Chicken Police: Into the HIVE! review

Plenty of amazing video games exist with nothing resembling a compelling story, but in certain genres a good narrative is pretty important. One of those genres is the humble adventure game, with the classic antics of Guybrush Threepwood and Gabriel Knight all spinning yarns that put them in the history books. Chicken Police: Into the Hive has left me thinking about what makes a good video game narrative, and while its charming characters certainly help with this it does have some storytelling issues.

For those who sadly missed the first Chicken Police game, it follows the delightful buddy cop duo of Sonny and Marty on their gritty crime solving adventures. This time around they’re already cemented as prominent detectives on the force, especially thanks to Sonny’s crime busting hunches. When an insect comes knocking on his door upset about her missing husband, Sonny senses it could be part of a bigger nefarious plot, but given the fact the victim of this crime is a bug it’s unlikely anyone else down at the station will help them solve this mystery.

The area of Clawville where the insects of Chicken Police live is the titular hive, and it’s essentially a slum of gang activity that’s a dangerous place for anyone with fur or feathers. This segregation is the source of a lot of issues in Clawville, and the spider gang boss in charge of the place is generally just left alone by the law and allowed to do her own thing as long as insect issues don’t bleed out across the border. Sweeping the issues of the city under the rug like this might just end up meaning that there are dark times ahead for our animal pals, as you’ll find out pretty quickly as you begin your investigation.

For the most part the actual gameplay of Chicken Police: Into the Hive is pretty simple, blending visual novel chatting and point and click elements to create a compelling loop of story and problem solving. From a first person perspective you’ll need to examine your surroundings for hotspots to click on, and will get to hear all the lovely noir-style musings of our hero Sonny regarding them. Gathering evidence and using it to progress the story isn’t anything you haven’t seen in the genre before, but for the most part the solutions generally make sense which is more than you can say for some of its peers.

The conversational parts of Chicken Police are where the game really shines though, mostly thanks to the characters you’ll be interacting with. The supporting cast of criminal bugs and snooty cop rivals are great in their own right, but the stars of the show are absolutely Sonny and Marty. With sayings like “mother-clucker” thrown around it’s hard not to fall for the straight guy Sonny and his slightly dafter buddy, and the writing of the dialogue especially really endeared me to the game from start to finish.

Outside of chatting and clicking, there are a few little mini games that break up the slower paced gameplay fairly nicely. Beating a bug at a bar game early on was a highlight for me, but you’ll also end up firing guns down at the shooting range and taking quizzes to prove you’ve been paying attention to your surroundings as you play. Again there’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about these short disruptions, but they provide a nice distraction from the gritty crimes that need solving.

The very first thing that appealed to me about Chicken Police as a series was the art style, which is unique to say the least. With humanoid characters brought to life with photo realistic animal heads, the “people” you’ll meet on your adventures in The Hive are always instantly intriguing on first glance. The black and white noir style of the game only adds to the overall package, although if you’d rather play in colour the technicolour filter mode is a vibrant and equally gorgeous way to do so.

There’s a lot to love about Chicken Police: Into the Hive, but unfortunately the second half of the game really let it down for me. Events I won’t spoil just don’t really feel like they make a lot of sense, and ultimately lead to the overall narrative feeling like it’s rushed to a conclusion that I ultimately wasn’t satisfied with at all. It’s such a shame because for the first few hours of the game I was having such a great time with my poultry police pals, and by the time I saw the credits I just felt disappointed with the overall package.

Chicken Police: Into the Hive is an entertaining point and click adventure game with great characters and gorgeous visuals, but the story as a whole just doesn’t feel particularly well crafted. Fans of the series will likely still find a lot of enjoyment investigating a new mystery with the Chicken Police though, even with the underwhelming ending that follows it.