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Chicken exploder, reporting for duty!

  • Kel
  • 10/28/2014 10:41 PM
  • 1495 views
I'm probably not alone in thinking that when someone mentions a RM farming game, there will be a share of managing crops. Besides games like Harvest Moon, many games I've seen will focus solely on the growing crops aspect.

In this game, however, it's the total opposite. Barnyard animals are the focal point, and instead of brushing them and stealing their milk or eggs, you'll be corralling each animal in a unique fashion. Usually by crashing into them.


Story
A bunch of identical old people, known as wizards, are heading out to do some wizardry. In the meantime, they leave two young people in charge of everything while they're away.

One is a magic obsessed boy who plays around with magic a little too much, causing all the farm animals to be teleported both outside and inside the wizard's castle.

The other is a girl who the player controls, forced to clean up the mess.

Besides the number of endings (there are more than one), that's about the only piece of story we get, but it sets the stage for something unique that I have had yet to experience.


Gameplay
As soon as control is given to the player, they have to push/kick three cows back into a pen. This acts as a tutorial and gets you prepared for more encounters with those poor cows.

Inside the barn is a shelf full of books that will give you hints on capturing the rest of the different types of farm animals. Each one has a different method of capture; chickens being the easiest. You can either just bump into them (which is why people keep saying punting) and they'll go flying. There's also another method to deal with them that would put KFC out of business.

Cows are easily pushed aside as the object is to push them between the two crystals found on the same map, while both sheep and horses push the player aside. There are tools you must find in the game to deal with these two. Speaking of tools, there's all kinds of them to make the job easier, and for gaining access to different parts of the castle. Lastly, Dogs are needed to chase away cats, which had its own scene each time the two came into contact.

For many of the useful tools, you'll need to find items called runeshards hidden in pots, chests, and cupboards in order to give to the magic obsessed boy for creating the tools of the trade. This means the boy isn't completely useless after all, but I bet getting the girl to find the animals gives him plenty of time to mess around with unrelated magic while she's away.


Graphics
Everything used besides the main characters, their faces, and the different tool icons is standard RTP(besides maybe the larger trees). The mapping itself is usually fairly bare, but it still looks good, like an older GBA game for instance. Plus all that space is important in corralling the various animals and for setting up the puzzles you'll need tools to traverse through.

Better yet, a lot of objects on the map are specifically designed to help you push those cows down the intended path, like a sliding ice puzzle would.

Perhaps more ground variety to step over, but otherwise it's great. I also like how it told me the number of animals I've "rescued" on my save file.


Sound
The sound consists of RTP; it's actually been some time since I've heard any of it, and each song fit the area, giving each part of the castle a different feel.

At the very top of the castle, the music is probably most fitting.


Bugs for the Dev
♦ If you use the dash ring towards an exit, you won't actually be transported to the next map. I can see how accidentally transporting could be annoying though.
♦ After your partner tells you about swapping powers, you have to leave the barn in order to use any power or switch between them.


Stray Observations
♠ I ended up exploding a little more than 10 poor chickens.
♠ Kicking cows in between the crystal markers is more fun than it has any right to be.
♠ Mine cart minigame, whoo~
♠ If being stuck corralling all the animals bother you, when the boy gives you the dash ring, you can crash into him and he actually responds, poor guy.
♠ I'm wondering where that huge stampede of sheep go after walking through the wall.


There were times when getting lost looking for certain items grew boring, especially near the end, but whenever there were animals to bring back to their pens, the game shined brightly. It ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it would be, and the time it took to complete the game passed by without me even noticing.

Posts

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Heya- thanks for reviewing the game! I'm glad you liked it and got into the gameplay. I'll look into that menu bug. The first one about teleporting while dashing is intentional though.

Also, only the music that plays in cutscenes is RTP. All the songs on the playable maps are my own creations. You're not the first person who thought they were RTP though. I actually consider that a good thing. Hopefully it means my songs were on par with the ones that came with the program!

I really like how the song at the top fits too :-)
Yeah you're right about the music; it's been so long since I went back and listened to the older RTPs, never used them myself. I actually really love the song playing where all the sheep are stampeding. (obviously since I brought it up in Sound)

And the dashing making it unable to teleport was a good choice imo, just thought I'd throw it out there just in case.
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