Bomb Chicken

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Bomb Chicken is a family-friendly Platformer released in 2018 on Nintendo Switch and then ported in 2019 to PC and PlayStation 4. In this game, players take the role of a chicken with the ability to lay bombs instead of eggs, who must escape from a factory with various enemies and deadly mechanisms.

In some ways, Bomb Chicken is closer to a Puzzle-Platformer than a traditional Platformer, because its main character cannot jump. Instead, you can lift yourself up by laying a stack of bombs one atop of the other – just be sure to rush off of the stack before it explodes.

This is just one of the ways Bomb Chicken makes use of its central mechanic, and I credit this game with having some really creative level design to maximize the use of that mechanic and continue to provide new and interesting challenges as you progress through the game. It does eventually start to feel limiting to only have one move, but the variety in enemies and environments does a lot to stave off that feeling for quite a while.

The presentation is another element that works very well here. Bomb Chicken uses 2D pixel art visuals that are very well animated, and they give this game’s characters a ton of personality, from your fat chicken’s dopey gait to the various things the enemies busy themselves with doing while not paying attention to the explosives planted right next to them. These visuals are backed by a subdued soundtrack that seems meant for a Stealth game (which this isn’t), which works more or less, though isn’t very memorable.

Overall, Bomb Chicken is a clever, thoughtful take on the Platformer genre that makes good use of its bomb-laying mechanic thanks to solid level design. Your limited abilities do feel restrictive at times, but the overall solid design of this game generally makes up for that, resulting in a well-crafted and unique spin on the genre well worth checking out.

tl;dr – Bomb Chicken is a Platformer where players can’t jump, but instead take the role of a chicken laying bombs to take on enemies, remove obstacles, and lift themselves up to reach new heights. While this game’s one move can get a bit restrictive at times, overall the excellent level design makes up for that, resulting in a clever spin on the genre worth checking out.

Grade: B+

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