368th played so far
Genre: Platform
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1983
Developer: A&F Software
Publisher: A&F Software
Chuckie Egg, although not actually related, looks similar to Manic Miner, the predecessor of the not-that-interesting Bounty Bob Strikes Back. The point here appears to be to collect eggs instead of walking over floors and collect eggs. I’ll be honest – not that excited going into it, this seems too dated and awkward.
Our Thoughts
That played a lot better than we were expecting. First, the different objective of ‘just’ collecting the eggs makes the game a lot more bearable, quite possible in the early levels. The enemies – at the point we got to just ostriches chickens wandering around – are easy to avoid with a bit of care and the focus is as much on platforming, trying to avoid bottomless pits or falling too far.
The controls feel pretty good as well. Walking and jumping at once can feel a bit sticky – a problem I have more often with platform games – but they mostly feel good, tight and easy to learn. The only issue I had was that it could get a bit tricky to climb up ladders.
What impressed us, for a game of its each, how accessible it felt. On the first game, we easily made it to the third level, which even then felt possible to complete despite us not knowing the game. It felt incredibly welcome and fun.
The game’s story is odd enough that it’s worth mentioning here. Basically, you, Hen-House Harry (no Chuckie inside) have gone into the hen house. The hens patrolling the hen house don’t want you to, so finally show themselves as the murderous birds they are. It’s an interesting conceit which don’t match the actual levels, but instead comes across as an extreme excuse. Still, it seems as well integrated as any concept, and at least explains all gameplay concepts, more so than other games of its time.
Final Thoughts
Okay so when I first said that we should play this I may have gotten Chuckie Egg mixed up with Billy Hatcher and the Giant Eggย and, having never played this game on the Gamecube, I wanted to see the previous game in the series. Okay… so I don’t know as much about games as I would like like to have thought.
Anyway, despite being seen as a game that Wikipedia draws comparisons between this and Bounty Bob Strikes Back (well its predecessor Miner 2049er is but we haven’t covered it yet) but this game was so much more fun. Plus there are a lot of birds in it so I’m happy.