Rocketbirds Singleplayer
The main gist of the game is the single player where you are Hardboiled Chicken on your mission to do whatever it is hardboiled chickens do. Alright, to overthrow evil and restore order. It’s cliche, I know, but it’s all so wonderfully executed that you don’t really care.
Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is a platformer along the lines of Contra although the shooting is only horizontal, except for the Jet Paction levels (that’s jet pack action). There are also some environmental puzzles that need to be done in order to move forward which is done by switch/door/key combinations and also by taking control of enemies, more on that later.
One of the weapons you get, aside from standard grenades and guns, are the brain bugs which allow you to take control of nearby enemies. This is a great mechanic and didn’t at all feel contrived just to make the puzzles more complex. It was so natural that I didn’t even stop to think about it. What? I’ve got to toss this bug and take control of that enemy? Well, OK! Off I went doing just that. Plus, there’s some perverse pleasure in, when you’re done using them, having them shoot themselves (probably part of the reason the game has an M rating).
Interspersed between flat out shooting missions are those environmental puzzles and then of course the jet pack levels which are reminiscent of Time Pilot, sort of. This makes for a really interesting set of missions, of which there are fifteen in all. The game should run you about 5-7 hours depending on how much of a completionist you are. If you’re full on, must find everything, it might two complete run throughs.
I say that because each mission level has some signs hidden in them. When you find the first, another becomes available somewhere in the level and then another. So it’s entirely possible that you might breeze through several missions without even going after the signs and then need to turn around and go back. Which is OK because the game is fun and it’s worth a couple play throughs.
Don’t worry, whenever you like, you can skip any movie. Also, while I’m not a fan of 3D gameplay just yet, it is available here, stereoscopic 3D at 60fps in 720p.
