The Chicken Shoot, or “Moorhuhn” games as they’re called in their country of origin, has a surprising amount of history behind them.  They were first created to advertise a brand of whiskey, but since this was the late 90s and early 2000s when causal PC games really hit their stride (thanks to titles like Deer Hunter), this chicken shooting game was widely distributed and gained popularity.  Since then it’s become its own thing and has spawned more than 50 games on consoles, PC, and mobile devices.  Plus an animated series, comic books, merchandise, and even a song.  And now you can shoot those silly chickens on the Switch and PlayStation consoles with Crazy Chicken Extreme (Switch version reviewed here).

In the game you move around a crosshair with the left stick, and use the right stick to pan around the level.  Press one button to fire and another one to reload.  You get points by shooting the chickens, but lose points every time you have to reload.  When you get enough points, you can unlock a new level to play.  You can play single player, two players on one screen, or multiplayer hot seat as well (where you trade off controllers).  And that’s pretty much the game, just a basic shooting gallery style challenge.

Unfortunately, these chicken shooting games are also known for their low quality.  Sometimes I swear I shot a chicken when it didn’t register, and moving around the cursor is so slow!  And besides, this is on the Switch, which has motion and touch controls.  Why can’t you use the pointer controls to aim in TV mode, or touch controls in handheld mode?  It would’ve at least made the game a bit more playable.

Kid Factor:

Crazy Chicken Xtreme is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Cartoon Violence.  You aim a crosshair at cartoony chickens and press a button to make a gun shooting sound, and they disappear when shot.  And that’s about as violent as it gets.  Reading skill isn’t necessary to play, but younger gamers may find it too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews