The game is controlled by tilting the phone from side to side to steer your chicken on to the correct course. Tapping the screen will slow your descent, but not completely because chickens can't fly... Power-ups can have both a positive or negative effect on your survival (speeding you up, making you invincible and so on), but also activate score multipliers.
The action takes place across fifty plus levels (known as experiments), divided into 5 categories (known as laboratories) - Hatchery, Butchery, Cemetery, Military and Physics - and each level has its own set of obstacles and power-ups. It's not a simple case of getting through each level - the objective and consequently the playing tactics for each level vary. Each objective is expressed as a question (e.g. How much can Chicken eat?) and a related task to complete.
Chickens Can't Fly is the sequel to Chickens Can Dream, which was released as an indie game. The core game concept is the same, but the game play has been significantly expanded. Chickens Can Dream is one of Windows Phone's highest rated indie games and I'm sure its sister title will be following in its footsteps.
Marketplace description:
Join the ranks of our scientists and see what chickens are capable of! Conduct experiments throughout 4 Laboratories and answer questions such as: Is there life after the butcher? Is Chicken afraid of Ghosts? Does frozen Chicken get dizzy? When you're confident of your skill, try the Survival mode or take part in the Global Weekly Challenge!
Chickens Can't Fly, which has been published by Microsoft Studios and developed by Amused Sloth, can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Market place. A free trial is available, with the full game costing £2.29 / €2.99 / $2.99.
With a combination of great game play, beautifully constructed visuals and sounds and an underlying effervescent humour Chickens Can't Fly is one of the very best games available for Windows Phone. Highly recommended.
Screenshots
More information is available on the Amused Sloth website and blog.