Chicken Little (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Chicken Little represents Disney's first journey into the full computer animated feature without the aid of PIXAR's guidance. The result has received mixed reviews but as this is only one of around ten similar projects this year we are likely to see a few more GBA tie-ins. Even Aardman (the creators of Wallace and Gromit) released their first CGI feature in November this year. Pushing the film aside this review is more concerned with the handheld version and you'll only have to have been buying GBA titles for a small amount of time to realize just how bad film tie-ins can be. Why the gaming public keep buying these in the face of such harsh criticism is a bit of a mystery but it's only fair we should let you know what you're actually paying for.

Gameplay

Without giving too much of the plot away let's just say that Chicken Little and his friends are on a mission and during the adventure you'll not only play as our feathered hero but also as two of his closest cohorts. The game, at its heart, is a platformer but rather than simply being a left to right affair the developers have also included the ability to explore up in the tree tops and down in the city's drainage system. I don't need to tell you how much of an extra dimension this gives the game and even though the bulk of your task is simply collecting items and destroying enemies this extended gaming area makes the whole thing feel far less linear. Some of the items you are collecting can be used to buy things in the local store such as health and continues.

Apart from platforming the developers have seen fit to include two other gaming modes although to be honest these add little to the package's overall value. The first of these is a mildly enjoyable game of dodgeball, which is lifted directly from a scene in the movie. This is a simple case of throwing a ball at your opponent until he or she falls over whilst avoiding their attempts to hit you. The problem here is that the AI is a little too dumb making it very easy to win. Even less fun is the driving section, which take its inspiration from the likes of Racing Gears Advance and Driven and which really has too many downsides to mention, but if your idea of fun is driving at 14 miles an hour on a road significantly more slippery than ice then you probably require more help than this game can deliver.

Controls

The control system has been kept as simple as possible with the intended audience very much in mind and even though the characters you control only differ slightly in their movements there's still help at hand. This is provided by a series of coins scattered throughout the levels. Standing beside one causes a kind of 'ghost' to demonstrate a new move as and when you need it. The only real problem is with the level navigation (especially when a location has two parts) as the map interface may be too confusing for some very younger gamers.

Graphics

While you might expect any Disney title to be visually flawless this isn't always the case although developers 2AM appear to have got it just right with Chicken Little. The result is an extensive use of imagery from the film, with some wonderful cut screens, featuring sizeable portraits of all the main characters and a generous amount of humorous and fluid animation. The real bonus though, is that rather than just concentrating on the characters, the designers have seen fit to make many of the objects interactive too and almost everything you see can be destroyed or overturned in some manor.

Sound

The audio is very pleasing indeed with the music firmly on the 'well composed and executed' side of the fence rather than the irritating and repetitive tunes we've had of late. As usual there are no voice samples but at least the developers have more than made up for it with some well thought out sound effects.

Final comments

Chicken Little is a perfect example of just what a film tie-in could and should be and despite its various shortcomings it's still a very enjoyable little game. This is mostly down to its pick up and play qualities but the overall production values can't be ignored and it's a refreshing change for a GBA product to actually enhance the movie experience rather than being an excuse to extract a little more cash from the cinemagoer. On the down side there are some gaming aspects which should never have made it past the testing phase but if you ignore these you have what has to be one of the surprise GBA releases of the past few months and, therefore, definitely worth a look.

Pro: Looks Wonderful, Great Animation, Solid Platforming Action.
Con: Only for Younger Gamers, The Racing Mode.
Final score: 7.3

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