Chicken Little Preview

Make a small miscalculation and some folks won’t let you forget. So an acorn fell on your head and you mistook it for the sky is falling. It was a small error, and certainly shouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life.

For goodness sake, look at the boy who cried wolf!  That had more serious consequences but you didn’t see him hounded about it for the rest of his life. Just because your name is Chicken Little, some folks seem to take delight in making your life a nightmare. And the kids are the worst of all. You try to catch a bus for school and they run over you, then drop acorns from the windows as you try to catch up to the bus.

That is the opening moments of the PlayStation 2 game based on the pending Disney film about Chicken Little. The preview disk received showed some moments from the film and it has that typical Disney take, slightly sarcastic and poking fun at more than just the fairy tale, but still a very clever bit of filmwork.

But that almost fails to transcend to the game in the early going as the title borrows more from typical arcade-adventure formulas to create an almost-generic game that sparkles on the graphics front. Notice that the word ‘almost’ was there. Just when you think this is going to be a game you can snooze-control through, it starts to surprise you in a delightful way.

Chicken Little is going to be late for school unless he can find a creative way to get there. Sure, it may mean climbing rock walls, shimmying up poles, zip-lining down from water towers, or grinding pipes (while avoiding steam spouts), but if he is brave and smart, and quick, he will get there. Of course, there are collectibles along the way that you/he must deviate slightly to snag.

When completed (the release date is slated for October) Disney’s Chicken Little will feature 20 levels. But lest you think this is a straightforward and somewhat dull adventure, think again. The school mission is just the start. Chicken Little and his friends – Fish-Out-of-Water, Runt of the Litter and Abby Mallard (aka The Ugly Duckling) will have to use a variety of vehicles and the like, as well as a variety of weapons, to defeat alien invasions, deter asteroids and negotiate cornfield mazes.

There are three difficulty settings and the challenge starts to ramp up as you progress through the game. The dialogue is fairly witty, with Chicken Little poking fun at the shameless movie/game merchandising, and the three-dimensional graphical elements are excellent. The camera is free moving.

It should be noted that both the dialogue and music in this game were placeholders for the preview build. The actual game will feature the celebrity voices from the film. In addition, there will be six two-player minigames in the final version.

While Disney’s Chicken Little was far from complete, the preview build was easy to play (the control scheme was intuitive) and it may have had some typical gameplay mechanics early on, but the whole feel of the title was … well … cute. This is a title that should appeal to younger players, Disney fans, and those looking for wholesome family fun. This is definitely a game to keep an eye for in the coming months.