Two teams of cute baby chickens fighting with bombs, poison mushrooms, and violent storms. If that isn't a winning game idea, I don't know what is. Chick Chick Boom is a combat-style game that pits two teams of chicks against each other in a small divided field. It also holds the privilege of being one of two Flash games created by extra toxic and sponsored by Nintendo, the other being the fantastic retro platformer, Mission in Snowdriftland.
Use the mouse to draw different shapes on the egg at the bottom of the screen. Shapes let you attack the other team or defend your own, depending on what you draw. Accurate strokes produce more powerful moves, so keep a steady hand to get the most out of your drawings. Each attack has a corresponding countermeasure and if you watch your opponent closely you can minimize the damage done to your team. The goal is to stay alive as long as you can to unlock downloadable content and beat your own achievements.
Here's a quick run-down of the attack and defense moves at your disposal:
Offensive
- Weight - A heavy weight drops from the sky and smashes hapless chicks.
- Bomb - Tosses a bomb to the opponent's field to injure a group of chicks.
- Lightning - Strikes from the dark cloud to damage a group of chicks. Watch out, though, as the cloud will drift to your side as well!
- Toadstool - Make poisonous toadstools grow on your enemy's field. Chicks that eat the fungi are sluggish and gradually lose health.
- Balloon - A hot air balloon carries a chick into the wild blue yonder.
Defensive
- Arrows - Move the chicks to one side of your half of the field. Useful for avoiding lightning and bombs.
- Lightning rod - Absorbs lightning.
- Medicine - Heals poisoned chicks.
- Sandbag - Weighs down the balloon so your chick can hop out safely.
Analysis: Chick Chick Boom is a gorgeous game with a cheery, bright presentation and a fun interface. The drawing mechanism adds a vital element of interactivity that simple button clicking would never accomplish. The rock-paper-scissors attack and defense system works well, and it's surprisingly challenging to balance a good offense with a strong defense. A traditional level-based progression would add to the experience, but the detailed statistics the game tracks offer a surprising amount of incentive to keep playing.
A simple idea with an extraordinary implementation.
Note: It seems that the game automatically starts you off in pro mode (these chicks have high standards). To start at the beginning click "Erase Game Progress" on the Team Info page.
Cheers to OtherBill for word about this new game. =)
Haha, very fun.
Good idea, poor implementation.
It's far too difficult to draw quickly, and the chicks are completely unresponsive to arrows if you do not draw very well, at least in my experience. Your opponent draws perfectly every time it seems, so you will often be dealing with lightning, mushrooms, falling weights, and a chick in a balloon while your opponent laughs because you are desperately trying to trace an arrow, a squiggly line, and a couple of weights simultaneously.
What I do like: the better you draw the lightening rod, the more developed it is. I would have liked to see this sort of thing more completely fleshed out, but instead I got too frustrated and quit within a few minutes of playing the game.
Maybe I'll pick it up again sometime, maybe not.
I think scramble is just having a problem with patience .. The tracing part takes a little practice but overall the game is very fun. Im not sure what kind of bonuses you get in pro mode but i got bored after killing 60
It's quite a neat game but I still am finding it a bit hard. Best I've gotten so far is 7 ninja chicks destroyed :P
I'm finding the lightning to be a bit too brutal (it instantly killed all but one of my healthy chicks once) and sometimes the sandbags (no matter how many) just don't seem to be effective.
I find I'm on the defense most of the time. With a little bit more tweaking, this game could be great :3
that was so much fun. It was hard to attack though, when you are constantly defending yourself, but I didn't find a lack of drawing skill a problem. it seemed to do what I wanted even though I messed up a few times. My only gripe was that it seemed to "cheat" when a storm cloud shot electricity over the wall. Even though the cloud was still over the opponents side of the field my chicks still died. :(
Is there a way to get out of pro mode that I am not seeing?
Oh...somehow I started on pro mode...odd
maybe it will be easier now that I've erased my game progress?
???
Hmm. Not my kind of game, too hard to draw the things. And I hate how you have to pull up the template every time you want to draw something. It would be much better more Okami-style, where you just draw without any stinkin' templates. Maybe just leave them as an option?
Oh, and by the way, where did I put Okami, anyways?
*goes off to dig through piles of ps2 games*
my mouse hand hurts!! the drawing mechanic is just to difficult to provide continual enjoyment...at least the game looks nice. :)
I don't like the drawing either, I quit within a few minutes.
I had it break on me - all my chicks died but it thought there was one left (the phantom Stevie), and that meant I couldn't die. Of course, I couldn't end the game either but it was fun inflicting things on the other team. :D
I had the same problem with it starting in PRO mode .. on the main screen before you click start or go there is an area to click that clears game progress just click that and it starts from level 0 and taking you through tutorial levels
And yes i also agree the game could be made alot better if it offered somewhat of a leveling function. Well, not even that maybe the amount of kills you get, or the way you kill them gives you some kind of money to purchase better weapons/defenses
I think I would enjoy this game more if I wasn't trying to use my laptop touchpad. I'm too slow to manage most of the defensive moves in time, so I just totally ignore defense, except for saving the chicks from balloons. The best I ever got was killing 9 of the other chicks. It's a fun game, but I think it would be nicer if the symbols were simpler. Why do they have to be that complex? I don't think I ever succeeded in drawing the mushroom right.
Funny to see how everbody found the drawing part difficult. I tought it was pretty easy.
Ah. Starting you off in pro mode is most definitely a mistake. In addition to skipping the in-game tutorials, it also skips the whole point of this commissioned-game-as-ad: the Nintendo wallpaper downloads that reward each level's successful completion.
I donno, Jesse you may be right. I typically trust my initial reaction to a game, but I may be wrong here. I will give it another shot on a day when I'm not so tired!
I've noticed it to be buggy as well. It seems for me to be primarily in conjunction with the balloons. One time one enemy chick floated offscreen but didn't die, meaning I couldn't complete that (non-pro) level. Most often, I've found that occasionally when the enemy creates a balloon, when I then draw a sandbag, no sandbag is actually created, even after a couple tries. (And yes, I drew it correctly; it gave percentages and started the countdown to the next available sandbag.) There was literally nothing I could do but watch my poor chick drift away into oblivion.
Apart from that, it's not too bad a game. It seems to be easier on pro when you have fewer chicks remaining -- less likely for a bomb or weight to hit them, and more worms go to those chicks, keeping their health high. My record on the pro level is 107.
I imagine this game would likely be ridiculously easy for someone with a tablet...
this game is pretty easy. it be a better game if it was multiplayer.
129 kills still no bonuses it offers -- im not noticing any of the above mentioned bugs though -- what i have noticed with the sand bags you add to the balloons that its a bit tricky and not quite sure the formula they are using but say they make a 92% balloon and you only get around 70 nothing shows 75-80 gets you that lil tiny bag and so on .. ill have to play with it more but my hand is tired for now
170 kills no bonus and my arm hurts
This would work really well on the DS. Maybe when I get my graphics tablet it will be easier.
Hehe, my first comment here after lurking forever. Fun and insanely cute game that amused me more than it probably should have. About the sandbag glitch:
I think that sandbags don't work until the balloon is actually off of the ground. If you make one before that, nothing happens.
Wow. My hand hurts. I started on pro and thought it was way too hard, but then reset my progress and went through the tutorials -- that was much better and eased me into the difficulty. After a while I kept the computer on the defensive, which was fun. :)
Also, going through the tutorial talks about certain bonuses you get depending on how your attacks go that you might not understand if you just jump right into it. Definitely NOT one of those games that you can get into without reading instructions.
I played a couple games of this. I can't say it's the best game I've played. It's alright I suppose. I find that it takes so much concentration to trace the attacks and stuff that I hardly ever look up at the playing screen and I just randomly come up with attacks, or when I do glance at the screen I can defend myself. I think this game might actually be better in a turn based format, almost like a rock, paper, scissors game where you have to predict the other player's actions. Any one else agree?
I really liked this, very cute.
After playing it like 5 times on pro, I killed about 13 (that was my best after 7). The drawing is hard, but after playing it so much, it gets better, and you figure out what works best.
I like the game, but the drawing is difficult. Can be painful for the mousehand
Yes, there is a balloon bug where you draw sacks but they just don't appear. It's quite irritating.
I couldn't figure out when it exactly appears. To me it happened on my last chick who had a hardhat and the sprinkler was on, so perhaps it has something to do with that factors.
Also, with a tablet, the game is a blast!
Seems like a tablet would be mandatory for playing this game effectively.
126 chicks in pro mode. With a mouse. The trick is to keep a constant offensive. I could've kept it going but I got kinda bored.
Btw, the game mentioned some bonuses if I'm "good enough" in pro mode. What bonuses? What is "good enough"? This 126 chicks took me half an hour and I don't really want to play this game again any time soon...
A really fun game but I don't think it has high replay value. For one, like everyone else, my hand is cramped now. I'm a glutton for punishment, the virtual and intellectual kind, not the physical.
also, when it comes to defense, it is a matter of percentages. if they draw a really strong lightning bolt or balloon, you have to counter with a really strong lightning rod or sandbag. plus, offense is the best defense. i only defend against lightning, poison, and balloons. the bombs and the weights aren't worth the time it takes to draw an arrow.
Cute game ... kind of hard to do smooth circles with a rollerball. I found that if I just ignored my chicks and attacked as quick as I could I did pretty well. Although a lightening rod once in a while helped.
I think the bonuses they refer to in Pro Mode are like powerups. Sometimes your chick will get a hard hat to protect them from heavy objects, or sometimes you'll get double weights, etc. They seem to be activated based on the number of kills you get or the amount of damage you do in one shot.
I used a tablet. I enjoyed this game!
I played in normal mode, and lost on level 9. Oh well, I don't really want a harvest moon wallpaper anyway.
I think that I found a few glitches.
1. If you're still drawing when the round ends (in victory, at least) the pen will keep on drawing, even outside the egg and when you're not clicking.
2. Once, I was adding sandbag after sandbag to a balloon (must have been about four) and it just kept on going up out of the screen. They weren't shoddy draw jobs either.
Loved it!
Gesture recognition is the future. That said, this is NOT gesture recognition-- it is tracing. Probably easier for them to do in flash though.
Gesture recognition has the capacity to open up a new, intuitively driven channel for human interface. A number of games have done this effectively in the past, but the most notable is the Black & White series from Lionhead. (I would give ANYTHING to work for Peter Molyneux.)
This game is actually very thematically similar to that series: to invoke a power, you draw a symbol. The differences, of course, are that the B&W games recognized gestures (so an exaggerated ending or beginning was ok, as long as you had the right bends), and that after invoking the powers you could then target them at a specific location.
I made it to 121 in the pro mode. At that point the computer's "skill" has increased such that it can launch extremely powerful balloon attacks that I simply couldn't stop. My last chick was victim to that, and I drew nothing but sandbags from the moment it launched, and still couldn't save it.
I would like to see a skill levelling feature added- the more you draw a symbol (and the more successfully, additionally), the more powerful it becomes. Perhaps a skill point for every time you draw it, plus a bonus for the average quality of your last ten draws?
I'd have appreciated something like that rather than the almost random appearance of a useful lightning rod or a useless one.
As a final note, playing online pictionary games will significantly enhance your ability to draw arbitrary shapes with the mouse...
I have a tablet ^^ It does make it incredibly easy to draw the shapes. I somehow rarely go over 90%, but I guess I'm just too impatient to do it slowly. I love it when I get the lightning rod off just in time, so that it catches the lightning the moment it appears. Unfortunately, it seems almost impossible to hit the enemy chicks with lightning, because the little black critter is apparently always looking for the little spark that indicates an imminent strike. Anyway, good luck to you all.
Wow, okay that's SO MUCH easier.
Before starting out for the first time only, DEFINITELY click to erase your game progress or you will be quickly frustrated.
If you do a lightning attack over 90%, the lightning shoots up, so it does lots of damage and avoids lightning rods (I think).
Found a couple of things that may help some users out:
Look for a little sprinkler in the play of field to pop up once in a while, it'll cause little worms to come up and they'll heal you.
If you see the sun in the back ground, draw a medicine object quick, it'll heal your guys!
Overall I enjoyed the game, it would have been much better with a tablet. I'd like to see more depth in the game, a way to get chicks back, something to shoot for besides endless killing of black dots.
I ran into the same bug as others. One of the other team's chicks floated off in a balloon but didn't die, so all I could do was try to survive as long as possible with no way to kill the last of the enemies.
Enough to get me to stop playing.
Am I the only person who played this, had a lightbulb click, and immediately tried to load it on my Wii with disastrous results?
Why an online game sponsered by Nintendo would not be optomized to play on the Wii is beyond my comprehension! Furthermore, they should make the wallpaper available to use as pictures for the Wii's jigsaw puzzle. It'd be like earning more games for beating this one!
That said, this is a BRILLIANT game, only harmed by the fact that it is REALLY difficult to draw precise shapes with a mouse. My wrist is sore from playing the first 7 rounds. Also, I did not notice the game starting in Pro Mode. I hit "Start" and was automatically sent to the tutorial.
I liked this game. My best in Pro with a mouse is 89 (on my 2nd try of the game, I think). I'm usually on a constant offensive and sometimes have to wait to attack more.
What I didn't like was how my attention was split so far between the top and the bottom of the screen. But I don't really see a way to fix that without sacrificing something else.
I should erase my data (or try it on a different computer) and start below pro mode to see how good I can do.
Just got 137 on pro after going through the tutorials. 2 of my chicks were unjustly carried away by the sandbag glitch where no matter how well you draw, it doesn't slow the balloon down. I think there is also a limit to 3 sandbags.
Hehehe, the snowman from Mission in Snowdriftland makes a cameo appearance :).
i like this game a lot!
but is there anyway to turn of the sound/musik???
Tip for hitting enemy chicks with lightning.
Wait til you see the black enemy chick drawing on his sketchpad thing then draw your lightning bolt.
Works everytime for me...
Fun game! I love the challenge of needing to rush, but still draw well, plus the balance of defense and offense.
It looks like you can only get three sandbags on a balloon... so if you don't draw them well enough, your guy is toast.
Notes:
- Hitting more than one chick with a weight gives you 2 weights at the same time when using that attack next time. This can be done indefinitely, and if you're in the tutorial, it carries on to the next level.
- Hitting the opponent's entire team with a single bomb gives one of your chicks a defuser, which will be automatically used when that chick passes by an enemy bomb.
- Killing more than one chick at a time gets one of your chicks a hardhat, which cuts all damage in half....I think. Not too useful in the tutorial as it doesn't carry over to the next level, but good in survival (pro) mode. Note that it is lost when the chick boards a balloon.
- Sometimes a tiny T shaped opject pops up in your field. Click it to activate a sprinker, which causes worms to spawn without the hassle of potential lightning. Does not put out bombs, however.
- Sometimes the sun appears. If you are VERY quick, bring up the medicine icon and draw it in order to heal all your chicks' hp bars. Useful in pro mode.
- If you take the time to properly draw weights or the lightning rod, the weight or rod will be bigger and more effective as to what they do. The rod works most of the time even without being that big, but it's always better when it's bigger.
- If your opponent pulls out the lightning and the cloud is close to crossing the fence into his area while it charges up, let him choke on his own sword. Then follow up quickly with your own.
- Lightning hurts way more when done well. It can also overpower a rod if the rod isn't that well made.
- Chicks may not die that fast from poison, but the slowdown allows the other side to get a hit in before they can escape. Watch out!
- It is best to use weights first, than follow up immediately with a bomb. If everything goes right, your opponent will try to dodge the weights, and the bomb should blow them to kingdom come when they hide in the corner. The bomb needs to be 90%-ish to get a really good explosion.
And then the weight (or weights) will strike. Ouch.
- Your attack has more of a chance of success if done while the bunny appears to be trying to get an attack to your side. This mostly pertains to the balloon.
- Balloons (and by extension, the passenger) are more susceptible to being hit by lightning if they are in range. Also, the rod cannot really help them. On the plus side, the balloon is also destroyed if this occurs.
this game is great! the idea is great too! and i find the tracing easy!
I got 148 in pro mode!
I killed 163 chicks with a tablet, and I had 2 chicks left and I got bored. All 3 chicks I lost were to balloons.
I haven't seen a comment about it yet, but all of the attacks vary depending on how well you draw it. I was only able to get 100% on the weight, and it drops a grand piano. A little under 100% and you get a safe, etc. The worst you can drop is a TV.
Better on lightning rod = more arms.
Better on bomb - shorter fuse
Better on shroom - more shrooms
Better on balloon - fills faster
but a GLITCH I discovered was that for me, around the 60th black chick killed, I stopped seeing clouds, the lightning bolt was permanently available, and the sky randomly changed from light to dark w/o clouds. I think a cloud drifted off the screen and didn't reset or something.
OH MY GOSH!! I got %100 on my weights! It appeared as a
Piano
I know I did it cuz I checked the scores.
For the Snowdriftland Snowman Guy, I clicked him and a sound came up, but I don't know what it did. Can someone tell me?
Hmm this game is very addictive! It may be hard for some users but i always think these games are great for people learning to controll their hand on computers better
although i really dont get this pro mode!?
Some balloons are created strong which means you have to use 3 to get it down... but if you dont have much time then use the lightning because it hits the onee in the air and pops the balloon which just takes some health away which you probally get back with some worms
And then MANAX screamed "Multiplayer interface!" and all rejoiced and Mary got married and Oscar's fishy ghost haunted her and scared her alot.
<:( to the balloon bug...
its random and has nothing to do with sprinklers...(i think...)
and to those who keep whining its too hard... go play some mouse dodge games.
overall a great game.
but a bit buggy.
*goes off begging for jelly*
I got 193 chicks in pro mode with a mouse! My strategy is to get really good at drawing wieghts, then you get two if you hit more than one chick.
This game was really easy for me. I got through all 10 levels without losing. I really enjoyed it.
-Nick
Yeah, I just went straight through from the tutorial. Ten birds in pro after all of those little levels was far too much. Touchpad? yeowch. This is obviously a DS-aimed game. So...why isn't it on the DS? Using a stick would be great. Sadly enough, my touchpad actually worked BETTER than my mouse.
Also, no one's said anything about the lag! Was I the ONLY person to get choppy play far too frequently towards the end of the tutorial leading into pro mode? It's hard enough to draw a circle with a touchpad, add glitching graphics and occasional second-long pauses and that bomb isn't worth the time you took to click it.
And the Medecine logo...dunno what it was but I just could NOT draw it! I got a good one maybe three times. Everything else I could get in the upper nineties, but that for some reason...
Once, I saw this wierd construction hat on one of my chicks. How did I get it and why?
Am I the only one who *loathes* these gesture-based games? Bad enough having to fight with the 'interpreter' to get it to recognize what you drew, but having to do it at speed on top of that? Major suck. Someone mentioned B&W--after the sheer difficulty of trying to get the critter to learn anything properly (a problem that's apparently relieved somewhat in B&W 2..I may have to pick that up at some point), the gesture-based magic was my second-worst dislike (third was probably the throwing mechanic--I always either seemed to stop too short, which means the object didn't go anywhere...or my pointer went out of the screen, which meant..the object didn't go anywhere. :-/)...though at least it was mostly *optional*, with hot-keys and shortcut icons.
The game isn't working for me for some reason. Any one else having this problem?
Like the Mission In Snowdriftland before it, Chick Chick Boom has been taken down by the developers, Extra Toxic.
(and that really IRKS me)
The game served its purpose and is no longer available.
Wow, that is supremely irritating. I'm glad I got the chance to play it pretty thoroughly before they removed the game.
Well sorry guys but Chick Chick Boom is now closed down
I guesse it was a temporary game for easter -_-
Why are the Extra Toxic games taken down so quickly? I really wanted to play Mission in Snowdriftland, but no dice with that one... I think the games cannot really be enjoyed as much as they should when they are taken down shortly after they are created. :(
Aww I only got to play it once and that wasnt very long either darn!
Someone help! I get to the page: http://www.chick-chick-boom.com/boom.html but i can't find a start button! all I see is something that says "Many thanks for playing, blah blah blah." Can anyone help me?
The game has been taken down. Seems to be ExtraToxic's way of doing things, unfortunately. They release a game, let people play it for a month, then remove it from the Web. meh. We're not pleased one bit about it, actually. -Jay]
Cant extra toxic create a version without the prizes?
I wanna play this SO BADLY!
Give.me.game.
NOW.
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