Game Review: Chicken Invaders 5 Cluck of The Dark Side
Chicken Invaders 5 by Interaction Studios
I am not a big fan of the shmup games, being more of a gamebook guy. By the way, check out our lists of great gamebooks - one, two. That is why, a relaxing, funny and colorful Cluck of the Dark Side made a gorgeous getaway from all the serious stuff. It makes you feel good about your own shooting skills, throwing in a good deal of humor, awesome visuals, smooth gameplay and a ton of customization. What's not to love?
Requirements
Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1; 1024 MB RAM memory; DirectX version 8.1. Mac OS X 10.4; Intel processor; 1024 MB RAM memory. 32-bit Linux (or 64-bit Linux with 32-bit drivers); 1024 MB RAM memory. 220 MB available space for either OS.
Cluck of The Dark Side is also available on iOS, Windows Phone and Android, but touch controls are not nearly as smooth on mobile devices, as the traditional mouse and keyboard on PC.
Gameplay
The fifth iteration is a logical evolution of the game series. Basically, it is a beefed up, classical Chicken Invaders game with better everything – visuals, guns, spaceship customization, variety of alien poultry, levels, layouts, and challenges.
The story remains the same – hoards of chickens are flying towards our planet to enslave us, or worse. A lone space ranger is traditionally having his lunch at a Space Burger diner, when megatons of dark chicken feathers cloud the sun, leaving our planet in darkness. And so, begins the fifth crusade of the space ranger against the multilayered , perfectly organized offense of the alien chickens.
Each level takes place in a different solar system, sometimes in the atmosphere of strange alien planets, where you not only fight the invader, but also dodge deadly traps found in hostile, alien atmospheres. Beautiful underwater flowers are deadly, as much as the highly electrified atmosphere filled with storms and lightnings. Cosmic feathers, asteroids, black holes, drones, and a great variety of chickens storm at you from every direction.
The chickens come in all forms and ages – young and old, menacing and funny; there is even an unlockable option to have them fly in their underwear. The bosses are fun, too - preserving the traditional boss types, the developer adds more polish and glam to the space crabs, twin chicks, egg stations.
In between the levels, kids love to watch the beautiful cut-scenes, accompanied by hilarious dialogs.
Replay Value
There are 12 levels, each with some ten waves of incoming invaders, a special level to acquire the special weapons and a boss fight. All that amounts to a few days of moderate gameplay, in one game instance only. The more you advance, the more difficult get the levels, and you get to replay them several times to move on.
There are several difficulty settings – rookie, veteran, extreme. Besides, you can play solos, or fly with a wingman, as well as engage in awesome multiplayer over your local network, or online. Moreover, two players can play on the same computer using different control options.
All those options amount to an immense replay value, and considering the undemanding fun of it, Chicken Invaders 5 will be a resident game on your device for those moments when you just feel like relaxing with a fun, beautiful, a bit silly space shoot-them-up.
Pros
- 13 powerful weapons with 12 upgrades each – you know you need to collect those colorful energy bolts to increase their power
- Awesome unlockables – collect those golden keys as you fight. It may not be immediately clear what they do, but in between the fighting, go to Options, and find the Unlockable perks – you can have a different space background, or unlock some cool customization options for your spaceship, or have the UI display your ship's status and the progress of the level, or, as I mentioned, have the chicken attack in their underwear
- Up to 4-player co-op
- Multiplayer over your local network, or online
- 12 complex levels (10 waves each) taking place in different star systems, in space, underwater, in the atmospheres
- Gorgeous visuals, great variety of environments
- 30 bonuses, 15 medals
- Traditional Chicken Invaders orchestral soundtrack, but even if you get tired of it, you can just mute the music
- Customizable graphic options, music, gameplay, controller options
- Customizable spaceship and weapons
- Global leader boards
- As usual, a great sense of humor in the gameplay and the wonderful cut-scenes
- Excellent replay value
- Fun, entertaining, recreational gameplay
Cons
- The only con I can point a finger at is the mobile port is not at par with its desktop version. It is equally beautiful and fun, but the touch controls make it not so fun to play even on a tablet – sometimes you just need to remove your finger to see the dangers. Add deadly chicken poop and eggs, and you will be dying a lot more on mobile than on desktop.
Conclusion
Chicken Invaders 5 Cluck of the Dark Side is a gorgeous and ridiculously fun shmup for players of all ages. Of course, its main audience is the people who played the previous installments of the game, but if you are a newcomer looking for a fun, quality go-to time killer with awesome visuals, smooth performance, fun customization options and a ton of replay value, get Cluck of the Dark Side. Fight in the outer space, under water, in strange hostile atmosphere of far-away planets, and get back to Earth to expel the alien chicks. Customize your spaceship, change galactic backgrounds as you please, customize your weapons, unlock numerous options to help you in your battle.
If your major fear is that the fifth game would be just like the previous ones, you are wrong. Cluck of the Dark side offers great new features – Darth Chickens, soldier chickens, night time battles, underwater adventures, Earth atmosphere fight, great deal of weapons and a fully customizable spaceship, a ton of awards, medals, unlockables and bonuses, new enemy attack patterns, greater challenges, awesome multiplayer and more are in store for you. Finally, don't play it if you are on a diet – tons of hamburgers, roasted chickens and chicken legs are all over the game, so you are sure to salivate at some point.
