an idea taken from Operation Eagle Claw, during the Iran hostage crisis at the US embassy in 1979-11, in which the US special forces unit Delta Force was to escape by helicopter together with the hostages it had rescued.

Although the Iran hostage crisis ended the year before the game was released, Gorlin said that the game was not intended to be a "tie-in" to this event during the game's development.

Softline in 1982 called the game "the first Interactive Computer-Assisted Animated Movie", describing it as a fusion of arcade gaming, simulation, and filmic visual aesthetics.

Sega released a pair of spiritual successors without the Choplifter brand: Air Rescue (1991) for the Sega System 32 arcade hardware is a first-person, pseudo-3D take on the concept.

The magazine praised the animation and the helicopter's "subtle flight control" and concluded that seeing the hostages' "hope and excitement, their faith in you" made the game "hard to play".

Computer Gaming World, Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games, and The Commodore 64 Home Companion praised the graphics and animation, the latter stating that the hostages running across the desert made the game "alive" and realistic.