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COMIC MISCHIEF: The cows do silly things to other animals, like squirt milk, play darts with mosquitoes. Silly stuff like that.
Based on the summer computer animated kids movie, Barnyard for Game Boy Advance gives players a chance to party like an animal. When the farmer's away, the animals stand up on their hind legs to do chores and play pranks. When the leader of the cows passes away, it's up to party animal cow Otis to step up to the plate and become the new leader, but is he ready for the task? Unlike most other movie games where you control one or more of the main characters, in Barnyard on GBA you make your own cow character to interact with the movie stars. You spend your days walking around the barnyard and surrounding environs, meeting all the animals and doing favors for them. Most of these favors are simple fetch quests to bring them an item from another part of the farm. Completed favors earn you ﾑbarn bucks' to use at the Gopher Underground Market to buy goodies for the barn. Doing favors for the main characters moves along a story based loosely on the movie plot, but you are free to do things at your own pace. A day and night system means some favors have to be completed at certain times. Play arcade style mini-games like armadillo bowling, mosquito darts, or mini-golf. High scores in the mini-games net you upgrades for your cow, like speed and stamina. Sometimes you have to fend off mischievous raccoons and hungry coyotes by squirting milk at them (even if you're a male cow), but it's easier just to run past them instead. Graphics are decent and some of the scaling effects are pretty impressive. In the mosquito dart game, the barn door gets closer and closer to you as you fly for the bulls-eye, for instance. Music appropriately sounds like hoedown farm music. Play control is responsive, and while repetitive for older gamers, younger fans of the movie should get some fun out of it.  
Kids will like the farm themes and easy, leisurely gameplay. A handy map and mission log helps players know where to go next, but reading skill is still required as everything is text based. The game assumes players know about the Barnyard movie and names of the characters, so if you don't know Bessie the cow from Daisy the cow, things get confusing.
Barnyard is fairly non-violent. Most of the time, you help out other animals, and the few times you have to deal with raccoons or coyotes, you can only squirt milk at them or run past the dangerﾗwhich is easier. Just like in the movie, one of the older cows does die in the game, but the still scene of the cow lying on the ground and another scene with the other animals standing solemnly at his grave is tame. Only the most sensitive of children might get a little sad. Older kids may find Barnyard's fetch quests and basic gameplay too repetitive, but younger farmers might get some enjoyment from Barnyard GBA. This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Barnyard |
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