Puchi (or 'Petit') Copter 2 is a Radio Controlled helicopter simulator, developed by the small Japanese developer Aquasystem. They seem to be slightly obsessed with aeronautics, as the majority of their titles are flying orientated. In PC2, Not only can you stand there watching while you manoeuvre your little helicopter around your house, but you also have the option to have a chase plane (or should that be chase ‘copter?) view, or in-cockpit view depending on your preference. The game flies into uncharted territory, as it is not that often that you get the chance to use a Radio Controlled helicopter in your house (or anybody else’s house for that matter).

You get to control the helicopter with the aid of the two analogue sticks on your dualshock. If you already have Radio Control experience, this will make the game somewhat easier, provided your experience is with an RC helicopter (as opposed to an RC plane). The right stick controls up and down, left and right, and the left stick controls your speed forwards or back and twisting left or right. All good so far, as this works well, provided you have a reasonable degree of co-ordination.

The game is no showcase for the PS2’s graphical abilities - there's nothing fancy, just a basic view of your environments as you fly around. This is not a problem in terms of visibility and manoeuvreing, although it does mean that any enjoyment to be gained from the game is down to game play. Sound also is up to the task of giving you a realistic impression of a small helicopter buzzing around.

You need to earn a helicopter in order to fly, initially. This is done courtesy of the Challenge Mode. You start off in the seat (or whatever your preferred view is) on the helipad, and must try to take off and fly to another pad to land. You’re timed on this, and for some reason the developers decided it would be fun to leave out a countdown timer, which would (quite usefully, it can be argued) give you some warning of when to actually begin. Bar the grope-in-the-dark timing issues, it's easy then: apply power, take off, fly in the general direction of the landing pad and touch down (making sure you're pretty near the middle of the pad to stop the timer). Complete that - and get a “Good” or “Very Good” rating - and you can progress to the next challenge. Fail to achieve that and you have to try again.

Within a few challenges you are flying through rings made up of small triangles (which you fortunately cannot hit), flying through large stars (to collect them) or firing missiles at boxes with targets on them. You even have to negotiate the furniture. One challenge sees you starting under a table close to a large star you're tasked with collecting. You then have to fly into another room (use the R1 button to open the door) and collect several more stars. The initial challenges are something of a crash course in helicopter piloting! As you progress through this you can unlock more helicopters, each with their own handling characteristics. Challenge Mode proves to be a worthwhile option, and does at least set you on an achievable learning curve.

Now, having mastered the basics of flight, what are you left with? Well, you have Free Flight Mode. Here you can fly around areas that you have already unlocked, using any helicopter you have available. It’s a good way to get to learn the layout of each area. Negotiating the stairs (with their 90-degree turns) in the first area is a good test of your precision flying.

When you feel confident enough about an area, you can turn to Adventure Mode. Here you have to collect strategically-placed stars scattered around the area. These can be quite close to walls etc., but with your extensive practice in Challenge Mode, you should be controlling the helicopter with sufficient precision to breeze through. When you have collected all the stars in an area, a door symbol will flash on the screen briefly to inform you to find the door to the next area. When you exit Adventure mode you will be able to restart it in the latest area that has been unlocked... as long as you remember to save!

The game has no multiplayer option, unfortunately. Having a split screen, and hence smaller area of view, would not enhance your chances when it came to precision flying. It might have been fun to have had the option to go around the areas, trying to blast the tail rotor off the other player, but unless theopponent had access to the game to get used to the controls, it could turn out to be a little one-sided. No great loss though, as there is plenty to do in the game as it stands.

The game is relatively Import friendly, as the main menu options are in English. A word of warning, though: the game comes on one of those 'wonderful' blue disks. If your machine is an older model - or a slimline version - expect some hefty clanking, crunching and chewing noises to echo around the room as it loads.

Puchi Copter 2, is a challenging game which, while not at the cutting edge of PS2 technology, fulfils its purpose and gives you a good few hours of enjoyment and, most probably, a good few hours of frustration as well! Obviously, it won't be to everyone’s taste, but then what game ever is?