Heli-Cats
DrearyWeary · 2023 · Shoot 'Em Up, Action, Local Co-Op, Pixel Graphics, Difficult
PC
5 user reviews60% · 5
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Screenshots
About Heli-Cats
With the world facing a desperate energy and economic crisis, rogue forces have launched a coordinated assault on a weakened allied order. Unable to respond directly under the fragile political climate, the Joint Security Alliance has turned to a special helicopter squadron known as the Heli-Cats. Their mission is to repel the invaders under the guise of a local paramilitary unit such that all actions can be disavowed should things go wrong.
Take control of pilots “Tiger” and “Lynx”, either together in a single helicopter or individually in two machines, as they battle their way through enemy lines and uncover the reasons behind the instigations.
Push the elevation button to switch between high and low elevations.
High projectiles are yellow and low ones are red. (The color combo can be changed as an option.)Ammo can only damage targets of the same elevation for both players and enemies.
So while traditionally unavoidable enemy fire can now be rendered completely safe, players must still put themselves in harm's way in order to defeat enemies.
Tapping the shot button fires a burst of normal ammo.Hitting and destroying enemies with a normal shot increases the focus counter.
Holding the shot button fires a more powerful focus shot that consumes the focus counter.Some enemies also shoot lighter colored missile-shaped focus ammo that are greater in quantity but slower in speed.
Use the focus shot to cancel them and break through the barrage with ease.
Regular enemies destroyed with the focus shot drop orbs.Collecting them fills the level gauge and powers up both normal and focus shots when the next level is reached.
The green power gauge that appears depletes only when normal shots are used. The player goes down a level when out of power.Stay at the maximum level by replenishing the power gauge with more orbs.
Scoring in Heli-Cats is very simple. Survivability and score potential are at opposite ends of the difficulty spectrum.Survivability: High, Score: Low
- Power up often
- Keep away from enemies
- Use the focus shot regularly
- Bomb often
Survivability: Low, Score: High
- Avoid powering up
- Shoot enemies at very close range
- Avoid using the focus shot
- Avoid using bombs
Players have to find the right balance on this difficulty scale and adjust their strategy according to skill level. Knowing when to utilize these systems is the key to victory!
Check out the community hub news section to find out more details about the various aspects of the game.
- Dual elevation gameplay allows an extra layer of strategy to avoid enemy fire
- Local co-op
- 2 initial helicopters to choose from (more can be unlocked with progress)
- 8 arcade stages (2 more can be unlocked under special conditions)
- Includes Novice Mode for beginners of shoot 'em ups
- Multiple endings depending on performance and uncovered secrets
- In-game credits system that unlocks new modes, upgrades, and customization of the game
- Fully assignable gamepad and keyboard button controls
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
[quote][b]Check out our [url=store.steampowered.com/curator/36364102-Horny-Hentai-Festival/]Steam curator[/url] , [url=www.youtube.com/curatorhhf/]YouTube channel[/url] and [url=twitter.com/hhfcurator]Twitter[/url]![/b][/quote] [Anime/Shooter] 2D oldschool horizontal shoot'em up with elevation element. The dodging reminds me of Ikaruga. Challenging, but worth trying continuously to unlock various elements. [STG] 斑鳩的避け要素ありの横シューティング。特筆すべき事項としては自身で切り替えできる高低の概念があるという点で、その高低状態によって自機and敵の攻撃が当たったり（同じ高度の場合）当たらなかったり（違う高度の場合）する。この使い分けがキモとなる。当たり判定も見た目通りで大きく、敵も固いのでなかなかの難易度となっているが、この辺もひっくるめて昔のアーケードをリスペクトしているという事なんだろう。長くじっくり取り組むことが出来る良作。14 found this helpful
Criminally unknown horizontal shmup that combines a couple familiar mechanics with its own elevation system to create something special for shooter fans. There are two elevations in the game, one closer to the ground and one further in the air, and the enemies and their bullets also operate on these two planes. So there's a constant switching back and forth via a button press between the two elevations both to eliminate the enemies and also to dodge their bullets. Ground enemies shoot red color, so when you're at ground level you can hit them but can also get hit by them, but air enemies' yellow bullets are harmless and will just pass over you. The opposite of course occurs when you're in the air, red bullets are then harmless. It's a bit like Ikaruga in that you frequently have to have the safe color in your head in terms of which color bullets are harmless and which ones aren't. There are two different shots, tap the fire button and hit enemies to build your focus meter, and hold the fire button to use that rapid fire focus, which will drop power up orbs for defeated enemies that raises your bullet strength. Somewhat similar to Ketsui, the orbs lose power the longer they sit unc…9 found this helpful
Cannot recommend at present. Unfortunately, the central mechanic goes like this: - Rapid shot kills raise a gauge that allows focussed fire - Focussed fire drains the gauge to produce items on kill - Items increase your shot power level to a max of Level 3 - Rapid shot then gradually decreases your power level, so start again... In other words you 'do' the mechanic repeatedly just to power up. Boss fights do not contain any way to produce items, so you drain all your power during the fight. I don't think there is any scoring element/advantage to this loop, but would be delighted to be wrong about that. Game runs smoothly and the 'height' mechanic is interesting, so I hope more scoring fun gets injected in future. Shot power level could give a score multiplier at the very least...7 found this helpful
Ketsui: Euro arrange3 found this helpful
My impressions video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7iR4WuTAiE I'm a big shmup fan, but I don't think it's unfair to say that the genre can often feel fairly samey from a mechanics standpoint. I like shmups that do something different, and Heli-Cats (which as I write this has only 1 review, which is nothing short of criminal) does that in a really cool way. From the screenshots, you might this this is just your run of the mill 16-bit style shmup, but it's got a lot more going on. Rather than use a different weapon or a lock-on system to deal with ground enemies, one of your buttons actually changes the vertical plane your helicopter is on and you have to use this to juggle between air and ground targets. On top of that, there's almost an Ikaruga-like bullet system, where you can only be hit by bullets fired from enemies on the same plane as you. To both maximize your score and deal with bosses that can fire on both planes, changing your height is as important as picking your targets. It's a totally different way to think about shmup gameplay and actually took me a while to get used to, but I love it. Upgrades are also handled in a new way. Rather than picking up powerups from…2 found this helpful
Honestly I'm impressed with this game. It's like Touhou, Twin Eagle II, and Strikers 1999 had a threesome and this is their love child. The visuals and the music is great. The gameplay is simple and easy to learn and the altitude mechanic works well and actually adds strategy to the overall gameplay experience. I only have 4 issues to bring up but these are not deal breakers at all, just merely observations for areas of improvement. [u][b] No Sub-Weapons [/b][/u] Many top down shooters have sub weapons for your unit. The Strikers series is a perfect example. Whether it's guided missiles or free flight rockets or lasers, having some sort of sub-weapon is a GOOD thing to have especially when you're dealing with with hordes of enemies coming at you. There's no sub-weapons here, all you have is your normal shot and even though you have a focus shot, the normal and focus shot is honestly not enough and isn't gonna cut it. The player is immediately and permanently handicapped. [u][b] Character Art [/b][/u] The character art is bland, flat and honestly quite boring. The visuals for all the other ingame assets are great, so the character art should not suffer. Also why is the landing ge…1 found this helpful
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