SimCopter
Encyclopedia
SimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...

. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

. Like Streets of SimCity
Streets of SimCity
-External links:* *...

, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 is a simulation/city building video game and the second installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 2000 was first released by Maxis in 1994 for computers running Apple Macintosh Operating System...

map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....

s into the game.

Objective

As the name suggests, SimCopter puts the player in the role of a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

 pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

. There are two modes of play: free mode and career mode.
The free mode lets the player import and fly through cities of their own or any of the 30 cities supplied with the game. However, user cities sometimes need to be designed with SimCopter in mind, and most of the time the player must increase the number of police stations, fire stations, and hospitals to allow for speedier dispatches.
The career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....

 mode puts the player in the shoes of a pilot doing various jobs
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

 around a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

. These jobs include:
  • Rescues - Players will occasionally be called upon to rescue Sims
    SIMS
    - Last name :* Andrew Sims, American rapper, member of the Doomtree collective* Ashton Sims, Australian rugby league footballer* Charles Sims , British painter* Christopher A. Sims, American economist* Ernie Sims, NFL linebacker...

     from perilous situations. All rescues can be aided by the use of a rescue harness
    Safety harness
    A safety harness is a form of protective equipment designed to protect a person, animal, or object from injury or damage. The harness is an attachment between a stationary and non-stationary object and is usually fabricated from rope, cable or webbing and locking hardware...

    . There are three subtypes:
    • Rooftop Rescue - Involves rescuing Sims from the rooftop of a building. This mission often occurs as the result of a fire.
    • Boat Rescue - Involves rescuing Sims from capsized boats.
    • Train Rescue - Involves rescuing Sims from the top of a fast-moving runaway train. It is one of the more difficult and higher paying missions in the game.
  • Traffic jams
    Traffic congestion
    Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction...

     - A simple mission that involves using the megaphone to redirect traffic, or dispatching police to clear traffic.
  • Aerial fire fighting - This type of mission involves extinguishing a fire somewhere in the city. It is usually on buildings, but it can sometimes be as small as a burning car or a tree. Sometimes a plane or train crash will start a few fires scattered over a small area. Putting out a fire is accomplished by flying above a body of water and filling a Bambi bucket
    Bambi bucket
    A helicopter bucket is a specialised bucket suspended on a cable carried by a helicopter to deliver water for aerial firefighting. Each bucket has a release valve on the bottom which is controlled by the helicopter crew. When the helicopter is in position, the crew releases the water to extinguish...

    , and then flying directly over a fire and dropping the water on it by tipping the bucket. If it has been purchased, a water cannon
    Water cannon
    A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-pressure stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of metres / hundreds of feet. They are used in firefighting and riot control. Most water cannon fall under the category of a fire...

     can also be used to spray a stream of water over a distance. The player has to be careful not to fly too low over a fire, as it is extremely dangerous to the helicopters. Provided that the fire is near a road, a fire engine
    Fire apparatus
    A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting fires by transporting firefighters to the scene and providing them with access to the fire, along with water or other equipment...

     can be dispatched to help put out a fire.
  • Catching criminals - There are four types of criminals in this game: robbers
    Robbery
    Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....

    , arson
    Arson
    Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

    ists, muggers and burglars
    Burglary
    Burglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...

    . Arsonists may start fires on buildings, and muggers may kill nearby Sims. The first three types of criminals roam the streets on foot. All types of criminals can be arrested by picking up a police officer
    Police officer
    A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...

     from the roof of a police station, and then dropping them near the criminal. Police cars can also be dispatched to aid in the arrest of a criminal. Criminals on foot can also be stopped by landing on top of them with the helicopter, which kills them, but this risks damage to the helicopter. Burglars drive around the city at high speed and are difficult to catch. To catch a burglar, the player must dispatch police car
    Police car
    A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...

    s and guide them to the crook. It becomes easier to catch by slowing and/or stopping the car through the use of a spotlight, water bucket, or water cannon. Another more direct but riskier method is landing on top of the criminal's vehicle while it is in motion, at which time the burglar will pull over and exit the car, making capture easier.
  • Riot control
    Riot control
    Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...

     - There are three ways to stop a riot
    Riot
    A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...

    . The first way is to use the megaphone
    Megaphone
    A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...

     to order the rioters to disperse. The second way is to dispatch police cars and/or fly police officers directly to the site of the riot. The third way is to drop tear gas from the helicopter. However, tear gas may injure or even kill Sims, which makes the player lose points. Riots often cause MEDEVAC, traffic jams and fire missions. Riots do not appear in career mode until level eight.
  • MEDEVAC
    MEDEVAC
    Medical evacuation, often termed Medevac or Medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to the wounded being evacuated from the battlefield or to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of an accident to receiving medical facilities using...

     - These missions involve transporting injured Sims to the rooftop of the nearest hospital. Help is available in these missions in three ways. The first way is to pick up a paramedic
    Paramedic
    A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...

     from the rooftop of a hospital and take him to where the victims are. He will help carry the victims back to the helicopter. The other way to get help is to dispatch an ambulance
    Ambulance
    An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...

     to the area. The third way is for the player to get out and carry the victim to the helicopter and drop him or her off at the nearest hospital (This can be dangerous as the patient may still die on the way to the hospital if the player takes too long). After landing on the hospital rooftop, a paramedic will help the injured get out of the helicopter. The player should not attempt to manually eject the victims, as it may cause them further injury or death.
  • Transporting Sims – These missions involve picking up Sims at a given location and transporting them to a particular destination. The rewards for these missions are based on how quickly the player picks up the clients, how comfortable the clients are during the ride (depending on speed
    Speed
    In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...

     and altitude
    Altitude
    Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...

    ), and the time the ride takes.
  • Speeding cars - If none of the above jobs are available, the player can earn some cash and points by seeking out speeding drivers and commanding them to pull over, and then dispatching the police to charge them. The player can tell if a car is speeding if its tires are squeaking and smoking when the car turns around corners. For the player to earn the points, they must stay where the speeder is until the police arrive, or else the speeder will just drive off. Catching speeders rewards the player with points and cash.

Money and Points

The player starts with a small, weak helicopter that comes with just a megaphone
Megaphone
A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...

 and a bambi bucket
Bambi bucket
A helicopter bucket is a specialised bucket suspended on a cable carried by a helicopter to deliver water for aerial firefighting. Each bucket has a release valve on the bottom which is controlled by the helicopter crew. When the helicopter is in position, the crew releases the water to extinguish...

; it can only hold two passengers. As the player accumulates money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...

 in the game, they can purchase better helicopters and new equipment. Some jobs require certain equipment in order to complete them, and better helicopters offer greater speed, handling, and can carry more passengers. By completing jobs, the player earns money and points. When the player has accumulated enough points, the game lets them move on to the next city. The player then has a choice of going into a new city of the same difficulty or advancing to the next level. There are twelve levels of difficulty, with new types of jobs being introduced and previous types of jobs increasing in difficulty. Jobs will be randomly spawned around the city, but the player's actions can also create jobs (see below).

Harmful actions

Any of the following actions will cause the player to lose a substantial amount of points:
  • Ejecting a passenger from the helicopter while it is up in the air may injure or kill the person and may cause a MEDEVAC mission.
  • Landing the helicopter on a road and keeping it there for more than a minute will block the traffic, causing a traffic jam mission.
  • Crashing the helicopter into a car (exception: burglar getaway vehicle) will set the car on fire, creating a hazard for the copter.
  • Crashing the helicopter into a boat will either cause the boat to sink or start a boat rescue mission.
  • If you find a special Apache military helicopter, shooting missiles at buildings may cause a Fire mission and shooting bullets at people or cars may also cause a Car Fire mission or a MEDEVAC mission. In addition, firing missiles at nuclear power plants will cause a nuclear explosion that will destroy the surrounding city as well as the helicopter.


SimCopter's MEDEVAC missions are noted for having a particularly useful 'bug' where pushing a Sim from the copter causes a point deduction, but the resulting MEDEVAC mission rewards more points (and money) than were initially lost.

Crashing the helicopter into a building or slamming it into the ground will not destroy it instantly, but it will damage it. The helicopter can crash into a building about ten times before it is destroyed. The more damage there is to the helicopter, the harder it is to control. Money can be spent to repair a helicopter. If the helicopter is destroyed, it is lost forever as well as all of the equipment on board. When a helicopter is destroyed, it may set a fire to a nearby building or terrain. The player will also lose 100 points and must use their remaining funds to purchase another helicopter. If they do not have enough money to buy a new helicopter, then they are grounded, making it impossible to continue through the game.

Helicopters in this game have a limited amount of fuel and must return to the hangar about once every half an hour to refuel, which costs money. If your helicopter runs out of fuel while in mid-air, player can either attempt to keep the motor spinning and land it, or just let it fall to the ground and suffer heavy damage. If the helicopter remains intact after falling to the ground, it can be refueled at a highly inflated price.

The Apache

The AH-64 Apache
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...

 is a special helicopter and cannot be bought from the hangar. It is found on military bases that have fighter plane tarmacs on them. If the base has at least two of these tarmacs, one will randomly have the Apache parked on it. This helicopter has a machine gun and missiles in place of the water cannon and tear gas respectively (both weapons have unlimited ammo). Despite having no seats and an inability to upgrade past the rescue harness, points and money can still be earned with the Apache by means of dispatching the proper authorities to fires and medevac situations, and using the harness for rescues without retracting the harness into the helicopter (if it is fully retracted, the Sim will fall). Exclusive to the Apache, one can even earn points by shooting criminals with the helicopter's machine gun. The gun is also capable of killing innocent sims and destroying cars, boats, and planes, all of which have negative point values. Cars part of a traffic jam, however, are immune, and when planes are shot down they may start fires. Missiles are capable of doing the above as well as setting buildings on fire. Firing a missile at a nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...

 results in an explosion that destroys the whole city and your helicopter.

UFOs

Maps that have an Apache in them will also occasionally have a UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...

 that flies around. They abduct Sims with mysterious force (Sims will "dance" while they ascend), and also randomly shoot vertical beams that start fires if they hit trees or buildings. Should the beam hit the player, the screen fades to white and the copter is instantly destroyed. They generate an unpleasant sound when nearby. It takes 1000 bullets, but 10 missile hits from the Apache will destroy the UFO and award the player with 1000 points and 4000 dollars. If the UFO falls into the water, the player can rescue a surviving abductee for more points.

Radio

There are five virtual radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

s that can be listened to while in the helicopter: classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

, rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 and a mix station featuring all songs from every other station. All stations occasionally play spoof commercials and public service announcements, of which there are more than 100 in the game. Unlike other Sim games, voices on the radio are not incoherent Simlish
Simlish
Simlish is a fictional language featured in EA Games' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent in The Sims, The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, Latin,...

 but are actual English voices. The file format of the audio is low-quality WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

 (uncompressed 8-bit, 11,025 Hz, mono). It is possible for players to import their own music and commercials into the game as long as the audio uses an uncompressed WAV format.

Several songs from the radio stations are also included (although somewhat changed) in The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...

, as musician Jerry Martin
Jerry Martin (musician)
Jerry Martin is a jazz and New Age composer, famous for composing songs for television commercials, and for The Sims and SimCity series.- Biography :...

 composed the soundtrack for both SimCopter and The Sims.

Custom videos for drive-in

It is also possible for the user to make custom videos for the drive-in theater
Drive-in theater
A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars.The screen can be as simple as a...

s included in the game. The user would have to insert a specially edited Smacker video
Smacker video
Smacker video is a video file format developed by RAD Game Tools and has been used in computer games. Smacker video supports 256 colors, and includes transparency support...

 file somewhere in the SimCopter installation directory for it to work.

Controversy

The game gained controversy when a designer inserted sprites of shirtless "himbos" (male bimbos) in Speedo
Speedo
Speedo International Ltd. is a manufacturer and distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories. Founded in Australia in 1914, the industry leading company is now a subsidiary of Pentland Group Plc. Today, the Speedo brand can be found on products ranging from swimsuits and goggles to wrist...

 trunks who hugged and kissed each other, who appear in great numbers on certain dates. Their fluorescent nipples were drawn with a special rendering mode usually reserved for fog-piercing runway landing lights, so they could easily be seen from long distances in bad weather. An unintended emergent behavior of the code caused hundreds of himbos to swarm and crowd around the helicopter, where they would be slashed up by the blades, and then need to be air-lifted to the hospital -- which earned the player easy money. The easter egg was caught shortly after release and removed from future copies of the game.

The designer, Jacque Servin, was fired afterwards for adding unauthorized content (which delayed the release of the game, and caused Maxis to miss Christmas season). He cited his actions as a response to the intolerable working conditions he allegedly suffered at Maxis.
This caused a member of AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS and the AIDS pandemic to bring about legislation, medical research and treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the disease by mitigating loss of health and...

 (ACT UP), a gay AIDS organization, to call for a boycott of all of Maxis' products, a measure which Servin rejected. Some months later, a group named RTMark
RTMark
RTMark is an activist collective that subverts the "Corporate Shield" protecting US corporations. The name is derived from "Registered Trademark"....

 announced its existence and claimed responsibility for the himbos being inserted into the game along with 16 other acts of "creative subversion." Servin stated that he had received a money order
Money order
A money order is a payment order for a pre-specified amount of money. Because it is required that the funds be prepaid for the amount shown on it, it is a more trusted method of payment than a cheque.-History of money orders:...

 of $5,000 from RTMark for the prank.

External links

  • SimCopter at GameFAQs
    GameFAQs
    GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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