At an early Cristams party at our house, my wife got a new pc game as a grab bag gift. It is called Chicken Hunter and was distributed by
Encore software You can purchase it through Amazon.com.
I immediately loaded it onto my Mame cabinet and we had some fun playing it that night. It is a fairly simple game but it is actually quite addicting and fun! The basic game play is "shoot as many chickens as you can in 1.5 minutes", but there are many little hidden things and extra ways to earn points.
The next day I did some research and I have learned that "Chicken Hunter" is actually an english version release of the German game "Moorhuhn X". There are many fun hidden scoring oppurtunities and a hidden bonus level.
Moorhuhn translatea to "Moorland Hen" or as some site put it "Swamp Chicken". The Moorhuhns are described as Chickens, Turkeys our Grouse on some sites.
The series started with a free downloadable promotional written by Pheomedia for "Johnnie Walker" called "Moorhuhn Jagd" (Moorland Hen Hunt). This quickly became one of the most popular free games in europe.
It was soon followed by "Moorhuhn 2". Moorhuhn 2 introduced better graphics and gameplay with more hidden features. It also allowed for expansion sets, so there are many varations available, like Simpsons, or Star Wars available.
Then there was "Moorhuhn, Winter Edition" which is basically a new varation of Moorhuhn 2. Moorhuhm 3 came next, with improved graphics and gameplay.
Afte that I'm not sure of the exact order, but there is Moorfrosch (Moorland Frog), a Frogger type of game. Moorhuhn Pinball, Moorhuhn Kart, a Mario Kart type of game. There is also Moorhuhn Kart Extra, Moorhuhn Kart 2.
Somewhere along the line they came out with "Moorhuhn X" whic is what "Chicken Hunter" is based on.
The latest appears to be "Moorhuhn: Wanted". This is a western themed version that looks very cool. So far I have only played the free XS version which is restricted to the "High Huhn" a shootout/duel mode. The shootout is very well done and challenging and a little different from the rest of the hunting versions. In the shootout, the moorhuhn "Clint Moorwood" shoots back! It took a while to figure out exactly how this game is played. After the you and the chicken are faced off at ten paces, a bell singles High Noon and your cross hairs are moved to a circualr area in the bottom right corner of the screen. You must not move the cross hairs out of that circle until the chicken actually grabs his gun. If you move before he does, you will lose the draw! Once he has grabbed his gun you are free to shoot him, but don't take too long or you will lose. To get the most points, you should shoot his hat off, shoot his gun, or his gun hand. This gives you a little time to shoot ath the background objects for some more points while the chicke recovers his hat or gun. There are only 15 seconds per duel, so you do not have much time to shoot the extra stuff. You can usually shoot his hat two or three time before time runs out. To get the most points, shoot the hat/ or gun shoot some of the backgound, then shoot his hat or gun again, shoot one or two more backgroud objects, then kill the chicken for more points. Once the chicken is dead the duel is over and you cannot shott again until the next duel starts. You get three lives, so the duels continue until you have lost three times.
There is also an Egyptian themend Moorhuhn, and a Moorhuhn Adventure, but I have not had a chance to try these yet.
Most of the moorhuhn games come in three versions: "XS" which is free but limited. XL with more features/levels unlocked, and the full blown "XXL" vesrions.
The biggest problem with the Moorhuhn series is that the "Chicken Hunter" is the only english version. All the others appear to be German only releases and they only appear to be available from overseas sites like amazon.de.
I would like to purchase the "XXL" versions of Moorhuhn Kart and Moorhuhn:Wanted but I don't really know german so I can't figure out if any of these sites will ship to the United States. If someone can help me out with getting these games purchased, I'd appreciate it.
The hunting versions all work well on my cab using the player one joystick (arrow keys) and track ball (mouse). The left and right arrows scroll the palying field left and right and the mouse moves the cross hairs. The left mouse button is your trigger and the right button is for reloading. You can scroll the paying field with just the mouse by moving the cross hairs to the edge of the screen. Using the arrow keys works better giving a faster scroll and better control. On my cab, I use the top fire button is switchable between the left mouse button and Mame player one button one. so I can aim with tracl ball, and use the joystick to scroll and fire.
I imagine that these game would work with the Act Labs gun, but mouse only scrolling may lower your scores! I don't have a gun yet, so I cannot verify this.
there is an english language fan site for the moorhuhn series, but it appears to be a little out of date as it only covers Moorhuhn Jagd, Moorhuhn 2, Moorhuhn: Winter Edition, Moorhuhn 3, and Moorhuhn X.
http://members.shaw.ca/moorhuhn/welcome.htmThe main site for the Moorhuhn series is
http://www.moorhuhn.de
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Topic: Chicken Hunter / Moorhuhn series (Read 63871 times)
