For those that dig on swine, bacon seems to have such a magical allure that people will put it on the craziest things just to enjoy it. Bacon’s mysterious power even translates to the video game world, where even a rooster will do everything within its power to save the world’s bacon supply from being abducted by aliens. If the thought of such a ridiculous premise appeals to you, you’ll enjoy The Abduction of Bacon at Dawn, the Chronicles of a Brave Rooster (Free). It not only hits the mark in terms of theme but it’s a fun little platformer in its own right as well.
From a gameplay standopint, Brave Rooster is a basic platformer with a few extra additions mixed in. Agility-based levels are mixed in with a nice dose of enemies to avoid and/or take out. Supplemental objectives are in play through saving pigs that are in the process of being abducted. Take out the UFOs doing the abductions fast enough and you get a nice score bonus. In addition to pigs, a combo system and scoring mechanic provides some motivation to strategize any run during a level. There’s nothing particularly special about the mechanics, but they are refined with a healthy balance between skill, speed, and chaos.
Where Brave Rooster really shines is in its presentation. The art style is phenomenal, the between-level cutscenes are tongue-in-cheek and even the little tutorial notes that get passed during levels are funny. The music also deserves some mention as a nice mix between classic alien horror movies with a faster platformer-appropriate beat. The story is a ridiculous tale of aliens abducting the world’s pigs for bacon reasons and your rooster hero is the only thing stopping that from happening. Presentation and visuals go a long way towards adding some motivation to play through a title with pretty established gameplay and Brave Rooster does a good job of hitting that objective.
I’m also a fan of the game’s progression system. Whether it’s a new weapon, ability or armor upgrade, every level introduces something new to check out. Furthermore, the game does a great job of throwing the player in a level that takes advantage of that new ability while subsequent missions always place an emphasis on whatever new thing is bestowed upon the player with a combination of things previously given. As the goal of the game is to build up your hero’s strength enough to take on the master alien, Brave Rooster does an excellent job of chronicling the player’s rise to power. By the time I reached the end, I felt like I’d learned not only the ins and outs of the game’s mechanics but had also mastered the various weapons and power-ups earned. Games don’t pay enough attention to a good profession system but I think Brave Rooster nails it very well.
If I had to fault Brave Rooster in some regard, it’d have to be in its longevity. From start to finish, you’re looking at a total play time of about 2-3 hours for the entire game. Now, there’s room for replayability in terms of revisiting previously completed levels in order to use new-found abilities to get past certain areas and hit all the objectives. However, I didn’t find that too compelling of a reason to continuing playing. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a great ride, just a bit short.
While a lot of folks would be rightfully turned off by Brave Rooster ‘s brevity, as someone that never has enough time to enjoy a game through its completion I appreciated its length. In the end, it’s an enjoyable platformer with great production values and good pacing. In my mind that’s more than enough to be worth a recommendation.
