Everyone loves a good party game, whether that be cooperative or versus, same screen or online, and Clever Endeavour Games know this. Bringing gamers the rather fun, if a little odd Ultimate Chicken Horse to put their wits against each other as they battle to be the best, and become the ultimate chicken, Horse or whatever animal takes your fancy.
As far as party games go, they have a tendency to be a great deal of fun, especially if you have plenty of friends, although they need to be owning a copy of the game, or at the very least, a spare controller to play on the same console as you. This is one of them games that you should not miss out on, as there is plenty of options for you to choose from when it comes to game modes.
Visually, it looks quite basic and if I’m honest it does look like a quickly put together flash game you’d likely find in your browser. For anyone who puts graphics over gameplay, this might be overlooked rather sharpish. I’d say that the simple graphics are charming and in reality, make way for what is a genuinely enjoyable game once you get involved. After all, fun with friends is more important, right?
So what makes Ultimate Chicken Horse so damned fun to play? Well, aside from the multiplayer action you can find in online play, or on the same screen, there is enough game modes to keep you occupied, along with community created levels that have been shared to offer a generous amount of content to keep the game fresh and fun. It’s also worth noting that the community are on the cynical side of things with plenty of deviously designed levels to navigate and challenge your friends. You will also test the upper limits of your friendships when you get to build as you play, setting traps galore, as you strive to be the first one across the finish line. It works both ways though, as you may have put enough pieces down to get to the finish first, only for your friend to set down a devilishly placed crossbow to halt your progress. Infuriating, but if you can beat them to it, you’ll be the one laughing.
There are no AI bots available to compete with though, meaning you will need friends if you want to play competitively, but in all honesty, who wants to play alone with a game like this? It’s been designed with friends in mind, and it’s worth attempting to convince them to join you online or in your own homes. I’m not one for playing games that require interaction with others, and would rather dive into some single player action, but if someone said to me that they’d want to play this with me, I’d bite their hand off. Figuratively speaking of course.
There’s also new content included for the console release, including an elephant playable character, Jungle Temple and Volcano levels, new platforms and traps and a Challenge mode for Xbox One. All this adding to a generous library of blocks and traps already available to create new levels in which you can share with the community and friends. The only limit to the amount of levels available, is imaginations of community members. It really is a game that will thrive for a long time should the right people make that all important purchase, not only to meet new people and keep the game alive, but to support the developers.
The soundtrack is catchy and doesn’t get old. Sure, you’re more likely to drown it out while sharing banter as you taunt your friends as you take turns thwarting each other. But it’s definitely funky to listen too.
Given I’ve had nothing but positive feedback, the time has come to look for any negatives, which I must admit is difficult to find anything remotely bad about Ultimate Chicken Horse. There is the chance that it could be ignored by people who don’t get its simple, unique charm of the graphics, and that the community may be small, along with the fact your friends may not live nearby, should you opt for local gameplay. Given the price you’d pay for the potential amount of almost endless fun though, you have an incredible amount of hours ahead in which you could sour you relationships with friends and strangers alike. It just relies heavily upon whether or not it catches the attention of gamers, who may spend their time online elsewhere on other titles.
Overall, I’d highly recommend Ultimate Chicken Horse, not just for the multiplayer antics, but the competitive nature, customised levels and generally very silly gameplay. It’s a right hoot with friends, and the more involved means more chaos, laughter and cursing. What are you waiting for? Go buy it, and terrorise your friends today.
Overall Score: 9/10
Developer: Clever Endeavour Games
Publisher: Clever Endeavour Games
Release Date: 15th December 2017
Price: £11.99
File Size: 1.50GB
Xbox One copy provided for review purposes
Available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 & Steam