RC helicopters? Armed with lasers? Capable of disabling each other's engines? No, we haven't lost our marbles, returned from the future or even overdosed on bad sci-fi; we've been playing with the amazing PicoZ Sky Challenger Battle Pack.

Sky Challenger is the battling helicopter set that allows couch potato pilots to shoot down enemy whirlybirds with a well-placed infra red blast. If you remember the movie Blue Thunder starring him out of Jaws you'll know exactly what we mean. Sort of.



Actually if you do remember Blue Thunder you're too old to be playing 'woka-woka, I'm going down!' style games. But don't let that put you off because this is one of the most entertaining playthings in the history of pretend aerial warfare.

Incredibly manoeuvrable with nifty auto stability, each rechargeable micro chopper can take off, hover, descend, turn left, right and move forward. And that's just as well because avoiding your opponent's laser requires some pretty fancy moves. If you do get hit your helicopter's motor temporarily cuts out causing it to spin towards terra firma. But fear not, PicoZ helicopters are surprisingly robust. Besides, once you've honed your skills you should be able to remain airborne and avoid biting the carpet.

You and your opponent control the action via smart little handheld transmitters that double up as chargers. They even feature built-in speakers that rata-tat-tat every time you hit the fire button. Thrilling? Conducting mid-air battles with a pair of Sky Challengers is like...erm, well it's like nothing else around because even real helicopters have yet to add laser beams to their weaponry. And even when they do, you won't be able enjoy beam-blasting mid-air battles sitting on the sofa or loafing at your desk. So woka-woka are you waiting for? Look out, incoming 3 o'clock! Atatatatata!