Review

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

I have become a huge fan of the indie scene over the past few years. Don’t get me wrong, there were always independent developers out there making great games. Insomniac Games (Ratchet and Clank, Resistance series), Level- 5 (Professor Layton series), and Epic (Unreal Tournament, Gears of War series) are a few of the great indies that have been around for some time. The indies I am talking about are those smaller companies that are trying new things and/or taking old ideas and making them feel new. It isn’t surprising that, due to the freedom they have, they’ve been able to make some pretty great titles that are able to compete with the blockbusters of the gaming world. So much so, that my excitement for the next possible downloadable sensation almost overshadows my yearning for the newest AAA title!

This brings me to an indie company called Ratloop and their newest title, Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken. As soon as I heard that Rocketbirds was making its PSN debut, I knew I had to play it. For those that don’t know, the original Rocketbirds was a cool 2D, digital PC title released in 2010. It featured classic platforming, an odd sense of humor, and gun toting penguins. Obviously it was good game. After the success of the original game, Ratloop begin working on a newer version for the PS3. Having played both versions, I am happy to say that the move to the console was a smart choice. This isn’t necessarily because of the hardware itself as it has more to do with the new elements added to the game. The PSN version has new chapters, better graphics, new gameplay modes, and great music. And with the new control scheme, it’s also a blast to play…most of the time.

Rocketbirds is set in the fictitious land of Albatropolis, a place ran by a totalitarian penguin government. Hardboiled Chicken, our hero, is tasked with freeing this land from penguin oppression by assassinating their fowl leader Putzki (pun intended!). The premise to the story isn’t anything we haven’t heard before. With that being said, the way the story is told is pretty awesome. I’ll explain how later. First let me talk about the gameplay. Gamers will guide Hardboiled through levels by moving him from one side of the screen to the other. Once he moves to the other side, the screen changes to a new section (think of the original Prince of Persia). At times you’ll have to battle penguins and/or solve puzzles in order to advance. Majority of the fighting is done with guns blazing towards the left or right side of the screen. The shooting mechanics are fun to play around with; pressing the fire button repeatedly (or holding it down with an automatic weapon) will cause Hardboiled to continuously blast a foe, juggling him Dante style. It’s a brutal, yet funny, sight to see a penguin bounce across the screen via gun fire.

The platforming in Rocketbirds can be interesting at times. One of my complaints with the PC version had to do with the controls. Hardboiled can walk left or right, roll, hide, fire his gun, throw an item, and activate switches. All of those actions were tied to a few keys on the keyboard, which led to confusion and Hardboiled’s frequent death. Even though I’m no novice when it comes to PC gaming, I had a hard time platforming and fighting off penguins in the original version. The keys weren’t the only problem. Hardboiled has a sort of a “start up” when it comes to running. Moving in one direction for a few seconds causes him to go into a run. The issue was that his running and stopping felt slightly delayed. This made it very easy to accidentally run off the side of a platform or past an enemy when you wanted to confront them. This also caused your jumps to feel a little floaty. It’s like the game wanted to do the actions for you, often resulting in missteps from the player. The PSN version has streamlined the buttons making it much easier to get around. Because of the way the buttons are mapped, I was able to perform all of Hardboiled’s actions while using less buttons. That is not to say that the animations weren’t as delayed as before but the improvements did make this issue less noticeable though.

I did enjoy the puzzle solving aspect of Rocketbirds. Most segments required gamers to find keycards to open doors or to push an object in place to be used as a stepping stone to reach higher areas. Some of the more interesting puzzles featured the use of brain bugs. Brain bugs have the ability to give the player control over an enemy, forcing them to help you solve puzzles. None of the puzzles had me stuck for a long time or frustrated; they were well implemented with very little backtracking. The same thing can be said about the other areas of the game, like the graphics and audio quality. Ratloop has made a nice looking game look even better, with all the environments being remodeled in full 3D. Featuring cool panning effects, a colorful palette, and interesting lighting, Rocketbirds is certainly easy on the eyes. Ratloop even added stereoscopic 3D running at 60fps in 720p. While I wasn’t able to try out the 3D (no HD3D TV to use), judging from the cool panning, I’m sure it would have looked great. Moving to the audio, Rocketbirds has a great soundtrack. The majority of the cut scenes feature cartoon-like imagery accompanied by music. Remember when I said that the story was told in an awesome way, well this is what I was talking about. The rock band New World Revolution did a great job of musically narrating the story; their overall vibe and the song lyrics really fit this game. It’s not often that I want to purchase the soundtrack to a game that doesn’t involve the character Link.

The last aspect of the game to cover is the new co-op mode. This mode is like a prequel to the main story, featuring new characters to battle penguins with. My wife and I had a good time running through bad guys and solving puzzles together. My only complaints here would be that the co-op was restricted to gaming on the couch (no online support) and that it was short. Speaking of which, both the story and co-op modes were relatively short experiences. I was able to casually complete the story in about day or two, only playing the game for short stretches of time. Some of it, I know, has to do with the fact that I have been playing video games for years; if you’ve unlocked one door requiring a keycard, you’ve unlocked them all. With that being said, I would have enjoyed more time in Albatropolis. There are cleverly hidden signs (collectables) and PSN trophies that will extend your play time. Beyond that though, it feels too short.

All and all Rocketbirds is a good title that should be experienced, especially if you’re a fan of classic platforming games. The only big issues were its length and the somewhat delayed implementation or “floatyness” of the controls. Everything else, from the nice graphics and cool music to the action and puzzlesovling segments, were great!