I have two young children. They’re mine obviously; this clearly isn’t me confessing that I’m a child snatcher. Anyway, my youngest is one years old and is interested in literally everything, especially my Xbox. His favourite game though is to sit on the floor, whilst daddy crawls up to him with a Pac Man stress toy making the ‘waka waka waka’ Pac Man noise. This may sound like the ramblings of a mad man, but he loves it. He sits and waves his arms, laughs like a mental patient and in most instances loses control of his bowels, thus signalling the end of the game.

Why on Earth am I telling you this you might wonder? It’s to demonstrate a very important point. This game is not fun. A one year child is about to be eaten by Pac Man and there is nothing funny about that at all. But it really makes him happy. The feeling of being happy is a very difficult one to describe because it so often is associated with other emotive feelings like pride, schadenfreude, or just general enjoyment. Call of Duty for example may be really enjoyable, but rarely does it make you feel happy. Even when it does it’s because you’ve got a knife kill on someone who’s been sniping you the whole game and that isn’t proper happiness; that’s just sweet revenge. There are however certain instances which can be very clearly be defined as making you feel happy. Playing with a Scalextric set, watching Toy Story or, as I’ve been finding out recently, playing Chopper Mike are all things that will just make you feel happy.

The premise behind Chopper Mike is as simple as it is classic; fly a helicopter, collect some gems and then land it again. Something that we’ve all played before, something that we’ve all enjoyed before. What’s special about this game though is the way it looks; it’s all so simple, yet it’s polished and refined. The blocks are shiny and three dimensional, the gems sparkle and the helicopter looks like a child’s toy. The comparison to Toy Story is quite apt actually as that’s what this game reminds me of. This should come as no surprise as, whilst you may not have heard of them, the game’s developer VAMflax comes with some serious pedigree. VAMflax are an indie gaming company run by Jamie Lowes; a man with a history at Sony, Sega and my favourite company in the whole world, Codemasters. He’s has worked on games like Colin McCrae Rally and Motorstorm and clearly the guy knows how to make a vehicle handle properly in a game.

You notice this skill and experience when you’re playing Chopper Mike; whilst you have to concentrate to keep your helicopter in the air it all feels so intuitive and simple. It’s all spread over 48 levels, with six different vehicles to fly. My favourite so far is the UFO, as the little green blob flying it made me smile. I also like the levels where you have to land on a button to spin a tile and bring the gem out, as they make a satisfying click when you hit them. Speaking of sound effects; they’re of an equally high quality as the graphics. The helicopters sound exactly like you’d expect a cartoon version of a helicopter to sound, and the UFO makes exactly the sort of sound you’d expect a UFO to make. And then there’s the funk inspired soundtrack; I’d love to think there was a guy sat in a recording booth playing a bass for an hour or so just strutting his funky stuff away without a care in the world. The thought of that also makes me smile.

This brings me back again to the feeling of being happy. There are so many browser and app based games out there, it can be really difficult to make one stand out. Especially when it comes to flying helicopters; there are dozens of them. They all have a real throw away feel to them though. They’re good for a lunch break or two, then you get bored of them. This is partly the reason that I’m so against paying for apps; I work hard for my money and I don’t like wasting it. If I wanted to pay for something that loosely holds my attention but then leaves me unfulfilled I wouldn’t have given up smoking. Chopper Mike though has a rare quality; it makes you happy. I’ll tell you what it’s like – it’s like having one of those remote control helicopters that you can fly around your living room. But the fun isn’t to be found in chasing your wife or girlfriend (inevitably getting it caught in her hair and having to have a talk about crossing ‘the line’), it’s to be had flying round an obstacle course. A couple of times I found myself giggling like my son does when I chase him with Pac Man (without the trouser accident fortunately), and what greater praise can I give this game than that? Chopper Mike makes you feel happy.

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