February
15, 2005
Sheep
is a clear example of the early generations of Gameboy Advance titles.
Many developers dusted off classic titles from yesteryear, spruced
them up with an extra coat of paint, and sent them out the door
to a new audience. For those of us who grew up during the age of
the NES, the Commodore 64, and the Amiga, these is a godsend. We
recognize greatness when we see it.
The
younger kids, on the other hand, either looked the other way or
didn't notice even notice these games at all. Consumers, for the
most part, flocked to the handful of brand-name titles and Super
Nintendo reissues. Sorry, kids, but you were royally screwed.
Now
you can make up for that. A lot of these titles can be had for a
song if you're willing to search them out: Archer Maclean's Dropzone
and International Karate Advance; the Cinemaware games
like Wings, The Three Stooges, Defender of
the Crown (what genius passed on a 4-player mode?!); Broken
Sword: Shadow of the Templars; Speedball 2: Brutal
Deluxe (and, yet, still no Sensible Soccer). Some are great,
some merely have great moments.
Sheep
is a classic title from Europe from that fertile era when Europe
put their own stamp on gaming. It's inventive, a little quirky,
and probably only fun for short burst here and there. In other words,
the perfect thing for a portable games unit.
The
premise involves using a sheep dog to herd groups of sheep through
various obstacle courses. You chase the animals through hedges,
over poles, around menacing machines that only seem to exist to
kill sheep, and straight into the waiting truck. It's a simple task
to grasp, but of course proves more and more challenging.
The
trick is that these sheep don't like to listen too well; they want
to wander off and go running in every direction. You'll quickly
discover that the real thrill lies in the new Arrange Mode. This
mode introduces different types of sheep, all with their own traits,
ranging from playful to docile to rebellious. By keeping the herds
together, you'll increase their skill levels, which make them more
loyal to your dog and easier to conrtol.
This
adds a good amount of personality to Sheep, similar to
all the life-breeding games that popped up ever since the Tomogatchi
craze. Your choice of dogs also can be bred and grown, based on
their relationship with the sheep. Keep losing the little spuds
(which happens a lot later on), and you'll never progress properly,
and everything just get harder. Likewise, you can pick up a stray
sheep and carry them all the way to the truck, but that won't count
toward precious experience points.
There
are a lot of jumping over poles and being rocketed over water in
every which way. It's an example of a puzzler that takes a basic
premise and stretches it in as many directions as possible. I'll
also admit to a certain satisfaction in herding a pack of sheep
from the start to finish without losing any of them. The graphics
probably won't leave an impression on anyone too young to remember
the 16-bit era, and the game can become repetitious during long
stretches, but for what it is, it works. |
