Chicken Invaders II Christmas Edition

Chicken Invaders II: The Christmas Edition is a spin-off of the second chapter of the highly successful InterAction Studios game series. The premise of the game is that a species of aliens, who are essentially chickens, are vastly superior to humans in technological advances and weaponry. These alien chickens are bearing down on earth, determined to avenge their earth-chicken brethren's shoddy treatment (that is, being eaten) at the hands of the humans.

Each instalment of the game involves a lone spaceship, traversing the depths of space, coming across wave after wave of the chicken invaders' spaceships. Gifts occasionally sleet across the screen and if captured by our heroes, they are shown to contain power-ups. Each shot-down chicken craft turns into drumsticks which can be collected. Once enough drumsticks have been caught, they are exchanged for a powerful missile, strong enough to wipe out an entire wave of chicken invaders in one fell swoop. However, in all levels except the asteroid belt (usually the ninth level of the game) the player is rewarded for NOT using missiles to defeat their enemy.

The alien chickens are not entirely defenceless, dropping their own deadly weapons that look like eggs.

In the Christmas edition, the drumsticks are replaced with holly leaves and the chicken warriors drop Christmas baubles instead of the usual eggs.

The game's appeal to two-fold: first, there is a quirky sense of humour at play that greatly adds to the enjoyment of the game. Secondly, for those who do not have much of a sense of humour, the gameplay is exciting and challenging, with the waves of chickens arriving on screen in a near continuous stream to keep the player focussing and firing until the level is won.

Pros

• Great quirky backstory and characters
• Fun shoot-em-down game
• Ideal for both younger and older players

Cons

• None known