A few notes before you begin reading:
- This is NOT me hating on Chicken Invaders, this comparison is just done for fun
- The information is based off of the latest release of Universe, so it may be inaccurate in the future
- This will regularly be updated as time goes on
- This is NOT a checklist of what’s missing in Universe, this is instead comparing Universe (both right now and in the future) with the episodes, I MAY do that in the future though
- Yes, I did most (if not, all) of the research on the CI Wiki, most of the credit goes to @Sammarald and the other users for the information
- For those interested, I have a parallel topic to this detailing the evolution of Chicken Invaders, it can be found here: Comparison Topic: The Evolution of Chicken Invaders
This topic is built to compare Chicken Invaders Universe to the Chicken Invaders Episodes (1 through 5 and potential future releases), and see how different are the episodic games compared to Universe. This will cover different topics ranging from key collection to waves to other miscellaneous information, some are more obvious than others.
Anyway, let us begin!
DIFFICULTIES/SKILLS
THE EPISODES
- Skills (named difficulties) define how much damage is dealt to the enemies (Rookie being the default, Veteran is half and Superstar Hero is a third)
- Multipliers are applied based on the difficulty, platform (mobile multipliers are higher than PC), multiplayer mode (multiplayer has lower multipliers the more players are playing), and Space Ninja paintjob if used (CI5 only)
UNIVERSE
- Skills instead define how much health the enemies have (again, Rookie being the default)
- Multipliers will still apply to platform, and possibly even multiplayer when it releases, but regarding skills they will only apply to Tourist
- Harder skills have increased enemy fire rate and quantity
- Virtuoso and higher skills hide the safe/danger zone markers
- There exist assets for two skills higher than Superstar Hero! It’s been rumored that the hardest skill might be called “Universal Grandmaster”
SPACECRAFT
THE EPISODES
- There’s only one spaceship available, the Müller M404-PI Deliverer
- In Chicken Invaders 5, the entire spaceship can be painted (we’ll get to that later)
- In Chicken Invaders 4, there are unlockables that change the color of the engine
- Additionally, in Chicken Invaders 4, there exists an unlockable that changes the spaceship into the Millenium Hatchling (Hen Solo’s spaceship), but that’s purely cosmetic and doesn’t affect how the spaceship behaves
- The spaceship design changed between games
UNIVERSE
- You can choose between 10 different spaceships
- You start with the H&C 101 Hatchling
- The Millenium Hatchling isn’t available, yet
- Apart from the body (which may come in a future update), the entire spaceship can be customized, you can change the loadout (the reactor, the heat sink, the engine, default weapon, attach satellites, hardpoints, etc) and the paintjob (like in CI5)
- You can own multiple spaceships, the one in use is called your “flagship”
- Each spaceship varies from each other, for example: Amount of hardpoints and satellite docks, mass, slots, maneuverability and equipment bonus
- Spaceship models are fairly limited (the H&C and Müller brand spaceships are identical functionality-wise), it’s still unconfirmed whenever spaceships themselves can be customized (asides from the paintjob)
- Initially, mass affected how the spaceship moved in-game, but ever since v3 it’s been restored to the functionality from the episodes, with the exception of the Heavy Bomber (although a perishable can be used to speed up that ship type’s movement)
- The brand new Heavy Bomber ships shoot more projectiles than the rest, but move significantly slower
KEY COLLECTING
THE EPISODES (Chicken Invaders 4-5 only!)
- Keys drop from enemies only
- In Chicken Invaders 5, there exists a paintjob called the “Gold Digger”, which increases key drop rate by 20%
UNIVERSE
- Just like the episodes, keys drop from enemies, but they are awarded depending on your performance on the mission
- You can sell food at Space Burger for keys
- You’re awarded keys for showing up every day
- You also get keys when you discover a planet/constellation/star system (they key amount depends on the object that you’ve discovered)
- To my knowledge, so far no objects exist (apart from Skills) that increase key drop rate
- Certain mission types award keys upon completing a wave
- H&C-brand spaceships have a key bonus
CHEATS
THE EPISODES
- They can be activated in the options menu, but are only available in game builds from the official website
- Using them forbids certain objects from being obtained
UNIVERSE
- No such thing exists nor is planned
- Attempting to use third party apps to cheat (like Cheat Engine) will result in a ban
PAINTJOBS
CHICKEN INVADERS 5 (and possibly, future episodes)
- Customization is free
- Activating certain unlockables are required to customize more parts of the spaceship
- There exist several “rare custom paintjobs” that impact the game upon usage
UNIVERSE
- It costs keys to customize your spaceship
- In exchange for that, there are more options, like the Wingstreak and the appearance of the Engine
- Customization options depend on the spacecraft family
- Rare custom paintjobs have yet to be added
WAVES AND MISSIONS
THE EPISODES
- With the exception of Chicken Invaders 1, there’s a limit of 120 waves (110 in Chicken Invaders 2, and 121 in Chicken Invaders 3, as the game starts with a bossfight then moves on to the first chapter), each split onto “chapters” containing 10 waves each
- The waves are defined and don’t change
- Boss fights occur every 10 waves
- In contrast to the first point, Chicken Invaders 1 doesn’t really have an ending, but waves are still split on sets of 10, and the same waves repeat over and over again, well, until the game crashes
UNIVERSE
- Missions vary in length, regular missions are limited to 40 waves
- Weekly challenges, though, last 100 waves
- The 120th Anniversary mission lasts 120 waves
- On Chicken Invasions, boss fights are set based on the length of the mission (example: 2x3 length = 6 waves total, 3 per segment, 2 bosses)
- Non-chicken invasions are restricted to 1 boss
- Skills and mission difficulty affect the waves, both the enemies and what waves will spawn
EDITIONS
THE EPISODES
- They are usually released around a set time of the year
- They affect the looks of the game, and sometimes the sounds and the music
- Official purchases from the official site bundle these for free
- On Steam, these are treated as DLC
- On third party sites, the editions are fully sold separately
UNIVERSE
- Due to the massive size of the game, they are not planned, but there could still exist Holiday content in the future
PRICE
This information applies only to the versions available from the official website
THE EPISODES
- Chicken Invaders 1 is free
- Chicken Invaders 2 costs €9.95
- Every game starting from Chicken Invaders 3 costs €11.25
- The purchases from the site come with extra goodies, ranging from all languages, to a “license” that allows for unlimited downloads, free holiday editions and updates
UNIVERSE
- The game, both right now and after release, is free
- In-App Purchases will be available after release for purchasing keys and other things
- @InterAction_studios is planning to include a “Chicken Hunter License” after full release that will cost roughly $5, it will allow for multiple installations to be linked together (some preparation changes have recently been made)
TECH SUPPORT
BEFORE UNIVERSE
- You needed to contact @InterAction_studios to send them support and feedback
UNIVERSE AND UP
- The forum can be used to report bugs, submit feedback, send ideas and more.
- Not sure if the forum also applies to the Episodes or not
DISTRIBUTION
THE EPISODES
- They’re available from numerous sites other than InterAction’s own, for example, Big Fish Games, but they lack certain features, like multiplayer and cheats
- The games are available on Steam, and mobile devices from their respective stores
UNIVERSE
- Officially, only planned to be distributed from the official website
- Steam and mobile versions are also planned, yet not right now because the game hasn’t been released yet
- Those won’t be too different from the original edition, unlike the episodes
SCORING
THE EPISODES
- Depends on the chapter
- Chicken Invaders 5 included unlockables that increased score (handicaps and a paintjob)
UNIVERSE
- Depends on your skill
- The score is then recalculated based on your performance
GAMEPLAY
THE EPISODES
- Superweapons are obtained every 100 food units
- You can obtain extra lives every certain digits of score (It goes like this: Every 1 million points on Rookie, 3 million points on Veteran, and 10 million points on Superstar Hero)
- Unlockables are required to change Superweapons (only two exist: Missiles and Mine Bombs)
- At certain intervals, the Hero will say certain dialogue depending on the wave and/or boss (multiplayer and the Holiday editions of CI5 are exceptions, though)
- You can only use one type of superweapon at a time, and both of those are of mass destruction
UNIVERSE
- You need to mount superweapons and lives, alongside other objects like HUD items and other things that may be used during a mission (perishables, Coolant Canisters and Poultry Paybacks, for example)
- Currently, there’s no way to obtain extra Superweapons or Lives within the mission
- Not every superweapon relates to mass destruction, like the Dimensional Phaseout, which acts as temporal invincibility
- The player has no dialogue during the missions, except for the Space Race challenge, where the player says: “I must hurry!”
- You can mount multiple different types of superweapons on the same mission (Example: 3 Missiles and 3 Mine Bombs)
MULTIPLAYER
THE EPISODES
- Two players in one computer is available in both Chicken Invaders 1 and 2
- CI3 and up feature this, but also allow for LAN and internet multiplayer
- Steam versions of CI3 and up only feature Friends Multiplayer (multiplayer with your Steam friends)
- Mobile versions and versions from other sites lack this feature (CI3 and up)
UNIVERSE
- All players play in the same world map
- In-mission multiplayer is not yet available
- Players are able to join squadrons, creating one requires a Squadron License, the only current functionality is that leaders can assign missions they’ve completed to members
- “Fly with a wingman” mode will likely not be added
CUTSCENES
THE EPISODES
- They appear in between chapters to progress the story (or in the case of CI1 and CI2, before the title), usually comic in nature
UNIVERSE
- No cutscenes, the only one that can be “considered” a cutscene though, is the text at the beginning of the game (new run)
BOSSFIGHTS
THE EPISODES
- The bosses are always the same
UNIVERSE
- The health and attacks of the bosses depend on the mission difficulty and your skill
- The bosses that spawn also depend on the difficulty
UPDATES
THE EPISODES
- Updates are released in a long period of time (it could take even months before an update releases!)
- Changelogs are posted on the official news tab on the InterAction website
- Updates reset mission progress, high scores and any configured options
UNIVERSE (Early Access)
- Updates are mostly weekly
- Changelogs are posted on the forum each under the title “Early Access (version number)”
- Unless noted otherwise, updates generally reset configured options and current mission progress
- @InterAction_studios has confirmed that there will exist updates in the near-future that will reset progress entirely (or keep the keys the player has collected across the entire game), however, as of right now, these have yet to come
- Minor optional updates may be released to fix a particular bug in the main release, however, some minor releases are mandatory to fix critical game issues (example: no delay between waves)
BETA TESTING
THE EDITIONS
- It’s unconfirmed whenever Chicken Invaders 1 had a beta testing period (closed or open, more likely closed)
- Chicken Invaders 2 had a brief beta testing period, they could last as much as 10 days
- Chicken Invaders 3 and up had closed beta testing, these last 26 days prior to release
- The testers of Chicken Invaders 4 and up were divided into beta teams
- Editions are tested by the beta testers that did the most work
- The Christmas Edition of Chicken Invaders 5 was an early access period, available for those that previously purchased the CI5 package
- Early Access for said edition lasted three months
UNIVERSE
- This game has open beta testing (or as iA calls it, Early Access)
- It’s still unclear when early access will finalize (ie: the game release), so far, the only confirmed information on the matter is: “When it’s done”
- There’s also no roadmap for future implementations
- Testing is 100% free (if you haven’t already, you can get the game here: Download Early Access, I recommend using the bottom link, just to be safe)
OLD VERSIONS
THE EPISODES
- You can run old versions perfectly fine
- Old versions are, however, incompatible with multiplayer
UNIVERSE
- You can run an old version, but you’re unable to connect to the server, as it asks you to update (that’s considering the game is online)
MISSION TYPES
THE EPISODES
- There aren’t that many mission types in the games, only Chicken Invasion is present in all of the games
- CI2 and CI3 have Asteroid missions (although CI3 called them Meteors)
- CI3 has a Comet Chase
- CI4 has Feather Field, Droid Raid, Retro, and Supernova missions
- CI5 has Planetary missions
UNIVERSE
- Asides from Planetary and Feather Field missions, all of the previously mentioned types are present, alongside Squawk Block, Darkness and Anniversary (the last being a recreation of CI1)
Please let me know if there’s anything that I’ve missed, or if any of this information is inaccurate, as always feedback is greatly appreciated, and I hope you have a great day!