If you've ever dreamed of donning a flying suit and whizzing about in a military helicopter, you'll probably enjoy upcoming Kiwi-made iPhone and iPad game Chopper 2.

The original Chopper reached number one in the paid games category of the US iTunes store, selling more than 300,000 copies. More than 700,000 copies of the free Lite version of the game have also been downloaded.

Majic Jungle Software founder and Chopper lead developer David Frampton said the next edition of the side-scrolling helicopter game would again thrust players into the cockpit as a pilot defending his country against enemy invasion. It featured 36 missions (the original Chopper had 20 missions), improved graphics and moving enemy and friendly forces with "basic but flexible" AI.

"The original Chopper was quite 2D, it was only pseudo 3D. The new game will be truly 3D with a proper physics engine."

The game's missions would open with a short intro sequence to outline the player's objectives, Frampton said. Each mission would take approximately two to three minutes to play through if the gamer successfully dodged enemy fire, but many players would need to replay missions multiple times.

Frampton said he had been developing Chopper 2 for the past year and planned to launch it in July as a universal app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. He had originally intended to have the game ready in time for the US launch of the iPad on April 3 but it was not at the high standard he had hoped for so its release had been delayed, he said.

"I'm pretty happy with the hype around it but I'm a little bit worried that people might be expecting too much. I'm putting in an extra effort to make sure I get it right. I'm really being a perfectionist."

Final pricing for the game has not yet been announced but Frampton said it would be below US$5.

Check out a video of Chopper 2 in action here.