Chicken Little: Ace in Action DS Hands-On

In addition to the forthcoming PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of Chicken Little: Ace in Action, DC Studios is preparing a version of the game for release on the Nintendo DS. Although its gameplay differs somewhat from the gameplay in the console releases, the DS version of the game retains their three methods of gameplay, in that you'll be able to play as Ace on foot, as Abby in a spaceship, and as Runt in a tank.

The gameplay here involves Smash TV-esque mechanics. You control your character with the directional pad, and pressing the face buttons will order them to fire in any of eight directions. So far, so good. Unlike in Smash TV, though, you'll be fighting your way through fairly linear levels, so you won't have to wander around looking for a fight. The pace of the action is near constant, and the game throws plenty of enemies your way, each of which will drop cash and hidden weapons for you to pick up.

You can grab multiple weapon upgrades from destroyed obstacles and enemies, and although these upgrades are usually temporary, they'll greatly boost the firepower of your character while they're active. They can even stack, which lets you, for instance, pick up an upgrade that spreads your attack out across the screen and then combine it with one that increases the rate of fire.

In addition, the shoulder buttons here let you either pop up a shield or use a special attack against tougher enemies. You can also find superweapons inside destroyed obstacles, which destroy all enemies on the screen when picked up.

Chicken Little: Ace in Action for the DS should be hitting your handheld sometime this fall, so keep an eye on GameSpot for more details as its launch approaches.