Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken - A very silly game that was surprisingly good

I bought this game a long time ago out of Contra nostalgia and I really didn't expect much from it since even way back then it was only $5, even less if you steal it on a torrent. It's still $5 to this day and I am sure that there are some bundles out there that include it for free.

Don't let the silly name and whimsical nature of the game take you away from the fact that this is actually a very well made game that is a lot of fun.

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This is an adventure shooter platformer of sorts but it doesn't try to take itself seriously. You are a grizzled chicken commando named Hardboiled Chicken (I think) and you basically just run around solving puzzles and shooting the hell out of mostly inept guards.

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I call in "Contra-like" but that isn't really a good way of describing it other than the fact that it is mostly a side-scroller and you have a bunch of different weapons that you pick up along the way. Contra was really hard by default and resulted in "The Code." Rocketbirds, like a lot of games like it, is largely up to you how difficult it is going to be. I played it on normal mode and didn't die a lot but I did have a ton of fun.

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Certain elements of it seem to almost be a piss-take of Nazism but thankfully nobody got their panties in a bunch over this because the game is just plain silly the entire way through. You are a commando for the people (chickens) and your sworn duty is to take down the evil empire lead by a penguin army.

There are subtle aspects of platforming and puzzles, although I wouldn't say any of them are going to make your brain work too hard. This isn't exactly Myst. For the most part you just progress the the right doing flips and blowing away anyone that stands in your path. Certain segments of it involve optional stealth, but screw that man, I just went in guns a blazing! I've never much cared for stealth in games to begin with.

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Since I am an older gamer that grew up in simpler times when controllers only had a couple of buttons on them (sometimes just one) I tend to enjoy games that take me back to the days when this was basically every game that was released, only with much better graphics and a kick-ass soundtrack.

I think if you have a spare five bucks and you want some mindless good fun this could be a good way to spend your money. Or if you are a stingy prick it is very easy to find on all of the torrent sites but be a good lad ok? If you like it, buy it because doing so encourages small studios like Ratloop Asia to continue to give us some hidden silly gems like this. I'm not sure why, but the company hasn't made anything since 2017 despite not being out of business.