Bird Assassin

I started Indie Gamer Chick with the enthusiastic encouragement of my kinda-sorta boyfriend, Brian. And Brian has really gotten into my new hobby. In fact, he’s acted as my unofficial chief gaming scout. While I concentrate on reviewing new games that just hit the market, Brian cruises Youtube looking for trailers of older stuff that I missed before I discovered Xbox Live Indie Games. I can always tell when he’s found something because he tells me “check this one out, it looks like something you would like.” And when he picks a game like Bird Assassin, I’m not sure what that says about me.

In Bird Assassin, you play as a redneck who’s wheelchair-bound father gets capped gangland-style by an evil ostrich. I can’t believe I just typed that sentence out. You decide to get revenge on the birds and grab your Pa’s hunting rifle. You make your way through nine stages, shooting anything that moves, which is convenient because everything that moves is a bird. Along the way there’s some light platforming and a few traps to jump over. It’s very minimalist and basic, but shockingly it’s a lot of fun too.

Along the nine missions, you’ll earn money that you can use for gun upgrades, bullet upgrades, and armor. Once I saw how quickly I was earning money on the fourth stage, I just replayed it until I have enough dough to purchase the mini-gun. At this point the game was effectively over. Using this, along with the laser sight for the gun, I turned into a one girl poultry holocaust.

It’s not a particularly challenging game. I played on normal difficulty and finished it in roughly a half-hour. But I really enjoyed playing it. It’s the perfect length to not get boring and the humor really is well done, if a bit cringe-worthy. The graphics are distinctive and memorable. The sound effects are good, with really over-the-top hillbilly accents providing some laughs. My only complaint is extremely minor: the default control scheme has your gun firing automatically. You can change this in the options, and make sure you do so. Oh, and you face the same boss three times. That was a kind of weak.

Bird Assassin isn’t a deep gaming experience, but sometimes you don’t need that. Sometimes you just need to unwind with a quick, immature blood-and-guts game. Sometimes you just need to have a couple quick laughs. Sometimes you just really need to piss off PETA.

Bird Assassin was developed by Social Loner Studios

80 Microsoft Points avoided making a Duck Hunt joke in the making of this review. 

Bird Assassin is also available for PC on Desura for $1.99.  This version is unverified by Indie Gamer Chick.  The XBLIG version is Chick Approved and ranked on the Indie Gamer Chick Leaderboard.