As a polar bear riding a chicken, Chicken Rider is an endless runner built with the same gameplay formula as Jetpack Joyride. Since the game constantly provides new objectives every attempt, the gameplay loop becomes addictive as there is always something to strive for other than achieving a high score.
The player has the ability to double jump but not fly. While this allows the player to reach great heights, it isn’t very accurate as there is only one jump height even if the button is tapped. Making matters worse, there are platform elements that seem like they are not interactive, like they are part of the background, but will kill you if bumped, and vice versa. The visual style, although colorful and cartoony, doesn’t make gameplay any smoother as the confusion between foreground and non-interactive background is staggering.
The gameplay loop of trying to complete three objectives at every attempt is the meat and potatoes of the gameplay hook. However, objectives only apply to individual attempts. For example, say the game asks the player to jump over ten enemies but died after getting eight. The counter resets back to zero on the very next attempt instead of carrying over. This makes some challenges more tedious than they need to be. The good news is, there are tons of elements to unlock, some cosmetic and some gameplay changing. Unlocking everything will take many hours of quality play to have access to everything the game has to offer.
Honestly, there are better endless runners out there, many of which are free (example, Jetpack Joyride), so it is difficult to recommend this one even though it follows the same formula. Although there is some entertainment value to be had in this mobile-turn-Switch game, don’t expect it to have the same level of polish and quality as the more prominent titles in the genre.
Also available on PC and mobile.
SCORE: 5.5/10
Not As Good As: other endless (free) runners
Better Than: some other eShop games
Wait For It: Super Mario Run 2
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz