Indie games can get a little bit crazy at times. Crazy can be good… sometimes. Developer Niemi Bros Entertainment and publisher QUByte Interactive offer up Chipmonk! and I’m here to review it.

The gluttonous gray squirrel has stolen all the land’s food stores, threatening the forest’s inhabitants with starvation. Embark on a perilous journey as a chipmunk martial arts master — Grey, Cheeks or Red — as you battle a multitude of foes in a heroic attempt to recover the stolen food. Are you nutty enough to take on this venture?

Firstly, I adore the beat ’em up genre, even more so when it had a retro slant. So Chipmonk! is a title that is right up my oak tree. When I first saw the trailer for this, I was put in mind of the mighty Battletoads. Anthropomorphic animals beating the crap out of each other and all that. After about 30 seconds of playing, it became very clear that Chipmonk! is Golden Axe. Yeah, it may look different and the levels are not the same, but this is Golden Axe.

Everything from the three playable characters’ different stats to the basic mechanics and even the magic system is directly inspired by Sega’s Golden Axe. Some of the move-sets are identical and even how the magic works, where you have to beat up those little annoying thief things to get the pots to power up the magic. Yup, even that system is here in Chipmonk!

The short version is that, if you liked Golden Axe, then you’ll most probably really enjoy Chipmonk!, they really are essentially the same game. I am one of those who grew up playing games like Golden Axe, so I really did enjoy this one. You get three different play modes. A Classic arcade mode, which is your standard scrolling beat ’em up fare. There’s a Duel option, for some one-on-one action. Then there’s Onslaught mode, which is you vs an endless number of enemies and you have to see how long you can last.

Priced at around £7-£8 and is available on everything right now. Chipmonk! is basic stuff that doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, it’s a game that knows what it is. A silly, retro beat ’em up that pays homage to the classics, Golden Axe in particular. Being an old-school beat ’em up, Chipmonk! comes with all of the annoyances those games did too. Things like enemies that quickly gang up and beat the crap out of you from both sides. That thing where they keep backing away as you try to get closer. Or even enemies that can reach you, but you can’t reach them… unless you get really close and then they smack you in the face over and over. But, those annoyances are part and parcel of a title like this and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Originally released back in 2019 for PC, but now available on the consoles, Chipmonk! is a game that you’re either going to ‘get’, or you won’t. It can be as fun as it can be frustrating and there is a steep difficulty curve, especially when you get to the last couple of levels and the final boss fight. Options are very limited, with no number of lives or difficulty settings and such. There is a two-player mode, but no three-player. Still, as far as I recall, Golden Axe was only ever two-player. If you’re a fan of these retro beat ’em ups, then Chipmonk! is worth a look.