Chicken Little: Ace in Action for Nintendo DS is a twin-stick shooter (or dual-control when it comes to any platform that lacks sticks), however, unlike Iron Man DS or Monster House DS, this game settles for a traditional control scheme reminiscent of Super Smash TV, where you use a D-Pad for movement and face buttons for shooting.
You take control of 3 characters in the game. As all characters, you can use L button to generate a shield that would absorb projectiles, though the shield charge is limited, though it does slowly regenerate over time. As Ace, you can dodge roll by tapping a direction on the D-Pad twice in quick succession to avoid hazards. Thankfully, this maneuver didn’t feel sensitive enough to the point where I accidently dodge rolled. Then again, I didn’t have moments where I needed to precision position myself, and for the most part, I was on a constant move. You can also hold R button to use limited grenades to do more damage or pick out multiple enemies at once. Speaking of limited, there are 4 ammo types for each character, with the standard shot being unlimited, naturally, with limited ammo refills that can be found as some of the game’s power-ups, and those unique types being generally more powerful, as you can assume. The next character is Runt, with his tank. He is a bit slower to move, including changing shooting direction, but dashing can be used to ram into enemies (the dashing actually takes away the shield charge), and the R button is used for locking explosives onto multiple enemies instead of throwing a single one, though it makes you a sitting duck, so it’s not very useful. I found his levels to be my least favorite, since he’s so slow to move, and the levels drag as a result. The last character is Abby, which presents a more traditional Sh’mup action. You can only “dodge roll” left or right, though here it’s a barrel roll and it can remove projectiles you move through. Since it’s an autoscroller, all you have to do is just shoot enemies, and that’s it. I had no trouble playing these sections.
The goals of most of the game’s levels are pretty simple – get to the end of the level, or destroy a few required things, THEN get to the end of the level. There’s admittedly not much variety. This also translates into enemy variety, which is a bit lacking. You don’t actually have to kill enemies, which I used to my advantage – I started ignoring enemies towards the end, to get the game out of my way. That’s the biggest issue I have with it – it’s a bit repetitive. When the novelty of “cool, twin-stick gameplay” wears off, the game becomes a little boring after a while, especially aforementioned Runt gameplay with its slower pace. At least the game isn’t very long, so it doesn’t turn into a complete borefest.
The game features an upgrade system. During levels, you can pick up little aliens, which act as the game's currency... pretty weird now that I think about it. After each level, you’ll be deposited into an intermission screen, where you can save your game or hit upgrades menu. You can upgrade maximum health, weapon damage, shield recharge, and so on, adding a little bit of depth to the gameplay, which is always appreciated.
There are some boss battles. They are a little inconsistent, and some of them can be easy, but overall they aren’t too bad. The first boss battle presented a surprise difficulty spike. It’s a giant furnace that can suck you in, so you’re required to dash away from it, by mashing your D-Pad, which doesn’t make for riveting gameplay, but otherwise isn’t too bad. Other bosses are a bit more fair, but generally easier. Even the final boss, Abby and Runt sections don’t pose much of a challenge. But the final round with Ace does, with clear patterns to learn, which is cool.
I’ve contemplated about putting Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS above Chicken Little GBA, because I thought the gameplay was cool and kinda fun despite some repetition later on. In the end, I decided that the GBA game is better, due to it’s variety and some interesting ideas (RPG-like Dodge Ball and even Ace gameplay itself with gravitational surfaces and challenging bosses). Still, Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS, even though average, isn’t a bad time. It does have a few humorous lines (the fact that the action takes place in the game within Chicken Little universe is also referenced), the graphics are decent, though framerate can be inconsistent, and the music is mostly solid. Not a bad game, but you can always do better. (Of note is that this game is by the same devs that made Hannah Montana DS, and this game is FAR more preferable than that one)
You take control of 3 characters in the game. As all characters, you can use L button to generate a shield that would absorb projectiles, though the shield charge is limited, though it does slowly regenerate over time. As Ace, you can dodge roll by tapping a direction on the D-Pad twice in quick succession to avoid hazards. Thankfully, this maneuver didn’t feel sensitive enough to the point where I accidently dodge rolled. Then again, I didn’t have moments where I needed to precision position myself, and for the most part, I was on a constant move. You can also hold R button to use limited grenades to do more damage or pick out multiple enemies at once. Speaking of limited, there are 4 ammo types for each character, with the standard shot being unlimited, naturally, with limited ammo refills that can be found as some of the game’s power-ups, and those unique types being generally more powerful, as you can assume. The next character is Runt, with his tank. He is a bit slower to move, including changing shooting direction, but dashing can be used to ram into enemies (the dashing actually takes away the shield charge), and the R button is used for locking explosives onto multiple enemies instead of throwing a single one, though it makes you a sitting duck, so it’s not very useful. I found his levels to be my least favorite, since he’s so slow to move, and the levels drag as a result. The last character is Abby, which presents a more traditional Sh’mup action. You can only “dodge roll” left or right, though here it’s a barrel roll and it can remove projectiles you move through. Since it’s an autoscroller, all you have to do is just shoot enemies, and that’s it. I had no trouble playing these sections.
The goals of most of the game’s levels are pretty simple – get to the end of the level, or destroy a few required things, THEN get to the end of the level. There’s admittedly not much variety. This also translates into enemy variety, which is a bit lacking. You don’t actually have to kill enemies, which I used to my advantage – I started ignoring enemies towards the end, to get the game out of my way. That’s the biggest issue I have with it – it’s a bit repetitive. When the novelty of “cool, twin-stick gameplay” wears off, the game becomes a little boring after a while, especially aforementioned Runt gameplay with its slower pace. At least the game isn’t very long, so it doesn’t turn into a complete borefest.
The game features an upgrade system. During levels, you can pick up little aliens, which act as the game's currency... pretty weird now that I think about it. After each level, you’ll be deposited into an intermission screen, where you can save your game or hit upgrades menu. You can upgrade maximum health, weapon damage, shield recharge, and so on, adding a little bit of depth to the gameplay, which is always appreciated.
There are some boss battles. They are a little inconsistent, and some of them can be easy, but overall they aren’t too bad. The first boss battle presented a surprise difficulty spike. It’s a giant furnace that can suck you in, so you’re required to dash away from it, by mashing your D-Pad, which doesn’t make for riveting gameplay, but otherwise isn’t too bad. Other bosses are a bit more fair, but generally easier. Even the final boss, Abby and Runt sections don’t pose much of a challenge. But the final round with Ace does, with clear patterns to learn, which is cool.
I’ve contemplated about putting Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS above Chicken Little GBA, because I thought the gameplay was cool and kinda fun despite some repetition later on. In the end, I decided that the GBA game is better, due to it’s variety and some interesting ideas (RPG-like Dodge Ball and even Ace gameplay itself with gravitational surfaces and challenging bosses). Still, Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS, even though average, isn’t a bad time. It does have a few humorous lines (the fact that the action takes place in the game within Chicken Little universe is also referenced), the graphics are decent, though framerate can be inconsistent, and the music is mostly solid. Not a bad game, but you can always do better. (Of note is that this game is by the same devs that made Hannah Montana DS, and this game is FAR more preferable than that one)