VIDEOGAME Review: Bomb Chicken

I don’t really consider myself a “gamer”. I’ve never been very up to date with the latest games or consoles, I don’t throw money away at GameStop, and I sure don’t subscribe to PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. When I do game, it’s normally just fun stuff like Nintendo kids games or time killing mobile games like Tsum Tsum or PokeMon Go! I tend to get addicted to Marvel Games, so I tend to avoid those, but overall I’m just a casual player who used to frequent eBaum’s World for flash games but has since graduated to Angry Birds. The one thing I really do love is silly side scrollers that remind me of my Super Nintendo back in the day.

Bomb Chicken is right up my alley.

When Comic Crusaders was given the opportunity to review this, I was the lucky team member with a Nintendo Switch, so I thought “Eh, why not?” So I got my download code and began my journey as a cute round chicken who must play through stages by killing enemies and laying bombs to navigate the mazes. The gameplay is straightforward with only two actions: move with the joystick and lay bombs with pretty much any other button. You can stack them, kick them, and use them to remove obstacles and enemies. They explode on a delay unless touched, so there is quite a bit of timing and strategy you need to play most effectively. Secret areas allow you to collect extra blue gems that accumulate from stage to stage. As you collect the gems, you have the opportunity to unlock additional lives via a temple chamber where you must sacrifice a bomb to see if you are worthy. Losing all your lives means Game Over and you restart the current level, retaining all gems collected and prior progress with no need for save points.

In short, this is a fun little one player game that tests your skills and frustrates you when the bomb accidentally explodes too close and kills you. I played through about 20 stages and feel as though I got a nice grasp of the game. While it was mostly a fun experience, there are a few complaints I had. First off, the backstory is flimsy, at best. The title screen has these bad guys stacking boxes for “BFC” in the rainforest with a pyramid in the background; then, the first level has a short scene where a guy dumps old eggs in this tomb and this blue goop drips on an egg and Bomb Chicken is born. That’s it. So, I think BFC is Bomb Fried Chicken, but why are they in a pyramid? What is the goo? And what poultry deity is granting our hero extra lives? It’s fun and silly, but there is next to no reason to play aside from getting to the end. Also, I wish this wasn’t just inside a pyramid. Have some city scenes and desert and rainforest locations, to really mix it up. Maybe that comes later? Lastly, I experienced some serious lagging in stage 18 and could not fix it, whether by restart or killing myself until game over. Luckily, restarting the system fixed it, but it was just that section, which was very strange.

Developed by Nitrome Ltd., Bomb Chicken is just a fun, addictive game full of puzzles and secrets. It is simple and pixelated, reminding me of Sega Genesis or Nintendo games of old. Sound effects and music are equally arcade-like. To be honest, this seems like the type of game you could find online via a flash player platform, so unless the price point is low, I personally wouldn’t justify buying it when I can pull up something like Cactus McCoy or a phone game for free. It will be available on Nintendo Switch and Steam in the near future, and I recommend it for some good fun without strings. Great for kids of all ages and the kid in all of us. 3.5 outta 5 Bombs!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

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