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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Action Developer: DC Studios Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios |
It isn’t very hard to find a bad game based off of a good movie. Luckily, “Chicken Little: Ace in Action” for the Nintendo DS is a great little
action game that is a lot cooler and more enjoyable than most other games based off of a movie. Unfortunately this title is taken down a
few notches by the inclusion of less than stellar secondary modes of play.
Based on the CG Disney film, the game sidesteps the story from the film and focuses on the movie within the movie, where Chicken
Little and his friends were portrayed on the big screen by adults in a science fiction action film. The game follows Ace and his crew as
the battle robots and aliens on their way to defeat the evil Foxy Loxy.
Players run around in eight directions as Ace with the D-Pad and fire in eight different directions using the A, B, X and Y buttons, with a
combination like A+X shoots diagonally. The L button uses a limited shield which also sucks in collectable aliens. The R button turns
Ace’s gun into a grenade launcher, also with eight directions of firing. The control scheme works incredibly well and although the levels
are fairly linear, players will find themselves aiming to the sides and rear constantly as enemies appear from all directions.
Ace begins the game with a basic pea shooter. Collectable icons however give him the use of three other gun types, which can be
switched between by using the touch screen. Although these different weapons add a little variety to the combat, they run out pretty
quickly and none are as reliable as the standard gun. It would have been nice to switch between guns more permanently. A large help
are the modifier icons that can be picked up to modify whatever the current gun is. These icons can give any gun a spread shot, faster
firing or a variety of other useful effects.
Levels and characters are all in full 3D, some of the cleanest 3D seen on the Nintendo DS. Environments feature clay like textures that
match the art design with a lot of personality in their minor details. Right from the very beginning of the game, lava waterfalls pour into
deep canyons with amazing clarity. Game play is presented in a slightly tilted top down perspective and plenty of objects such as
canyon walls and doorway arches swing between the player and the camera to reinforce the 3D environment. Occasionally, this hurts
the game play but those moments are thankfully very rare. Enemies infrequently spawn right on top of the player, resulting in some very
cheap shots. The environments can get a little repetitive and there is definitely a sense of repetitiveness in some of the levels, but it is
forgivable since this never gets in the way of the frenzied action.
Ace is animated with great energy and it is a lot of fun diving him in four directions while firing, watching the tiny hero perform different
maneuvers. Enemies have limited animation but are fairly relentless. This is at times a pretty tough game and younger kids might
have some difficulty getting through some of the levels without dying multiple times. Luckily, restart points are very generous through
the levels, so players never have to replay too much after a death in the game. Boss battles, although very infrequent, are a lot of fun
and may remind players of classic N64 fights.
If the developers would have stopped with Ace, this would have been a nearly perfect action game. Instead, the game alternates
between three different modes: Ace’s on foot combat, Abby’s space shooting from her ship and Runt’s tank battling. Abby’s levels are
pretty forgettable, although the fling and shooting work well enough, these levels are nowhere as clean and balanced as the Ace levels.
Like Ace, Abby has a wide variety of guns, but since she can only fire toward her gun selection feels limited.
Runt’s levels are a bit more engaging, but don’t quite live up to Ace’s. Players roam around in a tiny tank with a huge cannon, players
can dash through enemies and fire in eight directions. There is a very interesting system here where players can drive around targeting
multiple objects and then release a barrage of bombs all at once. The problem is the environments and enemy placements don’t really
support this type of combat. It is a lot easier to just drive around holding the fire button down than to pull off complicated strikes.
Music and sound effects work fine, although nothing really stands out. Unfortunately any voice acting is completely absent from the
game, especially when the lead character was voice by Adam West in the film. Players would expect the game to be filled with quips
and one liners, but the only sounds that Ace ever makes in the game is the random grunting sound when he is hit, and even that doesn’
t sound very good.
This game was very close to be a great game. The levels with Ace feature some of the most exciting combat available on the Nintendo
DS. Unfortunately, that is only about half of the game and the other modes are either lacking in comparison or just lacking altogether. It
is still a game that can be recommended to anyone that is looking for handheld action and the surprisingly deep gun system works
pretty well. However, players planning on trying “Chicken Little: Ace in Action” should expect to find a lot of filler with the quality in this
game.
action game that is a lot cooler and more enjoyable than most other games based off of a movie. Unfortunately this title is taken down a
few notches by the inclusion of less than stellar secondary modes of play.
Based on the CG Disney film, the game sidesteps the story from the film and focuses on the movie within the movie, where Chicken
Little and his friends were portrayed on the big screen by adults in a science fiction action film. The game follows Ace and his crew as
the battle robots and aliens on their way to defeat the evil Foxy Loxy.
Players run around in eight directions as Ace with the D-Pad and fire in eight different directions using the A, B, X and Y buttons, with a
combination like A+X shoots diagonally. The L button uses a limited shield which also sucks in collectable aliens. The R button turns
Ace’s gun into a grenade launcher, also with eight directions of firing. The control scheme works incredibly well and although the levels
are fairly linear, players will find themselves aiming to the sides and rear constantly as enemies appear from all directions.
Ace begins the game with a basic pea shooter. Collectable icons however give him the use of three other gun types, which can be
switched between by using the touch screen. Although these different weapons add a little variety to the combat, they run out pretty
quickly and none are as reliable as the standard gun. It would have been nice to switch between guns more permanently. A large help
are the modifier icons that can be picked up to modify whatever the current gun is. These icons can give any gun a spread shot, faster
firing or a variety of other useful effects.
Levels and characters are all in full 3D, some of the cleanest 3D seen on the Nintendo DS. Environments feature clay like textures that
match the art design with a lot of personality in their minor details. Right from the very beginning of the game, lava waterfalls pour into
deep canyons with amazing clarity. Game play is presented in a slightly tilted top down perspective and plenty of objects such as
canyon walls and doorway arches swing between the player and the camera to reinforce the 3D environment. Occasionally, this hurts
the game play but those moments are thankfully very rare. Enemies infrequently spawn right on top of the player, resulting in some very
cheap shots. The environments can get a little repetitive and there is definitely a sense of repetitiveness in some of the levels, but it is
forgivable since this never gets in the way of the frenzied action.
Ace is animated with great energy and it is a lot of fun diving him in four directions while firing, watching the tiny hero perform different
maneuvers. Enemies have limited animation but are fairly relentless. This is at times a pretty tough game and younger kids might
have some difficulty getting through some of the levels without dying multiple times. Luckily, restart points are very generous through
the levels, so players never have to replay too much after a death in the game. Boss battles, although very infrequent, are a lot of fun
and may remind players of classic N64 fights.
If the developers would have stopped with Ace, this would have been a nearly perfect action game. Instead, the game alternates
between three different modes: Ace’s on foot combat, Abby’s space shooting from her ship and Runt’s tank battling. Abby’s levels are
pretty forgettable, although the fling and shooting work well enough, these levels are nowhere as clean and balanced as the Ace levels.
Like Ace, Abby has a wide variety of guns, but since she can only fire toward her gun selection feels limited.
Runt’s levels are a bit more engaging, but don’t quite live up to Ace’s. Players roam around in a tiny tank with a huge cannon, players
can dash through enemies and fire in eight directions. There is a very interesting system here where players can drive around targeting
multiple objects and then release a barrage of bombs all at once. The problem is the environments and enemy placements don’t really
support this type of combat. It is a lot easier to just drive around holding the fire button down than to pull off complicated strikes.
Music and sound effects work fine, although nothing really stands out. Unfortunately any voice acting is completely absent from the
game, especially when the lead character was voice by Adam West in the film. Players would expect the game to be filled with quips
and one liners, but the only sounds that Ace ever makes in the game is the random grunting sound when he is hit, and even that doesn’
t sound very good.
This game was very close to be a great game. The levels with Ace feature some of the most exciting combat available on the Nintendo
DS. Unfortunately, that is only about half of the game and the other modes are either lacking in comparison or just lacking altogether. It
is still a game that can be recommended to anyone that is looking for handheld action and the surprisingly deep gun system works
pretty well. However, players planning on trying “Chicken Little: Ace in Action” should expect to find a lot of filler with the quality in this
game.
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