Cookies vs. Claus

Review

Who doesn’t love cookies? I haven’t found too many people who don’t. Who doesn’t love Santa Claus? You know that old guy dressed in red with a long white beard who makes a round once a year to deliver presents to everybody. Let’s be honest, the guy is an icon! Until one Christmas Eve, when Santa meets Cookies, and it isn’t like when Harry met Sally, it’s deadly! The question is, are you going to be a Cookie or a Claus? Let’s get the cookie . . . or . . .  Claus to crumble!

Cookies vs. Claus is an action game where you take control of a cookie, Santa Claus and other Christmas related characters and eliminate your opponents as fast as you can to collect three well- earned golden stars.

In the main menu, you’ll be able to access single player, online and custom modes. In the single player mode, you’ll be able to play Santa, Rudolph the Reindeer and Cookies missions. There are currently 96 levels to clear. Your goal is to eliminate all your opponents as fast as you can without suffering too much damage in order to win three stars. The first four stages will be unlocked, but you’ll have to accumulate a certain number of stars in order to unlock the other ones. There are twelve missions per character. Bear in mind you have six different types of cookies to play, as well as Santa and Rudolph. In this mode, you’ll be playing in a combined kitchen and lounge room with a big Xmas tree right in the middle. The room will be full of toys which you can pick up if you play Santa, or use if you play cookies. I thoroughly enjoyed jumping in a plane and dive bombing Santa (that’ll learn ya for giving me the wrong Chrissy present!) Mind you, I like the tank and flying saucer too. Anyway, there are plenty of goodies to pick up and use in this room. Also, ninety percent of the levels will be finished under sixty seconds, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll earn three stars at all. For example, Rudolph is a difficult character to eliminate. His nose is a powerful laser beam and inflicts severe damage. Santa has a candy cane that shoots white balls, and as for cookies . . . well, it would depend which cookie you’re playing. The Ninja cookie has a katana and shuriken and can become invisible. What of a bugger of a cookie!  I’ll let you discover the other five by yourself.

The online mode currently has two maps available which includes the one I mentioned above and the North Pole map. In this mode, you’ll be part of a team of cookies (four in total) or playing Santa. The goal is to eliminate Santa as fast as possible. The tricky aspect for the cookies is that they’ll only have fifteen lives available between them. Use all the lives and you lose the battle. In the last mode you can customize a battle.

Nice colourful graphics. The soundtrack is cheery, festive and fun! You’ll be able to find an online game very quickly; people are playing this game - it’s a lot of fun! In regards to the controls, you’ll be able to use your mouse and keyboard, or a gamepad. Personally, I would like to see more maps added for the online mode. Mind you, this game is an early access and I look forward to seeing more updates.