Two years ago, Nickelodeon released
a new animated movie about a farm controlled by cows: Barnyard. This
kid-targeted, uniquely animated flick was accompanied by a PlayStation 2 game
that creatively merged some of the mechanics of a BMX stunt game (think Tony
Hawk with bikes) with mini-games and a light, easy-to-finish adventure.
Hoping to capitalize on that game’s
success, Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games is a handheld sequel designed
specifically for the Nintendo DS. This time around, however, the game is
entirely focused on 10 mini-games. There is a very slight (read: VERY) adventure
game element where you’ll run around and pick up objects for the barnyard’s
citizens (other cows, a dog, a mouse, etc. – all the familiar faces of the movie
and previous game). But that’s as far as the adventuring goes.
That leaves just one question
unanswered: are the mini-games enough to intrigue fans of the original or
justify a purchase to anyone else?
Melon Race
Depending on how you tackle the
story mode, this could be the first mini-game you encounter. Using a truck, six
melons and a bumpy course, this challenge is a fight against the clock. While
driving along the uneven road, your melons will jostle around pretty freely. Hit
a bump, drive up the side of a hill or cause your vehicle to tilt awkwardly for
any reason and one or more of the melons may fall out.
The race is timed – you start off
with 30 seconds and must reach new checkpoints and grab time bonus items
(stopwatch objects) to continue racing. Points are earned for every checkpoint
reached; 10 bonus points are earned for every melon you have when crossing a
checkpoint. The race ends when the time runs out or when all the melons are
lost.
Stickbike Stunts
While the Melon Race is fully 3D,
just like the vehicular stages of the PS2 Barnyard game, this stunt battle is a
low-key side-scroller. You can perform stunts (back and forward flips), grab
stars, and attempt to cross the finish line first – all three of which earn you
points that will determine the winner at the end of the race.
Whack-a-Rac
Raccoons and coyotes threaten the
barnyard lifestyle. Thus, when they enter the home of chickens and some odd
animal named Freddy, it’s your job to take them out – whack-a-mole style. It’s
as simple as it sounds: to earn points, tap the screen feverishly to whack
raccoons and coyotes. Just don’t hit Freddy or a baby chick, which will cause
points to be deducted from your total score.
Chicken Launch
Drag the pre-loaded chicken as far
back as possible to launch it, slingshot-style, at the targets on screen.
Cowapult
Like a catapult with cows! Sort of.
This side-scrolling mini-game is a bit frustrating until you learn how to glide
the cow after a launch. By touching the screen, players can tilt the cow back
and forth, allowing him to ascend or descend. Meanwhile, his ascend meter begins
to fall and may only be recovered by hitting balloons – a task that’s easier
said than done. Though you don’t have to play this mini-game if you don’t want
to (all mini-games are accessible in a separate mode), if you want to finish the
story mode, you will have to suffer through the troublesome moments.
Junkyard Hijinks
Remember the Destruction Derby games
for PSone? Junkyard Hijinks is nothing like them. But it kind of looks like them
until you realize that the only goal is to drive through a series of
checkpoints. The course is small and easy to navigate, especially with the big
arrow telling you exactly where to go.
Flag Defender
Inspired by the tomato shooter of
the PS2 game, Flag Defender is a top-down shooter where your colleague and
tomato cannon-shooter stays right in the middle of the battlefield. Other
animals approach, hoping to grab the three flags that surround your cannon. The
goal is to stop those animals, launching tomatoes in their direction. If a flag
is stolen, shoot the animal before he escape in order to recover the flag.
Points are awarded for your ability to survive – the longer you’re able to hold
onto the flags, the higher your score will be when the mission ends.
Shufflemuck
I’m not sure what the heck a
“shufflemuck” is, but the real-world translation should be “air hockey.” Touch
the paddle, whack the puck and…you know the rest.
Sorting Chicks
Male and female chicks must be
sorted after birth. Otherwise we’ll end up with Rooster McNuggets (nobody wants
that). But how do you identify the males from the females? It’s simple: just
look at the color of their hats! Using the touch screen, throw the chicks with
blue hats (males) into the blue basket, and the pink hats (females) into the
pink basket.
Balloon Shepherd
Fly around the screen in a hot air
balloon, rescue sheep, and return them to the target on the top of the stage.
Replenish your balloon’s forces by grabbing helium tanks and continue until the
time runs out.
This concludes Slop Bucket Games.
There are no bonuses to unlock, nor any extra levels to achieve. You can finish
the story mode in less than two hours, and though that may not matter to young
kids, the mini-games tell a different story. Shufflemuck is surprisingly decent,
Balloon Shepherd has solid controls (and should be utilized more deeply in a
future game), and Whack-a-Rac – while technically a rehash of the same old thing
– is one of the better whack-a-mole clones I’ve experienced on the DS. Flag
Defender isn’t bad either. But that’s four of the 10 games. All of them are very
short – most last a minimum of 30 seconds but do not go beyond a few minutes in
length.
This means that the replay value
must be really strong in order to keep kids from getting bored. As a car trip,
play-it-once-in-a-blue-moon time-killer, Slop Bucket Games should entertain the
six to eight-year-old market. But keep in mind that if I – an adult gamer – am
getting frustrated by the Cowapult mini-game, kids are likely to as well. They
are bound to be bored by the Junkyard Hijinks, especially those who have
full-fledged racing games in their collection, and may not welcome how easily
melons fall out in the Melon Race.
With all this in mind, think
carefully before making a purchase. Slop Bucket Games is definitely not for kids
over the age of nine.
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Gameplay: 5.6
Very short, extremely easy, occasionally frustrating and enormously
repetitive.
Graphics: 5.0
Same old 2D visuals mixed with the same old 3D visuals the DS is known for
producing.
Sound: 4.0
Kiddie game sounds you’ll probably want to mute.
Difficulty: Easy
Cakewalk easy with a mix of frustration.
Concept: 4.0
It didn’t take much to come up with these mini-game ideas. Slop Bucket Games
merely turned to what other games had done and said, "Hey, we can do that too!"
Overall: 5.4
As a first or second game for a six-year-old, Slop Bucket Games might be a
golden stocking stuffer. But there isn’t enough to this mini-game collection to
make it a worthy gift for the average kid gamer.
