Chicken Little
Being “kid friendly” really is all you need to know
Tags: Chicken Little Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Nov 25th, 2005
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken Little (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Adventure | No | ||
Playing Chicken Little will get you exactly what you deserve – a platform style game based on a movie. The film itself was decent, as is the game. There are no real surprises here, as the game is catered to the target audience of the film – kids looking to extend the movie experience.
 |
 |
The different stages presented would be seen as a schizophrenic handicap in most other games. Here they serve to incorporate all of the different elements of the film – dodgeball, space shooters, platforming, etc. It is important to remember who this game was intended for, as nearly everybody bast the age of 11 will either find the lack of cohesion frustrating or insulting. Instead, young kids can have a taste of different types of gameplay that may not be joined together like a “proper” videogame should be, but at least works well as a representation of a film that also tried to be a lot of different things (and succeeded for the most part).
 |
 |
The vocal cast from the movie makes its way to the game, and that goes a long way into pumping life into what would otherwise be viewed as another knockoff product. Having the actual voice of Chicken Little goes a long way in legitimizing the game for the audience, who surprisingly, can often tell when a different actor is used between film and game.
Visually the game is quite good. It doesn’t push (or even come close) the PS2’s limits, but it definitely looks better than some games on the market today. The film is used quite liberally in cutscenes and it is readily apparent that the developers were trying to match that visual quality.
 |
 |
I’m not going to go into the various types of mini-games that act as the various levels in the game. Nor am I going to go on at length about the game in general. This is the type of game that parents will purchase for their child regardless of reviews. If any parent actually bothers to research videogames and read reviews prior to buying them, they only want the bottom line. With the Disney name, age appropriateness is virtually assured. Quality, however, comes second.
That’s not to say Chicken Little is a bad game, because it isn’t – at least not for who it is intended for. Parents can feel safe about buying this game for their kid. There are better games out there, but that usually doesn’t matter to the parents making these kinds of purchases.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Variety of gameplay + Voices from the film in the game + Technically well done (especially with the graphics) |
7.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Gameplay can be schizophrenic - Panders to youngsters |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Not intended for gamers over the age of 11, really. If you are expecting something more then you should have your head examined | |
[ Post the first comment | View related posts ]
Tags: Chicken Little
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Nov 25th, 2005 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
