Barnyard
In case you haven't seen the film, Barnyard is a 3D animated picture not entirely unlike the rest of kid's movies these days. The story takes place on a farm where the barnyard animals try to hide their humanistic manners from the people they live with. It's kind of like Toy Story in a way, but when Ben, their leader, bites the dust in a coyote attack it's up to Otis to lead the way. Critically the film has been bashed left and right for being all over the map and wildly forgettable. Does the game suffer the same fate in the end?
Gameplay:
Barnyard certainly takes a different approach to the crossover experience. Instead of taking over one of the main characters in the story you are able to create your own cow and in a sense, your own character. By selecting boy or girl (though it doesn't matter which because both have utters) then species of bovine, you are brought onto the farm as the new cow on campus. This is where it gets a little strange.
Yes, I know that you're playing a game with barnyard animals that walk on their hind legs and talk on cell phones but male cows have utters? I didn't know that there were transsexual bovines out there, but whatever floats your boat. I suppose a game doesn't have to be scientifically accurate to be enjoyable, but it's still just a tad peculiar. While I'm on the subject, as you get into the game that milky feature is actually an integral part of the gameplay. You can "milk" yourself into a can and create milk, cream, or butter. Heck, you can even shoot your "milk" as a weapon of sorts. I'm sure this will give glee to some twisted gamers out there, but to be honest it's kind of just wrong for something like that to be in a kid's game.
Once you get past that particular quirk that is omnipresent in Barnyard, the game actually opens up into a relatively enjoyable experience. As the new cow on the farm it is up to you to find your place among the ragtag crew by doing odd-jobs and playing games with them. You'll spend your days and nights wandering about talking to other animals looking for things to do and missions to take. It's a very open-ended form of gameplay to be found in a children's game and to be honest it feels like a light version of GTA.
Once you delve into the various missions you'll be assigned you'll quickly realize that the majority of them are fetch quests. Be prepared to run from point A to point B in an attempt to find an item and/or collect something for someone. I had to say that it gets old rather quickly and even kids may be hard pressed to have a good time while running around the barnyard and its neighboring areas. The payoff for this little jogging exercise is a collection of somewhat enjoyable mini-games that you unfortunately have to play by yourself (sorry, no multiplayer).
The gopher golfing was probably the most enjoyable of these games, though darts, bike riding, and billiards weren't far behind. As you play and open up new games and new areas the world really begins to expand beyond the boundaries that you'd think a title like this would have. There's a lot to do, many games to play, and tons of things to unlock. This is a simplistic and extremely simple game that has a surprising amount of depth and will keep kids entertained for a while.
Unfortunately there are a few things here and there that definitely needed more polish before this game was shipped. That's a problem that plagues titles like Barnyard because the studios push the game to be released before rough spots are able to be ironed out. The camera system can get to be a bit of a hassle and often times the controls prove to be unresponsive. I also don't understand why in order to shoot milk you have to equip sunglasses first because frankly, there are only two buttons that you use in the game otherwise. Overall this is a cute game that will keep fans of Barnyard happy and potentially entertain other kids as well. Older games need not apply (unless you want to shoot your milk everywhere).
Graphics:
Capturing the look and style of the film nigh-perfectly, Barnyard will definitely appeal to children who sit down with the game. The characters are funny and creative, plus the world they live in is lively and vibrant. There are some rough spots around the edges though and plenty of gripes such as clipping, shoddy animation, and framerate issues. A fair amount of pop-up occurs as well. All together, just like the gameplay, this is what you'd expect from a children's movie to game release.
Audio:
With spotty voice work and repetitive tunes Barnyard doesn't do anything for the ears. A game like this sinks or swims based upon the support from the actors involved with the film. In Barnyard, unfortunately, the amount of voiceovers included basically breaks down to the first and last line of a character's dialogue. No lengthy conversations whatsoever. The sound effects are cute and appropriate but a constantly repeating theme song basically drowns everything out and leads to annoyance.
Conclusion:
As far as a kid's movie to game crossover is concerned, Barnyard does decently for what it offers. The mini games are quite a bit of fun and the open-ended nature of the gameplay leaves room for a lot of depth. There are some spotty issues with the controls, the game is entirely too easy and the fetch quests get old after a while. I was pretty surprised (and disappointed) to see that the mini-games don't offer anything in the way of multiplayer, so that really kills some of the replay value. The aesthetics are acceptable for the kind of game this is but to be brutally honest they are average, if not a little less than. In the end kids that loved Barnyard are the only audience this game really has, though other, younger gamers may appreciate the content as well.