Recent reviews by Nubi, Toa of Gaming

This game is misunderstood.

Yes, the story is basically a rehash of the first game.
Yes, the NPCs sound like aliens trying to blend in with humans at a Renaissance fair (although they sound much more natural in the Japanese version)
Yes, the side-quests are boring and lame.
Yes, the pawns are annoying chatterboxes.

However, I still think this game is worth recommending. In fact, I can confidently recommend it to anyone. Literally anyone. This might be the only game in existence which I can recommend to every single human on Earth.

Allow me to explain.

I, like many others, expected this game to be something on the level of BG3, Dragon Age, Elden Ring, or even Skyrim, but this game is not like any of those games, and it is because this game is not really meant for adults.

What I mean is that this game really captures the essence of being a child and imagining yourself going on epic adventures. Have you ever played outside when you were young, picked up a random stick and swung it around as if it were a sword or a magic wand? Have you ever played pretend as a kid, imagining yourself fighting monsters and looking for treasure? Have you ever explored every nook and cranny of your neighborhood when you were a child?
Those moments felt like epic adventures to you, didn't they?

I think this is the feeling this game really taps into — this feeling of pure, innocent fun that we all had when we were young and looked at the world with wonder and excitement. I don't know if this was the intent of the developers, but the problems with Dragon's Dogma 2 (the shallowness of the NPCs and story, etc) all kinda fit into that feeling of being a child. When we were kids, we didn't exactly care about deep stories or complex characters in our imaginary adventures, we just wanted to run around, explore, and fight something. And there is something very pure and cozy about that.

That's why this game is for everyone. We have all been children once and if we allow ourselves to connect with our inner child, this game will become surprisingly enjoyable.

TL;DR, spoiler-free version

I hate to say this, but this game does not live up to the original. Not only that, it retroactively makes the first game worse for spoiler reasons.

If you enjoyed the first Chicken Police, I recommend not playing this one. Whatever you imagine the sequel to be like is better than what it actually is.





Long version, with spoilers!

Let's start with the stuff I liked:
I liked that the game allows you to play in color instead of black and white. It's nice to get to see these characters and environments in full color. I also liked that there are side-quests in the game which help flesh out the world and some characters more. I liked that I got to see some characters who have been mentioned in the first game but who haven't appeared in it.

Now onto the bad stuff:

The HIVE.
Firstly, let's talk about the Hive itself, the selling point of the game, right? Well, it would be if it weren't such a letdown. The first game made the Hive sound like a lake full of piranhas - you go there and you are immediately in danger, but in the actual game the Hive is three or four desolate locations with little to do. At no point did I feel like the Chicken Police was in danger. This could've worked if this was the intent, to show that the Hive is actually not a scary place, but is just misunderstood or something, but all the characters act as if it's the most dangerous place in the world. I've been to rougher neighborhoods than this in real life.

They also keep mentioning some sort of a wall that divides the Hive from the rest of the city, but we never actually see it in game. At no point did I feel like our movement through the Hive was impeded in any way. I thought for sure that the fact there is a Segregation Act and that we had to get special papers to be allowed into the Hive would mean there would be like some sort of a border crossing with armed guards, but there was no such thing at all. How are the insects even kept in the Hive then if there seems to be no actual force keeping them in? I was also disappointed that we never got to visit that goo-covered tower that can be seen from Zipp's Cafe. I expected it to be an important location, but it literally might as well not exist at all.

The tone.
The first game knew exactly what it wanted to be - a noir story inspired by Hollywood movies from the 1940s but with animal people. The first game succeeded in that vision. It wasn't flawless, but it stuck to its genre with impressive sincerity.

The sequel, on the other hand, seems to be stuck somewhere between the 40s noir and the 1960s spy movie. It also has way more outright comedic moments than the first game (I do not recall Sonny squawking like a chicken so much in the first game). It's not that I don't like the comedic moments at all, but they oftentimes just don't go well together with what is happening in a scene. For example, in the same scene you watch Frank die in front of you, you can look at his kitchen and Sonny would make a witty comment about "Kitchen Police". It's a cute line, but doesn't it seem out of place in the same scene where a guy Sonny knew for a decade and whom he cares about bleeds to death in front of him?

The spy twist.
I wasn't surprised that Lewis was more than what he seemed. Even in the first game I expected him to turn out to be the mastermind behind everything, but the whole him being a super spy for the crown thing + the insinuation that the achievements of the Chicken Police were all in some way orchestrated by some secret spy agency?! I just don't like this, it undermines the characters, making them seem like pawns in a chess game rather than their own people with their own achievements and failures. This kind of thing makes the first game feel like some sort of farce and a waste of time.

Pointless mini-games.
Did we really need a Wilderness version of a card game? It literally only comes up once in the entire game and it is when Mullen explains the rules of it. And why bother having a shooting range mini-game when there is literally no shooting segments in this game?! The first game at least had two scenes where you actually needed to shoot, although even the first game lacks in the shooting department.

Unnecessary inventory system.
It feels like it was added just because. The combine feature is used only like twice in the whole game and the examining items closely feature is also rarely used for anything. Seems like it was added just for the sake of adding it. Why does Sonny carry a gun in his inventory if it is never used in the game and you cannot present it to anyone because Sonny refuses to do it? Same with his badge, it's not like Ace Attorney where you can present your attorney badge to people and they have some funny reaction. Sonny just refuses to present it to anyone, so why even have it in the inventory at all?

Music.
I liked the music in the first game, but in this one none of it was memorable. I love the main theme of the first game, whereas in this one the main theme is super generic. Another song I liked from the original was the "Not All Cops Are Pigs", but in the sequel it has a new, weaker rendition. I get that it fits symbolically with the police department being a shell of its former self, but the music could have still been enjoyable despite that. In the first game, there is a creepy, haunting rendition of the main theme that is heard near the end of the game. That version is still good on its own, even if it evokes different emotions than the main theme, so what happened? Why is the music in the sequel so much worse than in the original?

Choices.
At first I was excited to see choices in the game, but they literally have no impact at all. It's just flavor text and these "choices" are sparse and seem to be placed randomly. There were moments where I expected choices to appear, but there weren't any and then there were moments where choices would appear in a seemingly irrelevant conversation. I was hoping those good cop/bad cop points would be counted and would affect the story, but they just don't. So why are they even here? I don't know. The devs played Disco Elysium, probably.

Marty's death.
Firstly, why doesn't Mick just shoot Sonny too afterwards? Did he run out of bullets or something? He clearly isn't afraid of police showing up in the Hive, so why would he just drive away?

Secondly, why didn't Lewis come to help? It wouldn't be a deus ex machina, since it was established that he's been helping the Chicken Police from the shadows for years. Would've been a nice character moment for him, proving that he is still their loyal friend.

Lastly, does Marty's death really add anything to the story? Was he killed just because it's a noir cliche to have the partner of the detective die? If there is a third game (I hope not), will Marty just be replaced with Monica from now on?

Bottom line.
Overall, the main problem of this game is that it tries to do too many things at once and falls apart under the weight of its own ambitions. It wants to be a noir story, a spy flick, a comedy, a drama, and a romance all at once. It introduces so many characters yet most of them are completely irrelevant overall and only exist for one or two conversations (what was the point of the homeless lion guy?!) Trying to focus the story on both the Hive and the creme de la creme of Clawville just ends up making it feel like the devs had two separate story ideas for the sequel and they couldn't decide which one to go with so they just combined the two but didn't give either the proper attention and build-up, which is why the final act of the game and its conclusion feel extremely rushed.

Maybe, just maybe, instead of trying to turn Chicken Police into some huge media franchise with spin-off games of different genres, the Wild Gentlemen should just stick to making one good game instead of making several mediocre ones?

Man, this game has the exact type of writing that I hate. I call it "wedgy" writing (woke+edgy) — it is the kind of writing where a character can murder someone in cold blood in one scene then talk about the importance of ethical farming and sustainability in another scene (something that actually happens in this game).

This kind of thing could be funny if done as an intentional satire, but in this game (like in many modern pieces of media) it is mostly just a reflection of the writers' confusing, contradictory beliefs.

These bugs will never end

Ну, ребяточки, игра получилась просто непойми что. С одной стороны мы тут идём в такую милую эстетику Америки 60х годов но в то же время с какого то ♥♥♥♥♥♥ слизываем с Персоны и по полной. Вот вообще не сочетаются эти аспекты игры. Мне нравится Блумтаун, мне нравится по нему ходить, выполнять сайд-квесты, разговаривать с персонажами и так далее, а вот всё что касается Андерсайда и всяких там демонов и так далее просто нудная ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ какая-то.

Во-первых, боёвка вообще не интересная, я просто умирал со скуки пока проходил эти подземелья с этими постоянными демонами которых хер обойдешь так что приходится их мочить. А музыка в битвах это вообще апофеоз кринжа просто. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ в игре где действие происходит в Америке 60х годов музыка битв звучит как будто бы она из какого-нибудь зумерского аниме? Мне насрать на то что вы вдохновлялись Персоной, вы сами же выбрали сэттинг Амерки 60х. Зачем вы сами свою же атмосферу портите?! Какого ♥♥♥♥♥♥ в игре есть сцена где персонаж говорит "on fleek"? Он что тик-токов насмотрелся в 1960х?

Вообще то как персонажи тут говорят это отдельный разговор. Главной героине 12 лет, а она говорит и ведет себя как будто бы она 30-летняя современная женщина. Если это была попытка на юмор, то она провалилась полностью потому что это приедается быстро и более того выбивает из атмосферы игры чуть более чем полностью.

At first I was surprised that "patience" is a grindable stat in this game, then I realized that a player has to have patience to play this as the gameplay is quite repetitive and tedious.

Nice music though

Enotria is to the Souls games what frozen pizza is to the authentic Italian cuisine.

Какого ♥♥♥♥♥♥ титры полтора часа?!

Кто это придумал?! Кому я должен ноги, руки, и пипиську оторвать?

This game is a perfect embodiment of how insane the pro-lockdown propaganda was in 2020.

> the dev puts herself in the game as a dateable character
> this character refuses to interact with the protag if he happens to choose to wear a striped shirt because she "hates borders"

I've never seen this level of self-slander before...