Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

Hardboiled is a chicken that leads a rebellion against oppressive penguin regime. There's basic puzzles and gun-fights to engage in order to progress through the 2D levels.

The combat is very simple and often feels a bit clunky. It's the case of whoever shoots first; wins. In the case that you are surrounded, you are pretty much doomed and will have to rely on a trial-and-error process once you respawn from the checkpoint. You can crouch as well as roll and it may seem advantageous to always crouch in open gun-fights since you are guaranteed to hit your opponent.

The puzzles can be quite clever which involve pushing boxes, using elevators and sometimes possession of guards. It's usually obvious when you need to use this technique, because you will reach a dead-end but can see a stationary guard within a grenades throw. Throwing a 'brain bug' through a gap to land at a guards feet is what is required to take control of him. From then on, you can progress through the level, hitting switches or pushing blocks, before committing suicide and returning control back to Hardboiled.

There are occasional jet-pack parts which is a nice break since it features completely different style of game-play and faster paced action. Once you have gunned down the enemies, you can then proceed to take down the Zeppelins and are returned to the standard game-play mechanic.

The graphics are nice, although sometimes it is hard to workout the difference between the foreground and background, meaning some platforms can be missed. The soundtrack in the game is impressive and performed by an artist called New World Revolution. There are cutscenes which illustrate Hardboiled's past and the emotional toll of the war, but overall, there's not much story development.

The game certainly has charm purely based on the fact it is a war between chickens and penguins. The game-play is effective enough but nothing special. There's just under 3 hours of game-play which is a bit meagre, but there's a co-op mode which can extend the game-time considerably.