An exclusive look at the rebalancing of Chickens Can't Fly for Windows Phone

Chickens Can't Fly aquarium laboratory

The new Aquarium laboratory

Nosotros've already posted the official release notes for this week's Chickens Tin can't Wing version 1.1 update as well as the game'south permanent price driblet to 99 cents. But the update actually contains a lot of changes that aren't touched upon in those brief notes. Specifically, the difficulty of several levels and Achievements got updated for the ameliorate. As your favorite lovable (but humble) gaming writer actually had a hand in initiating those changes, I idea information technology would be fun to share them with y'all in greater item.

Head past the intermission for an upwards-shut look at the Chickens Can't Fly update, exclusive screenshots, and news about unlocking levels and Avatar awards!

What's in an update?

The most significant additions in the update are the Aquarium laboratory with fourteen new levels and unique ability-ups and obstacles; two unlockable Avatar awards; unlockable chicken skins (outfits), some of which are available as PDLC; asynchronous Xbox Live multiplayer Challenges; and the PDLC Dojo laboratory. The Aquarium and Avatar awards have a few issues though, which we'll get to in a bit.

On top of those major new features, the update packs these changes:

Added rewards for finishing levels with more lives 10% bonus score for each life remaining at the cease
Per popular request, we added a new ringtone with the main theme vocal
Re-balanced some difficult levels, and made them easier
Reduced the requirements for Gold medals in some levels that were almost impossible to get (thanks Paul for the great suggestions on these)
Fixed performance/framerate issues in some Butchery and Physics levels
Fabricated the 'Hungry, hungry Craven!' achievement easier to get past humans
Music doesn't loop anymore between re-starts of the same level, and so even if you dice rapidly, you'll get to hear all of information technology
Corrected translations (Cheers Marking, Luc, Vicente, Fabio)
Streamlined the Trial and added a few 'demo' experiments from later laboratories
Squashed a few little bugs

Going for the gold

Chickens Can't Fly DLC and Ringtones

At present let's talk near the rebalancing. Upon release, Chickens Can't Fly was actually a very tough game – frustratingly so at times. Much of the frustration centered around the levels' gold medal requirements, which weren't e'er realistic or relied too heavily on luck and extremely specific circumstances. Developer Amused Sloth fabricated two sweeping changes aimed at bringing the challenge down to intended levels. First, they reduced the Gilded requirement in a number of levels. 2nd, (every bit stated above) players are now awarded a bonus score for their remaining lives at the finish of the level. This reduces (but doesn't quite eliminate every instance of) the demand to commit suicide in order to earn more points prior to reaching the level's finish.

Hair-pulling levels

Chickens Can't Fly multiplayer and avatar awards

Those changes are nifty, but some levels still proved problematic. I singled out the iv most troublesome levels pre-update:

Butchery 8 (Tin Chicken Paint Walls): If you're painting the walls and fugitive death, you won't end the paint requirements until correct around the beginning of the third checkpoint. This allows virtually no fourth dimension to start a multiplier and collect corn before completing the level. It is possible to encounter the requirement past sacrificing a few lives and getting the painting out of the way before moving on to the next checkpoint(s), but IMO players should never have to kill themselves in lodge to get the all-time medal.

Cemetery xiv (Can Chicken be Actress Conscientious): This took me TWO HOURS to complete with a Gilt Medal. In that time, I managed to complete the level without meeting the gilded requirements about 9 or so times. I believe this is the hardest level in the game due to the high density of traps. Collecting ability-downs (or cakes and so subsequent items) is just too unsafe.

Physics 7 (Immaterial Chicken): The least enjoyable level in the game. Information technology doesn't even teach players how to use the Demeterializer properly because the item doesn't work the same way in other levels that information technology does in this ane. Other levels that are designed to introduce/teach a powerup allow players to actuate those power-ups at will or collect them and then activate them. Since Demeterializer is just on all the fourth dimension in this one, the results are obnoxious...

Even just collecting items is tough considering at whatever given moment you're likely to be transparent. Slowing down until the Chicken becomes solid will cause the ability-ups to run down. PLUS Chicken doesn't collect corn or items that he is on height of when he re-solidifies - he has to move off of them and motility back (while still solid) in order to collect such items.

Physics 14 (Scientist): It takes enough time and try to survive this level at all without the possibility of completing information technology with too few stars (which happened to me v or so times in an hr). The only manner to meet the Star requirement is to cord together several Shrink items since the Compress multiplier stacks. But there'southward no guarantee that such a configuration of Shrinks will even appear. Thus players have to repeat the level over and over until the odds work in their favor - both annoying and unfair.

Chickens Can't Fly DLC skins

And here is how Amused Sloth subsequently tweaked the levels in the update:

Butchery viii: Reduced score targets to 350 for Argent and 700 for Aureate.
Cemetery 14: Reduced score targets to 350 for Silver and 700 for Gilded. Besides, slightly reduced the density of obstacles and evil power-ups.
Physics 7: This was a pain for lots of people. We reduced the requirements to 200 for Silver and 400 for Gold. The Lives bonus helps here a lot, besides. We likewise increased the possibility of getting power-ups. Withal, this notwithstanding remains a bit frustrating.
Physics 14: We lowered the score requirements to 1500 for Silver and 3000 for Gold. We besides reduced the density of obstacles and increased the density of helpful power-ups.
Others: Other levels were adapted besides (especially the 'Extra Conscientious' ones, where nosotros both reduced the density of obstacles, and the Gold targets), but by and large [we stuck to] pocket-sized tweaks to [their] Silvery and Gold requirements.

The Hungry, hungry Chicken Achievement

All of those changes make the 25 GamerScore 'Chickens Tin can't Wing!' Achievement so much more reasonable (and fun) to earn. Simply what nigh the dreaded 'Hungry, hungry Chicken!' Accomplishment? As stated in our review, unlocking it originally would have taken something like 80 hours of grinding in order to learn a one thousand thousand pieces of corn. That was never Amused Sloth'south intention, so they've done what they can to right it past making the corn counter fill up faster. Post-update, each piece of corn the histrion collects counts as ten corns towards the overall counter. As a result, the Achievement now unlocks 10 times faster than before. Thank goodness! (Update: the 10x multiplier isn't working for anybody and volition be fixed in the adjacent patch.)

Even better, the latest Weekly Challenge 'Week of the Corn' contains more than corn-grabbing opportunities than always before. It's a perfect style to knock out that Achievement for scoring 300,000 in a single level besides, provided yous take a coupleof hours to kill. Don't forget to complete it, Achievement hunters!

New problems born

Title updates have a off-white risk of introducing new problems of their own – recollect concluding week'due south Shuffle Party update? As such, a handful of new Chickens Tin't Fly issues have popped upwardly:

Unlocking the Aquarium: Players who completed every experiment prior to the update unfortunately oasis't been able to unlock the new laboratory. This is due to a bug and will be corrected as soon as possible in a new championship update.

Avatar Awards: Chickens Can't Fly has two awards: the Chicken Helmet, for obtaining 15 Aureate medals, and Chicken Slippers, for winning a multiplayer challenge. If you've already got at least 15 Golds, the helmet should unlock at outset-up or after completing 1 game. Slippers will require completion of a claiming, which shouldn't be too hard. Merely the award notifications sometimes unlock without displaying a notification, making it difficult to know you've got them.

If y'all think y'all should have them, exit the game and cull to customize your Avatar through the Xbox Live Extras app on your phone. Then but put 'em on! You won't exist able to equip the awards for the first time on a console or PC, because that data is stored straight on the device that unlocked them.

Duplicate game: Many folks (including me) unwittingly purchased the Must-Take Games for Windows Phone using preview links earlier this year. Unfortunately for us, games bought this way don't annals as the 'official' versions and tin't be re-downloaded or updated. To receive continued support for those titles, affected users had to repurchase said games.

More than bad news: if yous had the old version of CCF on your phone, the progress you lot made in it won't transfer over to the new version. Version 1.1 volition show up every bit a indistinguishable game in the Games Hub. You'll need to delete the former version and start anew if you desire to experience the update's benefits. This effect could have been avoided if just Microsoft would allow users to back-upwards and transfer Windows Telephone save games.

Xbox Live issues: Some users have experienced problems connecting to Xbox Live in-game afterward the update. Amused Sloth expects the problems to die downwardly after a day or two, once the back-stop Live infrastructure has time to fully update.

TTFN

Chickens Can't Fly skin select

Thank you to the version 1.1 update, Chickens Can't Fly is truly one of the very best games on Xbox Live. Check out our original review or simply get it here on the Marketplace!

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