Chipmonk! is a 2D side scrolling beat ‘em up where you play as one of three little chipmunks: Gray, Cheeks, or Red, as they beat up (presumably) other bad critters like rats, mice, badgers, porcupines, raccoons, and more.  It’s silly and goofy and available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

There are three modes of play.  Adventure is the main quest for one or two players.  You can choose Classic where you’ll beat up critters in stages based on the four seasons.  The other mode in Adventure is called Revengance and it’s a new quest with different stages and a world map, but is a bit harder than Classic.  Both games you get three lives and five continues.  Sounds like enough, but the stages do get pretty hard.  The other two modes are Duel and Onslaught.  In Duel you’ll battle against another player and in Onslaught you’ll fight an endless supply of baddies until you run out of energy.  It’s presented like you’re in a bar fight!

Play control is simple and what you’d expect from this type of game.  Use the control stick to move around and the X button to attack.  The circle button is context sensitive and will either let you pick up items to throw, or roll dodge out of the way.  Gameplay is very similar to Golden Axe.  In fact, from time to time there are little flies you can beat up for magic and health, just like the thieves in Golden Axe.  When you get magic, you can cast screen clearing spells by pressing the triangle button, also just like Golden Axe.  Chipmonk! is decent and serviceable, but the only problem is it doesn’t hold a candle to other recent beat ‘em ups like Streets of Rage 4 or TMNT: Shredders Revenge.  But if you can’t get enough of those types of games, you may want to check this one out anyway.

Kid Factor:

Chipmonk! is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Crude Humor and Fantasy Violence.  You beat up on pixelly critters who fall over and disappear when defeated.  They scream out ‘ooohhs’ and ‘ughs’ when defeated, which is actually pretty silly because the deep voices many have don’t match who they are!  I grew up playing games like this and I turned out OK.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play.

Tags: Game Reviews