Fat Chicken (PC) Review

By Athanasios 14.12.2014

Review for Fat Chicken on PC

Being one of the most popular strategy sub-genres of the past eight or so years, tower defence games have come in all shapes and sizes. In terms of innovation, though, Fat Chicken blows away the competition, since instead of enemies that must be wiped-out before reaching a base or something, here there are some animals that must be kept alive, healthy and as plump as possible, before meeting their maker at the slaughterhouse. This is a nice variation of an already fun, basic concept, but was that ever enough in the real-time strategy arena? After Cubed3's recent hands-on preview with the title, now it is time to deliver the final verdict.

The purpose? To make lots of dough. How? Well, how else? By selling chicken wings, pork chops and juicy beef steaks. Before doing so, however, livestock animals must be taken care of, in order to make high quality meat chunks… and, of course, money. Instead of actual farmers, though, everything is done by towers that can be placed in the map, towers that "shoot" food, water and even growth hormones and antibiotics at the passing chickens, pigs and cows.

Each level starts with a small a sum of money that the player must use to do a bit of basic tower building. After that, the animals will start following a road that starts from a comfortable barn and leads to a slightly less comfortable place, before being turned into chow. Even at the beginning, where the only problem will be keeping livestock well-fed and plumpy, Fat Chicken turns out to be a pleasantly challenging experience, requiring a decent amount of strategic thinking if wanting to get the best out of each wave of marching dinner.

Positioning towers can be a tricky business. Place a "feeder" too close to the starting line and it loses its value, place it too far ahead and those tasty little beasts will become less tasty, or even die. Balance is also very important, so while it's bad when livestock die from hunger, it's even worse when they overeat and blow up! A lot of annoying trial-and-error is needed to get accustomed to the game mechanics, but in a way that's actually part of the fun here.

Screenshot for Fat Chicken on PC

New tools and problems are introduced in each level, adding both to the fun and challenge factor. The need for better planning increases, because after the simple task of feeding some chickens, there is a need to take care of pigs and cows, diseases that spread out, tree-hugging protesters and even UFOs! Things can soon get boring, however, simply because the new stuff is rarely really new. One example: why have both hormone and feeding towers, as well as watering and genet-O ones, when all of them pretty much do the same thing? It's an illusion of diversity when in reality there isn't any.

Concerning the replay value, there is both good and bad news. The good? Up to three stars can be given on the progress made in a level, a task that is thankfully not a walk in the park. Even better, these have a serious practical value, since they can be used to buy upgrades for the various tools of the trade. Unfortunately, there is little room for experimentation and alternative strategies, especially when it comes to tower placement where things are somewhat "black or white." This keeps people from trying a level more than once, thus lowering the overall replay value.

The few pieces of text poke fun at corporate greed, as well as the uber-environmentalist movement. Fortunately, it's not preachy or anything, since it just tries to create a fun atmosphere. This certainly gives character to the whole experience, but that can't hide the main problem. Fat Chicken claims to be a "reverse" tower defence strategy, yet that end ups just being a small gimmick whose charm soon fades out. Sure, it's not bad and it's entertaining while it lasts… yet it just doesn't last that long.

Screenshot for Fat Chicken on PC

Cubed3 Rating

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

The good thing about Fat Chicken is that it deviates from most tower defence titles and offers something new. Add to that a cute exterior, easy-going hillbilly music, and subtle satire on the food industry's mega corporations and here is a product worth trying out. Bad things, however, become evident after some hours of gameplay. The lack of an adequate depth - a must in real-time strategies - a facade of variety, and low-replay value make this otherwise fun trip to the US farmlands more like a good rental than a great buy.

Developer

Mighty Rabbit

Publisher

Relevant

Genre

Strategy

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  6/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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