Gameplay:

The gameplay will involve battling evil alien robots, jumping, disarming traps and opening doors. There are multiple levels that range across the solar system. Combat and foes come in three distinct play modes. Ace travels on foot or hovers with a jet pack. Runt the pig drives a tank topped with a cannon. And Abby the Ugly Duck flies a tipsy hovership.

The original developer Avalanche is back once again. In the 2005 movie the fable of Chicken Little was rewritten so that the old story is transformed from the traditional "sky is falling" motif into a more modern story of an alien invasion. There are three main gameplay types to be found. These are spread over four planets with six missions in each. When you are playing as Ace you get third-person shooter action levels, where you are mainly blasting at robots with an inaccurate auto targeting system. Hopping along over the texture-less scenery, he unlocks lots of doors. There are enormous bosses to deal with and the mobs increase as the game progresses. Some comparisons have been made to Ratchet and Clank, or many of the other better kid's games out there.

Abby the Ugly Duckling, operates a hovership that flies badly and sort of bobs around. It is underpowered and can barely be called flying even with the turbo boost that you can give it by hitting the X button. For example the hovercraft mini - game that is inside the beach house in the game Bully operates ten times better than this flying machine does, and it's a frustrating and integral part of the Chicken Little game. Say what you want about Rockstar, but every aspect of those games is well thought out down to every detail and is designed for maximum fun. Given a choice between the two games for my ten year old niece I wouldn't be wasting money on this rush job of a game for her.

For Ace the health packs are plentiful, and do respawn in the same places, which is helpful, since as a 3D platformer he often falls off the indistinguishable backgrounds to his death. There are a multitude of problems with the controls and the camera. Ace can only hop sideways, and he can't turn effectively to see what is around him. The targeting with his guns is bad, and both the targeting system and the camera are all on one analog stick. The targeting should have been mapped to the R1 button on the PS2 for example. Ace has no real way to defend himself or to repel oncoming missiles.

Each of the characters tackles a specific location or activity to apply their specified skills. The missions on land are up to Ace and Runt. While the space combat missions are taken on by Abby the ugly and her persnickity aircraft. Ace uses blasters for most of his combat. There are grenades which are pick ups that are available all over each level. The health and energy for his shield are also the same. There isn't a way to control the shielding. Ace can use his jetpack to hover briefly, which comes in handy for jumping, and shooting at targets. It is the only way to avoid being fired on besides dodging behind obstacles, which the enemies quickly blast apart.

Thankfully since the game is geared to kids, dying isn't too bad. It places you right back in the game not far from where you left off, without too much repetition, sort of like Evil Dead Regenerations. Actually more games for adults should adopt a system like it to avoid all the tedious backtracking that you often find in console games.

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