Disney's Chicken Little
Avalanche drops Tak to give Disney a proper licensed platformer. We offer hands-on impressions of an early build.
Published: August 22, 2005
If you had to bet on one thing happening in the video game industry, bet on the latest Disney property becoming a licensed game. You could probably place a side bet on said licensed game being wholly mediocre, too, but here you'd probably lose that cash.
See, Buena Vista Games, Disney's video game offshoot, decided to hook up with the talented guys at Avalanche, who had a hand in crafting the surprisingly decent Tak games for THQ. Now, given the resources and assets offered by Disney, they're trying to make a playable version of Chicken Little that lives up to the on-screen action.
We got a little extended hands-on time with an early build of the game (so early, in fact, that some levels weren't textured yet and much of the pre-rendered cutscenes were nothing more than animatics or storyboards with voice acting), and walked away surprisingly impressed with Avalanche's treatment of the source material.
For those not keeping up on Disney's first non-Pixar CG movie, the story centers around Chicken Little, post-"The sky is falling!" incident as he tries to overcome a tarnished name, school bullies and a concerned dad all while realizing that, ironically, the sky really is falling. The game more or less mirrors the events of the movie, taking a familiar licensed game approach by showing a short snippet of the movie, and then building upon that scene to craft a full level to explore.
In the case of our game/movie, it all begins with CL missing the bus to school. This of course means only one thing: a dash to get there in time through town, all while learning the controls of the game proper through fun little tutorials. Avalanche's Tak pedigree shows here, as the animations for the little guy, the basic platforming and even the random item collection all have a very familiar vibe.
Even the first few moments of launching into CL's world offer some obvious little touches, however. Stuff like little streams of dust cascading off grass ledges when the little guy runs near them, or the almost roller coaster-like sequences where CL slides down some random pipes snaking through the town (no, we don't know why they're there either) all add a wonderful level of personality to the levels.
Those same levels, be it the hilly town you start off in, a little duck into a theatre and exploration of the town square to find bits of a baseball uniform, exploration of a couple of farmhouses or a snaking stream all provide for plenty of jumping elements, a smattering of light combat, and even a little humor.
The controls are your standard platformer fare; X jumps, Square attacks, and Circle allows CL to use his yo-yo to do things like lumberjack shimmy up poles or zip down power lines. The overall feel of the game isn't especially complex, moves-wise, but then that's probably the idea. Double-jumps are commonplace, and the different collectibles offer the usual sort of faux replayability (if you're the collecting type), but there are moments of genuine creativity in the level design.
The aforementioned first tutorial level finally gives way to the schoolyard proper, where (of course) the front doors are locked and the only way in seems to be an open window high up on one of the school walls. Left with no other option, CL has to collect enough coins scattered around the level (again, it's a nice showcase for how much complexity and use of varying levels of height the game offers) to buy a bottle of soda.
After shaking it and strapping it to his back, the bottle transforms into a jet pack and the level instantly goes from a simple platforming affair to an on-rails flying sequence. It's actually rather cool to re-explore some of the parts you just ran through, check out a few ones you'd normally never be able to reach, and then finish out the level. It's a perfect little distraction from the otherwise normal platforming bits the game is mainly made up of.
Even inside the school there's a little deviation from the norm, however. A quick top-down game of dodgeball (where dashing out of the way and throwing are accomplished with any of the shape buttons), and then a Crash Bandicoot-style dash towards the camera while CL outruns a school bully, all while jumping over felled lockers and around students. It's certainly nothing new, but the constant mix of different play styles does make for a far more interesting platformer.
The next few levels we played were more of those standard jumping bits. There were a few zipline and grapple elements, but it's still the game's bread and butter, and what's there is solid enough. Some of the hit detection and the scripting for a few sequences got messed up towards the end, but we're guessing we were getting near the end of what was complete in the build anyway.
Incomplete or not, the game certainly does look like it's shaping up to be something more than your typical quick and dirty licensed kids' game. The animations (especially the adorable little dancing bits CL does as a level loads), color palette, complexity in levels, variety in gameplay and overall polish even early on certainly indicates this could be one of the first licensed games in a while we wouldn't mind recommending to family members during the holidays. Let's just hope the rest of the game turns out as interesting.
See, Buena Vista Games, Disney's video game offshoot, decided to hook up with the talented guys at Avalanche, who had a hand in crafting the surprisingly decent Tak games for THQ. Now, given the resources and assets offered by Disney, they're trying to make a playable version of Chicken Little that lives up to the on-screen action.
We got a little extended hands-on time with an early build of the game (so early, in fact, that some levels weren't textured yet and much of the pre-rendered cutscenes were nothing more than animatics or storyboards with voice acting), and walked away surprisingly impressed with Avalanche's treatment of the source material.
For those not keeping up on Disney's first non-Pixar CG movie, the story centers around Chicken Little, post-"The sky is falling!" incident as he tries to overcome a tarnished name, school bullies and a concerned dad all while realizing that, ironically, the sky really is falling. The game more or less mirrors the events of the movie, taking a familiar licensed game approach by showing a short snippet of the movie, and then building upon that scene to craft a full level to explore.
In the case of our game/movie, it all begins with CL missing the bus to school. This of course means only one thing: a dash to get there in time through town, all while learning the controls of the game proper through fun little tutorials. Avalanche's Tak pedigree shows here, as the animations for the little guy, the basic platforming and even the random item collection all have a very familiar vibe.
Even the first few moments of launching into CL's world offer some obvious little touches, however. Stuff like little streams of dust cascading off grass ledges when the little guy runs near them, or the almost roller coaster-like sequences where CL slides down some random pipes snaking through the town (no, we don't know why they're there either) all add a wonderful level of personality to the levels.
Those same levels, be it the hilly town you start off in, a little duck into a theatre and exploration of the town square to find bits of a baseball uniform, exploration of a couple of farmhouses or a snaking stream all provide for plenty of jumping elements, a smattering of light combat, and even a little humor.
The controls are your standard platformer fare; X jumps, Square attacks, and Circle allows CL to use his yo-yo to do things like lumberjack shimmy up poles or zip down power lines. The overall feel of the game isn't especially complex, moves-wise, but then that's probably the idea. Double-jumps are commonplace, and the different collectibles offer the usual sort of faux replayability (if you're the collecting type), but there are moments of genuine creativity in the level design.
The aforementioned first tutorial level finally gives way to the schoolyard proper, where (of course) the front doors are locked and the only way in seems to be an open window high up on one of the school walls. Left with no other option, CL has to collect enough coins scattered around the level (again, it's a nice showcase for how much complexity and use of varying levels of height the game offers) to buy a bottle of soda.
After shaking it and strapping it to his back, the bottle transforms into a jet pack and the level instantly goes from a simple platforming affair to an on-rails flying sequence. It's actually rather cool to re-explore some of the parts you just ran through, check out a few ones you'd normally never be able to reach, and then finish out the level. It's a perfect little distraction from the otherwise normal platforming bits the game is mainly made up of.
Even inside the school there's a little deviation from the norm, however. A quick top-down game of dodgeball (where dashing out of the way and throwing are accomplished with any of the shape buttons), and then a Crash Bandicoot-style dash towards the camera while CL outruns a school bully, all while jumping over felled lockers and around students. It's certainly nothing new, but the constant mix of different play styles does make for a far more interesting platformer.
The next few levels we played were more of those standard jumping bits. There were a few zipline and grapple elements, but it's still the game's bread and butter, and what's there is solid enough. Some of the hit detection and the scripting for a few sequences got messed up towards the end, but we're guessing we were getting near the end of what was complete in the build anyway.
Incomplete or not, the game certainly does look like it's shaping up to be something more than your typical quick and dirty licensed kids' game. The animations (especially the adorable little dancing bits CL does as a level loads), color palette, complexity in levels, variety in gameplay and overall polish even early on certainly indicates this could be one of the first licensed games in a while we wouldn't mind recommending to family members during the holidays. Let's just hope the rest of the game turns out as interesting.
