Sunday 19 June 2016

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

Yet another strange little indie game provided to me for free by the PS+ service.  Like a lot of these games that I get this way, I wasn't expecting anything at all but ended up with something highly enjoyable and fun to play.

The story of Rocketbirds involves the character Hardboiled fighting his way through an unnamed area of the world that has been occupied by a group of penguins run by their leader Putski.  Hardboiled has a bit of a chip on his shoulder since he was brainwashed and forced to fight for the penguins for a while but defected and is now on a mission to put an end to the penguin regime once and for all.

The game play for Rocketbirds is strangely reminiscent of the Oddworld games.  The levels are 2D and you have to run, jump and shoot your way through to the end.  Along the way you'll have to solve a number of puzzles a lot of which involve throwing a mind control bug at an enemy and moving them around much like Abe's chanting technique.  When you aren't shooting or puzzle solving you get to play these weird jet pack stages where you fly around blasting penguins out of the sky and trying to collect  falling health and ammo packs.  The controls and aiming can be a little wonky on these flying stages but they are short and easy to get used to.  There also also multiple difficulties and a co-op mode but I didn't try the harder levels and none of my friends have Vitas so you'll have to check that out for yourself.

My only real complaint is that when you get hit your character gets sort of juggled like it's Tekken or some shit like that.  This is fine but it can lead to a quick death if you get caught on both sides or an annoying shield penguin is stopping you from picking off the threat on the other side of the screen.  Dying doesn't carry too much of a penalty so it's only a small complaint but it is rather annoying.

If you don't own a Vita then fear not because it is available on Steam for less than £10.  It's nothing ground breaking but if you're looking for something fun to burn a weekend with then this is a good bet.


No comments:

Post a Comment