Plot: What’s it about?
Sure, shooting enemies in games is fun, but wouldn’t it be more fun if you were a chicken? Thanks to Rocketbirds: Hard Boiled Chicken, you can now annihilate your enemies as a ferocious, feathered fiend. This game is a wonderful blend of shooting and platforming, with some light puzzle elements mixed in as well. You’re tasked to progress from one side of a level to the other, using an impressive arsenal of guns to blast your foes to kingdom come. The puzzles aren’t brutal, so they just add some spice and there are also side missions, such as freeing captured allies. As if wielding a shotgun or assault rifle isn’t awesome enough, you’re also given a jetpack at times. So while the core experience is a traditional side-scrolling action platform style, there is enough variance present to ensure you’re never bored.
The main campaign covers fifteen levels, as you attempt to take down a villainous penguin. The new cut-scenes are quite fun and have a nice 80s action texture . I found the campaign to be consistently great, with a good amount of variety and some stunning visuals to soak in. I did find the game to be a little too easy at times, but it was still a lot of fun to run through. This game is an ideal candidate for extensive downloadable content however, so I am hopeful we’ll see more levels at some point. There is also a local co-op campaign, which has a unique mission set and storyline to explore. I love co-op, but the lack of on-line play really hurts in this game environment. But if you have a friend who can join you on the couch, the co-op campaign is a lot of fun and adds quite a bit of value to this release. Rocketbirds: Hard Boiled Chicken is a well crafted, very fun game and my only real complaint is the lack of on-line support for the co-op campaign. But with two campaigns loaded with great content (plus 3-D support), Rocketbirds: Hard Boiled Chicken is well worth adding to your collection.
Video: How does it look?
This is perhaps the most beautiful game about chickens ever created. The level design is remarkable, with such depth and attention to detail. I’ve played some visually stunning platformers of late, but few offer this kind of beautiful artwork and intricate level design. You can tell the artists wanted Rocketbirds to have a cinematic feel and they’ve more than succeeded.
Audio: How does it sound?
The sound design isn’t quite at the same level as the visuals, but it still performs well. The music is fun and never gets old, while the various action sound effects have the required impact. The audio is creative and suits the tone of the game perfectly, a rock solid effort.
Supplements: What are the extras?
N/A
