Barnyard

- Reviewed on GameCube -

Barnyard released on August 1st, 2006.

Following the same events that happened in the 2006 Nickelodeon movie of the same name (Barnyard), the Barnyard video game title is a single player adventure / action game that tries its best to relive the entire events of the movie.

I was a fan of the 2006 movie as a kid and after playing this game years later for the first time, I believe this game could've had more work put into it, but the developers, Blue Tongue Entertainment and Halfbrick Studios, did what they could with the current technology of the time. 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

Right off the bat with this title, you'll notice that Barnyard is a minigame mash-up sort of deal in terms of gameplay.

The hub world is an impressive map size for the time and revolves around you playing as a new cow (male or female), and winning minigames with all sorts of cannon characters from the show including Otis, Ben, Abby, Pig, Freddy, Pip, and much more.

The goal is to continuously play through all nine chapters of the game, but for completionists, you can replay any minigame(s) you've already done before and try to get the Star rating for that activity. 

Earning the most stars and reviewing your progress with Pip, is your ticket to becoming "Barnyard Champion". 

My experience with this title was majority of the time descent, but never exceeded my expectations and / or enjoyment.

After your initial run with most characters in the game, the minigames start to become very repetitive with little to no changes afterwards.

You'll finish one minigame for example, then in a later chapter (or same one!) you'll play it again but with harder opponents or changed rules / gameplay. 

This feature / mechanic heavily influenced my desire to keep playing at times.

The dialogue in Barnyard is very appropriate for the movie and how they acted in that. 

The same characters talk the same way they do in the film, and oddly too, you only ever hear actual voices in the first sentence or during a chapter break. Even those audible dialogue moments sound heavily compressed as well.

One huge positive to the Barnyard game is the collectibles. 

There are only a few "major" collectibles to obtain, and they are Recipe Rocks and Hints. 

The hints can be found by a yellow sticky note with an X on it, attached to trees, fences, buildings, etc. These hints help with various game features like how to get better scores and also fun little references to the movie. 

Recipe Rocks are exactly what they sound like. They're rocks with X's on them, that show recipes for various foods and beverages that you can make at the Barnyard with Pig. 

Other less important collectibles include Gopher Coins (Money), which is the currency in Barnyard that you earn / find that can be used (only at night) at the Underground Gopher Shop. 

This shop holds the upgrades for the Barn, for you to buy and have fun with the farm animals with! This isn't mandatory to do, but just another great side feature this game possesses. 

The soundtrack is the best part of Barnyard and is heavily used in the film as well. Very upbeat, country like music (with banjos and whistling) for you to explore and compete in. 

You can also collect flowers, food, beverages, and destroy crates and such in your spare time. 

You'll see a compass in the lower left corner of the game that shows where your current missions (objectives) are, and once you have finished them, you can explore freely. 

These missions are time based though with the game's day / night cycle. 

My absolute biggest gripe with Barnyard though is the choppy frame rate at times. 

The GameCube version just didn't play well with the running / walking specifically. 

Everything else was fluid but the essential running and walking just felt slow with either delays or blurry setbacks.

Walking might be weird and off putting with this game's controls, but the major way of getting around the world map, is with the bike. 

I loved driving with the bike around the map, from point A to point B, and with accelerating, races, gold rushes, and even doing tricks off ramps simply for my enjoyment, this was a great addition by the developers. 

Pros: 

    - Same Cast of Characters from Movie

    - Fun and Addicting Music to Listen to

    - Inclusion of Bike Navigation

    - Plenty of Collectibles

    - Lots of Side Features

Cons:

    - Delayed and Frustrating Controls (Walking and Running)

    - Compressed Audio for Little Dialogue Segments

    - Extremely Repetitive with Little to No Variation in Minigames

My Rating for Barnyard (on GameCube):

3 / 5

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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.