Chicken Police: Paint it Red! (stylized as Chicken Police: Paint it RED!) is a point-and-click adventure game developed by The Wild Gentlemen. HandyGames released it on November 5, 2020 for multiple platforms. Players control a burnt-out cop who is investigating a crime in a city of anthropomorphic animals.
| Chicken Police: Paint it Red! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | The Wild Gentlemen |
| Publisher(s) | HandyGames |
| Director(s) | Bálint Bánk Varga |
| Producer(s) | Tamás Bakó |
| Designer(s) | Bálint Bánk Varga Tamás Bakó Péter Nádas |
| Programmer(s) | Péter Nádas Zsolt Várady |
| Artist(s) | Alex Johannes Kuster Zoltán Ludas Titanilla Pizvor István Lovász |
| Writer(s) | Bálint Bánk Varga |
| Composer(s) | László Vincze |
| Series | World of Wilderness |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | November 5, 2020 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
A sequel, subtitled Into the HIVE!, launched on November 7, 2024 on Windows[1] and was published by Joystick Ventures. The sequel will eventually launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch as well.[2] This game continues after the events of the first game and follow Sonny and Marty on a new case.
Gameplay
editChicken Police is set in an alternate world populated by anthropomorphic animals that are generally depicted as humans with animal heads. Players control Sonny Featherland, a burnt-out cop with the head of a rooster. Sonny was formerly a celebrated hero but has become an alcoholic and is estranged from his former partner, Marty MacChicken. After being approached by a distraught woman, Sonny reunites with Marty to solve one last case before his retirement. The game is a point-and-click adventure game styled after 1940s film noir.[3] Most of the game is in a stylistic monochrome, but colors are used sparingly for emphasis.[4] Players look for clues, interview suspects, and eventually perform interrogations. When interrogating a suspect, a minigame determines their success. After being informed of personality quirks, players attempt to find a line of questioning that will exploit that suspect's personality.[3] Poorly-chosen lines of interrogation can close off dialogue options and reduce how much of the story's background players learn, but this does not put the game in an unwinnable state.[4]
Development
editThe premise was inspired by a YouTube video in which two chickens appear to break up a fight between rabbits.[5] To create the characters, The Wild Gentlemen started with human models in a studio and used Adobe Photoshop to change the heads to animals. Initially, the animal heads came from stock photography, but the developers found the images could be made more realistic-looking by taking their own photographs at wildlife parks and zoos. Some details were hand-drawn, and they made accessories, such as Bubo the owl's glasses, from scratch.[6] The resulting images were then broken into textures and animated in Unity.[7] Both classic adventure games and films noir were influences on the game. The relationship between the two cops is influenced by buddy cop films.[8][9] The team often worked remotely and were spread across multiple countries.[10]
Chicken Police was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in November 2020 and Google Stadia in December 2021. It was ported to iOS and Android in June 2021.[11]
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iOS | NS | PC | PS4 | Xbox One | |
| Metacritic | N/A | 83/100[14] | 82/100[12] | 84/100[13] | 83/100[15] |
| Publication | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iOS | NS | PC | PS4 | Xbox One | |
| Adventure Gamers |    | ||||
| Hardcore Gamer | | ||||
| Nintendo Life |   | ||||
| RPGFan | 82/100 | ||||
Laura Cress of Adventure Gamers praised the game's voice acting, graphics, and story, though she said it has "too many unnecessary mini-games".[3] Hardcore Gamer's reviewer, Chris Shive, similarly criticized the minigames while praising the noir atmosphere.[16] Writing for Nintendo Life, Stuart Gipp called it "a polished, captivating experience" and said it was one of the best adventure games on the Switch.[17] Luke Kemp of PC Gamer called it "one of the most surreal experiences of my life" and praised the writing and acting.[4] Caitlin Argyros wrote in her review for RPGfan that the mystery has an "abrupt and not quite satisfying" conclusion, but she enjoyed the writing nonetheless.[18] Christopher Byrd wrote in The Washington Post, "In my tiny pantheon of visual novel/adventure games, Chicken Police - Paint it Red has a spot."[19]
Sequel
editIn June 2023, The Wild Gentlemen announced its sequel, titled Chicken Police: Into the HIVE!, for Microsoft Windows.[20] Published by Joystick Ventures, the sequel was released on November 7, 2024.[1]
Building upon the foundation of the first game, Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! promised to delve deeper into the world of Chicken Police by venturing into the enigmatic and seedy Hive.
References
edit- ^ a b "Chicken Police: Into the Hive! - Official Release Date Trailer". October 3, 2024. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
- ^ Cook, Adam (October 3, 2024). "Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! release date confirmed, coming to consoles later". Retrieved October 3, 2024.
- ^ a b c Cress, Laura (2020-11-16). "Review for Chicken Police: Paint It RED!". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on 2022-08-23. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ a b c Kemp, Luke (2021-09-15). "Flapping the long wing of the law in Chicken Police: Paint it Red! - Luke Kemp". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Hawkins, Josh (2019-04-19). "Interview: Chicken Police was inspired by a YouTube video". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
- ^ "Chicken Police - THE DEV DIARIES #1". IndieDB. 2019-06-11. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ "THE DEV DIARIES #3 - Character animation". IndieDB. 2019-06-18. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ "THE DEV DIARIES #4 - How NOIR shaped everything". IndieDB. 2019-06-22. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ "THE DEV DIARIES #2 - Games That Made Us". IndieDB. 2019-06-15. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ "THE DEV DIARIES #5 - Does the code have a soul?". IndieDB. 2019-06-26. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Madnani, Mikhail (2021-06-29). "Noir Adventure Chicken Police: Paint It Red from Handy Games Is Out Now on iOS and Android Following Its Debut on Consoles and PC Last Year". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 2022-08-12. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ "Chicken Police - Paint it RED! (PC)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
- ^ "Chicken Police - Paint it RED! (PlayStation 4)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
- ^ "Chicken Police - Paint it RED! (Nintendo Switch)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
- ^ "Chicken Police - Paint it RED! (Xbox One)". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
- ^ Shive, Chris (2020-11-23). "Review: Chicken Police – Paint it RED!". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 2022-09-10. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Gipp, Stuart (2020-11-21). "Chicken Police - Paint it RED! Review". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 2022-04-29. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Argyros, Caitlin (2021-09-05). "Chicken Police – Paint it RED!". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Byrd, Christopher (2021-05-21). "'Chicken Police - Paint it Red': A dryly-comedic rooster in a trench coat is only half the fun". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
- ^ Handley, Zoey (2023-06-22). "Chicken Police: Into the Hive brings the partners back for another finger-lickin' mystery". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 2023-06-22. Retrieved 2023-06-22.