Okay. I'm the first to admit I haven't actually seen the original Crazy Chicken Kart, so when Crazy Chicken Kart 2 arrived on my desk, I didn't know quite what to expect, except that it obviously involved chickens and go-karts. I'm also pretty quick to own up to the fact that while I quite like chooks (having had several as pets, and being partial to the odd roast), I'm not a huge fan of racing games. That said - I had a bit of a crack at this, and failed miserably (I'm not posting my times, let's just say the little frog drove past me twice in a three-lap race), but I had a good giggle while doing it.

Crazy Chicken Kart 2

So I got UgLyPuNk to have a look at it, to ensure that the problem was between keyboard and chair, and not something inherent to the gaming structure. He proceeded to win, comprehensively, and claimed that it was "fun". I took notes and have since vowed not to let him get his hands on games I'm meant to be reviewing.

Simply put, the game's very much like Mario Kart or Wacky Wheels - a simple racing game with various different animals in little gokarts, zooming around a track, collecting assorted powerups (the usual bombs, holes and shields), and overtaking each other (which, in this instance, often involves flipping the bird (pun not intended)). Before you shake your head and write this off as being "just" a casual game, and not worth your time - I do have to draw your attention to the track design and the graphics. The terrain varies from race to race, from sand to asphalt to ice, and your steering controls respond accordingly, causing karts to slip off the track in the snow, while gripping perfectly on the smooth road. I'm not a graphics connoisseur - if it looks good, it looks good, whether that be photo-realistic or gimmicky 8bit pixellation. Crazy Chicken Kart 2 has a very smooth, very effective cartoon style, with a surprising depth to the animation and characters.

One thing that I didn't particularly like about the game (although I'm prepared to be in the minority on this) is the fact that extra races and kart types were only unlockable through winning championships. For someone like me, who, um, was fairly unlikely to win any championship (let alone enough to score all the unlocks), this meant the game had little replay value as I just couldn't be bothered putting any particular effort in just to win a race. To me - it's a casual game, I'd like to be able to pick it up, get happily addicted to it for a while, and then move on. This one didn't hold that long-term appeal for me.

Crazy Chicken Pirates

Grabbing my attention a bit more was Crazy Chicken Pirates.

This one may well hold that mysterious addictive quality that I so long for in my gaming. It's a game of time and skill, with no gokarts or racetracks in sight. You're given a gun, with a pretty tropical island in your sights swarming with pesky no-good pirate chickens. Your task, of course, is to turn those little squawkers into rotisserie goodies, and to rack up points along the way.

The instructions for the game set the general tone:
Left click: Fire.
Right click: Reload.

If you need any more help than that, you're putting too much thought into it. The game is designed as a throwaway. It's a game to "invest" (not "waste") time on, when you probably should be doing other things. It's even got an old-school high score table, so next time you play, you can try to beat your points this time, by clicking even more frantically and trying to aim that little bit better and that little bit quicker.

While you can simply score points by blowing away the feathered foes, you can score extra by trying to find all of the Pirate memorabilia stashed around the island, or just amuse yourself by seeing what happens if you shoot that thing over there, with many bits of scenery hiding surprises.

Crazy Chicken Wanted

Not so much a fan of pirates? Prefer cowboys? You're in luck, with Crazy Chicken Wanted being pretty much the same game in different costumes.

And really, far be it from me to comment on a game's originality or lack of. I'm not about to criticise this title for being horribly similar to the previous game. I'm also not going to criticise both of these titles for their similarities to countless point-and-click shooters, this time with the addition of chickens in amusing outfits. I might have commented while playing that it'd be useful to have a Wii controller rather than a mouse, and I may have, once or twice, believed I was shooting Raving Rabbids, not chooks, but all that aside, Crazy Chicken Wanted is a decent enough title.

Again, you're holding a gun. Left-click fire, right-click reload, and your aim is to fill as many of these walking nuggets as possible with lead. As is becoming a trend, objects in the landscape can be shot at as well, to score extra points or to complete criteria required for the next level. Just don't shoot the moles, they're your friends.

In all three games, the visuals are pretty impressive. They're hardly top-shelf, they're anything but photo-realistic, but really - we're talking about casual games, why do you need that sort of flash? What these games achieve, instead, is a clean, crisp cartoon style perfectly suited to the gameplay. The chickens themselves (and other animals) are cheeky little sods, popping up when you least expect it, holding up placards with "important information", or scooting past you while racing. Similarly – the AI isn't really much to write home about, it's all pretty standard stuff – but why fix what ain't broke? The games work. That's all that matters. They're not overly challenging, they're not overly complex, but they'll keep you occupied for a while. If you're after something more, my advice is to keep walking, the Crazy Chicken series isn't for you. For pure time-wasting "investing", however... stick around a bit, you're in the right place.