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See that font? The one on the buttons? Yeah, that’s the Dr. Seuss font. As a fan of both
Teddy and typography, I think that font should be illegal to use in anything but the Seuss
stuff, but present laws as they are...that’s how you make a perfectly good and perfectly
legal first impression.
Of course, Chicken Story sets the bar quite a bit lower for itself. You can find it in
the App Store under the name Chicken Story Adventure, which is basically like...pick
three nouns and arrange them however you want. And the first sentence in the description
is, “Chicken Story...a game that does not make you bored.” But what it evidently lacks
in self-confidence, Chicken Story makes up for in...well, in some areas.
Chicken Story is a very simple iOS game, and like so many other very simple iOS games,
it has that old-school, almost arcade-like feel. You are this chicken that gives perpetual
birth to new chicks. But for some reason, you lay your eggs at problematic heights.
Plus, these cats with pocket knives are pretty hungry, and you know...
They have pocket knives.
So you have to do a few things. You have to incubate each egg—I think that’s the correct
verb—and then when they hatch, you have to feed the chicks. Do this a few times, and
they grow up, hit puberty, get jobs and flee the nest. So basically, this is like...a simulation
of nature.
And as nature plays out, circle of life, Elton John...those pesky alley cats try to climb
toward your chicks, cut them from the sky, Uncle Scar. Fortunately, you’re armed with
this frying pan, totally unaware of the complex this might give your newborns...babies who
might’ve ended up in that very frying pan under different circumstances.
The gameplay is very basic and repetitive. You just keep doing the same thing from level
to level, the only changes being how many and how long. Because of that, this game does
get repetitive pretty quickly, even by mobile standards. But when you’re enjoying it,
it’s actually quite charming...and a lot of that has to do with its look.
Chicken Story has funny character designs with a zany, hand-drawn style. There’s a
slightly offbeat sense of humor here, too...as those pocket knives suggest. So there’s
definitely a lot to like about the game’s graphics and presentation, and in fact, that’s
actually what it does best.
That’s not to knock its gameplay, it’s just that repetitive cycles only go so far.
Even so, this game is okay in short doses, and at the moment, it’s actually free in
the App Store. For that price, it’s a no-ba-ba-ba-brainer. It’s Chicken Story.