New Game On the Block #3: Ultimate Chicken Horse

Ultimate Chicken Horse is a multiplayer platforming game that is unique in several aspects.  The main unique thing about this game is the level creation aspect of it. 

• How to Play the Game

 

Before anyone can place any items on the level, each player gets a chance to choose an the item that they would like to place on the level. There are a couple of game modes that switch up how this is done but here are the two main ways.  One way is that the game gives a random assortment of items that are limited to a certain number and each player is allowed to choose which item that they would like to place in the environment.  There's a catch though, you have to choose your item in real time with the other players and if a player chooses an item before you can then you cannot use the same item.  Another way the game does this is by allowing the player to choose any item that is within the game for the players to use but they are only allowed to use one item per turn.

Now that each player has chosen their item, they are allowed to place their item anywhere they'd like on the level.  Once each player has placed their item, the game starts the first round.  The goal of the game is to reach the end of the level by touching a red flag. However there are several interesting aspects to this.  If you end up reaching the flag, you are given points based on the seeming difficulty of the level.  For instance if you were the only one to make it during that round you get extra "solo" points.  If you made it with other people and you were first, you don't get extra "solo" points but you do get extra "first place" points.  The game ends when a player has reached the allotted amount of points that they need in order to win the game. 

One more interesting aspect of this is that if no one makes it to the red flag, then no one gets any points.  However if everyone makes it to the red flag then no one also gets any points as the level was too easy.  This means that you have to make the level difficult enough to complete but hard enough to kill of your opponents.

Pros and Cons for the Game

The Pros

The good thing about this game is that it is tons of fun to play with friends and family.  I have never had so much competitive fun playing a game.  Not only that but it's not an aggressive competition where you are directly competing with every other player, it's an indirect competition almost like track and field or bowling would be like.  You're playing against yourself, constantly trying to make the level easy enough for yourself to beat yet challenging for your competition to beat.  It's a ton of fun and for that aspect I would highly recommend that you play it because the potential for this game to become great later on during it's lifetime is very likely.

The Cons

Playing online with friends can sometimes be a little frustrating as the game seems to drop connection a lot of the time without seemingly any reason at all.  Sometimes there are glitches with items and synchronization between players games when it comes to projectiles as you may see someone get hit with an arrow on your screen but on the other player's screen they dodged the arrow.  There are other minimal errors within the game that need to be worked on but granted the game is in early access and mistakes should be expected within an early access game. 

My Recommendation

I highly recommend that you give this game a go with your friends an family, it's tons of fun to play just make sure to try and play the game locally as you may lose connection when using an internet connection. Anyways let me know what you guys think of Ultimate Chicken Horse and I'll talk to you guys next time!