CHICKEN RUN

   

Re-live the hilarious action from the blockbuster film.

Ginger is a chicken on a mission, she bravely leads the flock in a number of wild and wacky escape attempts from the barbed wire confines of Tweedy's farm.

To do this she enlists the help of Rocky, a smooth-talking American rooster and the cheeky cockney rodents Nick & Fetcher. Will they all make it to freedom before they end up as chicken pies? Their fate is in your hands!

A fantastic comedy adventure with all the humour of the movie and plenty of zany escape plans. Feathers are going to fly!

Key Features

• Huge detailed 3D immersive environments.
• Characters, voices and locations based on the film.
• Highly involving gameplay and an easy control system.
• Something for everyone including stealth, puzzle-solving and arcade elements.

~ from the back of the box

If you’re a Brit, chances are you grew up watching Aardman. Creature Comforts, Wallace and Gromit, Morph; all are staples of our childhood so when Nick Park and Peter Lord would apply their plasticine to the big screen, it was huge deal. Chicken Run was the result, and it’s an absolute classic. Essentially The Great Escape with chickens, the tie-in video game would take its own novel approach – Metal Gear Solid… with chickens.

Developed by perennial creators of licenced fluff Blitz Games, Chicken Run was among the first games made by the company. They hadn’t quite become jaded with the many Bratz games or reality TV spin-offs (and Yoostar) so the approach they took with the clay chickens was quite novel. Depending on the situation, you play as Ginger, Rocky or rat-pack Nick and Fletcher as they hunt for items to aid their escape. Dogs prowl the coup ready to pounce if they see or hear you, while Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy scour the premises with a flashlight. If your caught, you’ll one of your items will be confiscated and you’ll be returned to the hen house unscathed yet angry.

Plans detail what you need to find. Collect all items and return to the pen numbered in red (left)
Some require light puzzling to retrieve, like this dress that was once hanging on the clothes line (right).

I can imagine this stealthy style of gameplay won’t come naturally to the young and impatient. Even I managed to strut into the path of a Tweedy on multiple occasions. You do have some tricks to avoid detection. Scattered around the area are containers filled with Brussel sprouts. If one of the canine security guards get close, you can distract them by throwing a single orb of veg. It doesn’t work so well on the Tweedys but they’re not as observant. Hide in a side-turned crate or reach a higher ledge and you’re out of their eyesight.

On the bottom right of the screen is a radar, which will not only detail nearby threats but also highlight needed items. Every chapter, Ginger and the Scottish inventor chicken Mac will conjure up a plan or three and provide a checklist of items to find. To begin with, you need two halves of some shears to cut open a hole in a rusted fence, but later catapults, rocket launchers and drag costumes are the order of the day. The radar will beep faster when you’re near and if they’re not lying on the ground you may need to solve a puzzle to get it. These aren’t too taxing, but are very much welcome.

Your inventory screen will give you access to a map, your plans and items (left).
Get caught and a random item will return to its hiding spot (right).

While stealth action makes up the bulk of the game, it isn’t the only style of gameplay to be found. Like every other tie-in we have mini-games! Always accessible in one of the barracks is a game of catching eggs. Feed the mother hens chicken feed to fill them up so the pop out eggs. Catch them when the reach the end of the chute to earn points or lose them if dropped. It’s a fun diversion that can be as big or small a part of your play through as you want, though it will become mandatory later on. Others involve chicken shoots, chicken bouncing or awkwardly running away from dogs dressed as Mrs. Tweedy. These aren’t exactly where the game shines, but they are short enough to make memorable instead of frustrating.

Eventually, you’ll have access to the entire farm and the items within needed for that final contraption. The farm is fairly detailed for a PlayStation game and is decently varied considering the location doesn’t change at all throughout the meagre (though lengthy) three “Acts”. With Sony’s first console being the main platform, all others on comparable systems were direct ports. Unfortunately, they are poor ones at that. The only way I could play the PC port was through PCEm and it runs fairly well, though not as smooth as either of the consoles. Controlling the thing is another matter. Input which was once made using a controller is now slapped on the keyboard with no thought to its placement (or a means to actually change it). In-game, they are referred to as Roman numerals, but the keys they’re assigned to don’t map to that order; I is mapped to X, II to C, III to S etc.… Make sure you read the ChamberNotes or the PDF manual to get an idea of everything.

Playing the DreamCast version works well, having more solid character models allowed by the higher processing power, but it ultimately a little worse than the PlayStation game. The lighting effects have been downgraded and the image looks a lot darker, but my primary reason to stick with the PS original is down to the widescreen hack. On the DreamCast, no polygons are rendered outside of its borders but they are on Sony’s machine. Couple that with upscaling the internal resolution and removing jitters and we have the best looking version of the game possible. The added screen space also makes stealthing around the farm a far more enjoyable experience as we can see more of the farm at once. This is my preferred way to play. Take a look at the screenshots at the end of the page to see comparisons.

The GameBoy Color game goes the puzzle route. Lay feed to guide chickens to the exit (left).
Make sure you turn off traps and other obstacles to make the path as safe as possible (right).

There is one more option though; the GameBoy Color game. Also developed by Blitz Games and published by Eidos, this version of Chicken Run is a whole new game. Again, the obvious 2D platform route is eschewed for something more original; a puzzle game. This one play a little like Lemmings, as we play as Ginger guiding brainless chickens to the exit by placing a trail of chicken feed. She’ll have to find the best route by clearing obstacles, blocking cameras and hiding from sight which is more difficult than it sounds. The brood is utterly brainless, requiring a big dump of feed to keep them occupied and away from walking into laser beams or trap doors. It’s incredibly fun and something of a hidden gem for the system. Worth a go if you can distract yourself away from the main feature.

These Chicken Run games are something of an anomaly for the time - a movie licence that swerves away from the norm. The stealth action of the home console ports are entertaining while it lasts, capturing the charm of the movie perfectly. Even the handheld game can boast some great gameplay. I can imagine most discerning gamers would’ve left either of these on the shelf back in 2000, but without a doubt both could be considered as some of the better licenced games of the era. Recommended.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses PCem running Windows '98. Press Ctrl-Alt-PgDown to toggle fullscreen. Press Ctrl-End or middle mouse button to release the mouse. Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

IMPORTANT - Do not close PCEm without shutting down the emulate Windows '98 operating system. This could potentially result in errors, lost saves and corrupt data. The program will automatically shut down when you exit the game via the in-game menu.

File Size: 688 Mb.  Install Size: 969 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download PC Version


To download the PlayStation Edition, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses Retroarch with the Mednafen Beetle PSX, Mednafen Beetle HW and TGB Dual cores to emulate the PlayStation and GameBoy Color. X-input and other controllers supported. PlayStation Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 508 Mb.  Install Size: 762 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download PlayStation Version


To download the DreamCast Edition, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses Retroarch with the Flycast and TGB Dual cores to emulate the DreamCast and GameBoy Color. X-input and other controllers supported. DreamCast Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 990 Mb.  Install Size: 1.09 Gb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download DreamCast Version

PC WINDOWS '98

SONY PLAYSTATION

SEGA DREAMCAST

GAMEBOY COLOR

Chicken Run is © DreamWorks LLC, Aardman Chicken Run Ltd & Pathé Image
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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