Chicken Chase Review

Chicken Chase Review (by Gamezebo) 

What came first: the chicken or the egg? Well, they're equally as important in Big Fish Games' latest casual game, Chicken Chase.

Consider it a "whack a mole"-like arcade with a little more story, depth and variety. Or, a game similar to PopCap's Insaniquarium, but with chickens and ravens, instead of fish and aliens.

Your aging grandparents are having trouble managing the farm - in fact, they're facing foreclosure - so they ask you to find it in your heart to move in for a while to help out. Of course you agree, and so your missions include hatching eggs, raising and selling chickens, staving off predators and buying tool and food upgrades to aid in your task. With a little elbow (er, make that chicken) grease, you can save the farm, make it look like new and put a little greenback into your grandparent's coveralls.

The game-play is as follows: players see the chicken yard outside of the barn and a few chickens pecking around looking for food. You must use your mouse to click somewhere on the ground, which sprinkles feed for the chickens to eat. While pecking, they drop coins, and you need to click on them to collect the cash value (and they lose value for each second they remain untouched). Small chicks grow into larger chicks over time, and they eventually will lay eggs for you to click on to redeem their value or you can click on the picture of the eggs at the top if the screen if you want those eggs to hatch into chicks - depending on what the mission goal is. For instance, if your goal is to raise $7000 in seven minutes, your priority might be to cash out, but if your goal is to raise 20 chickens to complete the level, you'll likely choose to hatch the eggs to reach your target number.

Eggs come in different colors, which offers different cash values and hatches into five different kinds of chickens, such as roosters (in black eggs) that can help protect the roost when hatched and matured. Speaking of protection, while you're nurturing the livestock you must also keep ravens from flying in and snatching the chickens by clicking to shoot them in mid-air (think of the arcade classic Duck Hunt). Other hungry enemies show up later in the game. Chickens will also get sick and turn green, so you must click to heal them quickly or else they'll die.

At the end of many of the 50 levels, players can choose a free environmental upgrade, such as nicer trim on the barn, or during the game, players can visit the specialty store to buy items if they're available and you have enough cash, such as a food upgrade to throw more seeds. Also, throughout the game a box with a question mark may appear on the screen; if you click it, it could be good news (such as a helpful mouse) or bad news (a flu epidemic that makes your chickens fall ill). Bonus levels appear from time to time with mini-games, such as clicking as many ravens as possible within a predetermined time limit. Players can play any completed level as many times as they'd like.

If "twitch" games are for you - you know, where fast reflexes and quick hand-eye coordination is key - then Chicken Chase a refreshing take on the "whack a mole" formula. Some gamers, however, may crave a more cognitive, slower-paced puzzle game instead. While the game offers many types of chickens, eggs and upgrades, be aware it only offers one mode.

That said, Chicken Chase is a recommended download that is both fun and amusing.

Chicken Chase Review (by Gamemile) 

Chicken Chase - Running a Poultry Farm.

No one is safe to receive one day a letter saying that his/her grandparents are in danger of loosing their beloved farm. The news came like a bolt from the blue. And to save a household of your aged relatives, you have to come and help to raise their cherished household.

The point of the game is to breed chicken at the poultry yard in order to turn a shabby household into a prosperous farm.

Breed chicken at the poultry yardThe success of your farm is based on a chicken-breeding concept. You have to feed birds, cure sick ones (they are of green color), make them hatch eggs.

All these operations are performed with a simple click - click anywhere at the playing field to spread birdseeds, click on a sick bird to heal it, click on an egg to set a hen on it.

To save your face and gain a reputation of a good farmer, you should differentiate between layer chicken and broody chicken. The first are of white color, the latter are spotted.

Fed chicken are good diggers. So you can collect valuable things, such as gold and silver coins found by these birds.

Fed birds bring coinsChicken bring you money: young chicken dig silver coins worth 20 points, grown up chicken can find gold

coins worth 30 points. As you proceed through levels, you are challenged to raise a definite sum of cash (the sum varies depending on the level). Collecting coins dug out by the birds is of the income sources.

But mind that precious coins are to be picked up as soon as possible: the longer coin is available, the less valuable it becomes.

Another cash source is collecting eggs laid by chickens. Eggs of different colors have different value.

Keeping the balance between the birds you sell and buy is a key to successful farming.

Grown-up birds can be sold or, on the contrary, bought. While purchasing or selling birds, one should find a happy medium. Selling birds you get money (to sell a bird, click on a sell button), but the less layers and broodies you have, the less eggs will be hatched.

And the same is about eggs: they can be sold for cash, but the less of them are left, the less is a brood. Beware also of ravens. They can steal or eat your chickens. To keep them off, click on a raven when it's trying to attack chickens.

When the sum earned is big enough, one can buy upgrades for improving the farm.

Question button can either bring you money or take away your earningsUpgrades, such as a new fence, a kennel, a brick wall can be bought one by one to improve the state of a farm. Among upgrades are roosters that protect chickens from ravens and a ‘grain hand' that allows to give birds 3 handful of grain with one click. Pay attention at "?" button that appears at further levels at the right of the playing field. Take risks and you can benefit: clicking on a button you can either earn a hefty sum or lose a part of your earnings.

Chicken Chase features cute animation and funny music. Gameplay is very consecutive: 50 levels are getting increasingly harder, every time challenging you with new tasks. The game genre is difficult to identify: there are elements of arcade, strategy and even puzzle.