Dumb Chicken 2: One Way Out Review

I was a tiny bit unsure on how to review Dumb Chicken 2. It’s a mobile game that’s been ported to the desktop computer, and while this review would be different had I been playing the game on my phone, PC games have to be held to different standards. So, this game will be reviewed as a PC title.

Dumb Chicken 2: One Way Out is a casual stealth game. Stealth in the loosest sense of the word, though. You control a chicken whose little chicken friends have been captured, and now you are trying to save them. Every level has the player guiding a chicken from a top-down perspective through a grid-based stage, trying to reach your chicken friends scattered throughout the stages and lead them to the exit without being seen by guard animals. The guards have vision cones and walk in set paths, giving chase upon seeing you or your chicken followers. Each level awards up to three stars, one for saving all the chickens, one for not being spotted, and one for collecting all coins in the level. It has an extremely mobile feel to it, which makes sense, but still doesn’t mean it’s excusable.

The game was made with mobile devices in mind and then ported to the PC. It’s obvious right from the get-go, from it’s ‘Tap Anywhere To Continue’ prompt at the start screen, to its large buttons and grid stages designed for touch controls. The stages are all quite simplistic, meant to fit on an iPhone screen. This means any given level can be completed in a maximum of two or three minutes, and most can be beaten in under 60 seconds. The game is good for bite-sized play sessions, but is definitely not very enjoyable over long periods of time. Yet again another showing of its mobile gaming design.

The dumb chickens themselves look very cute, as do the rest of the game’s visuals. It uses a common cutesy mobile aesthetic style, simple and big, and not graphically intensive.

There’s exactly the amount of content here you’d expect. Over 90 levels, that shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to get through, even if you’re getting three stars for every stage. Then there are two endless modes, one involving you dodging cannons and that has you moving to the right side of the screen as fast as possible, but to be honest, I’m not sure how long I’d want to play these modes for. There are 6 playable characters, each with a special ability. They don’t change the game much, but do add a small amount of diversity.