Chuckie Egg 2017

As a massive fan of the original Chuckie Egg from the eighties there is something about this modern take on the classic that doesn't quite 'do it' for me. There are certain game mechanics that don't feel true to the original. For instance; where's the bounce mechanic against the egde of platforms that you could rely on to get to others? Also, the soundtrack and sound effects don't seem to fit the game - they sound somewhat generic that suit it. A major gripe though is that you can't see the whole level on screen at once - it relies on scrolling as you move around, allowing little planning ahead where you're going to go next as you cannot see where the 'ostriches' (ostriches? Really?!) are until you move closer to them. I'm somewhat disappointed in buying this game. Oh, and nowhere in the original does it say that the main protaganist, Hen House Harry, is in fact a chick - I always assumed he was a Human.

[h1]History[/h1] The original Chuckie Egg was released in 1983 on the BBC and converted to many 8 bit systems, in fact 1983 was a very good year as 3 iconic games came out, those were Manic Miner, Lode Runner and Chuckie Egg and had cult status so it's nice to see a new version of Chuckie Egg. [h1]Graphics[/h1] This version of Chuckie Egg as you would imagine has fully updated graphics, new colour scheme but first thing you notice is the size of the graphics which are just too big and can't be compared to the original and as they are large and the levels are no longer on a single screen which is counter productive but the screens do move quite nicely and the animations are fairly smooth and all characters from the original game have been recreated. [h1]Sound[/h1] Pretty standard fare here, a new modern soundtrack which although sounds bouncy and has a casual feel about it really doesn't fit the game at all and to be honest it will get on your nerves if you play the game for more than 10 minutes so you'll end up muting it. Sound effects are very sparse and not many of them so in the original game you had quite a range such as walking or jumping but in this game it's almost quiet so atmosphere isn't great. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Similar to the original but this is where the game falls flat on it face, speed is fine but jumps can be so annoying as they are very short, in the original you could actually have large jumps depending on how much you pulled the joystick but this version it's just set and you end up dying because of it. Getting stuck on ladders and sometimes you can't jump left or right but all gameplay from the original is there but jump is poorly implemented, sometimes there is no way out if a situation and you'll die anyway. AI for most part is fine but predictable but sometimes it behaves very oddly, controls are very floaty and weak which isn't good. [h1]Features[/h1] Just basic featues and very limited options, does have high scrore etc but serves no real purpose as there are no steam leaderboards etc, presentation and intro is fine and does the job but don't expect anything extensive here but there are some other modes other than single player campaign which you might enjoy. [h1]Summary[/h1] This is a game of two halves really, on the one hand it has parts of the original game which will be familiar to those that know of Chuckie Egg but you feel that you are missing something. The basics of Chuckie Egg is here but execution is poor, looks ok but the colours are dull and the sound is just flat and annoying so no real incentive to play more than a few minutes at a time. Sound pains me because i'm a musician and it just doesn't work in this game. [h1]Rating[/h1] It pains me to see a modern version of a classic game just not working, wish the original levels were in the game in a retro mode but the dev doesn't intend to do that which is disappointing. I've played both the original BBC and C64 quite extensively over the years but they are light years ahead of this entry so is there any hope for the future? This game is locked in it's mobile roots so unlikely to change, this is my 1st negative review and not something i wanted to do but i have to be honest and say i consider this to be nothing more than imitation retro and very average. I'll give it only 4.5 out of 10 ten as a game in it's own right but as a Chuckie Egg game it's a mediocre 2.0 out of 10 "sorry"