Before I get into the emulator, I'd like to inform you misguided folks on the 3DO. It wasn't a horrible console, in fact it had an extensive collection of games on it, many of which I only saw on the Panasonic 3DO at the time. The biggest fault of the system was it's large price tag, weighing in at six-hundred bucks at the time, you can see why it was easily taken down by the Sony PlayStation, and similar systems at the time. I keep hearing people bitch about it being a failed system, when it really wasn't. I'm sure those who could afford one, or happened upon one had lots of fun -- in fact, I played mine up until early '01, when mine broke for some reason or another, needless to say I was heartbroken when it happened.
Anyway, enough of that, today I'd like to talk about a video game called "The Horde" it was released on the Panasonic 3DO, as well as the Sega Saturn, and PC. I'll be talking about the 3DO version, of course, but I think I'd much prefer the PC version, since it seems like this game was designed with mouse support in mind. All the same, the game controls fine on a joystick or game pad.
The Horde is an interesting game, that combines strategy, town building, and action all in one game, but separated into separate parts. For example, the first part of the game is spent building your town, planting trees, building walls and cow pens, and this is all done in a certain amount of time: (two minutes for those who prefer to build in a close-up view, and four minutes for the ones who build in bird's eye view.)
After this is accomplished, and you have everything the way you'd like, you can also lay traps, place knights or archers, and an assortment of other defenses to waylay the attacking horde. As soon as the time is up (indicated by a slowly draining hourglass) you hear the horn of battle...or at least that's what it sounds like, and you enter a new phase of the game; an action oriented defensive mode. You move about your town with the aid of your minimap in the bottom right corner, and if any of the hordelings get past your defenses, you cut them down with your sword -- Grimthwacker! However, if you let the horde escape your wrath, they will run loose in your town, eating your crops, cows, destroying homes, and even eating your citizens! This can be problematic because crops and cows increase your town's income, and at the end of each yearly cycle, you must pay a sum of tax to the collectors, and if you come up short, you're tossed into the debtor's dungeon to rot.
It's simple enough, basically you try to keep your economy thriving, and fight off the horde before they reach your town and raze it to the ground. All in all, it's quite an enjoyable experience, and the FMV segments are a delight to watch, starring Kirk Cameron, and Michael Gregory. Each of the characters are a treat, and although the story is meant to be more of a comedy, it's good to know that it was thought out so well, and it is what it is; a cheesy game, with an interesting story to back it up! It may sound strange, but it's well worth checking out just to see the story unfold.
The music is also interesting, but nothing too special. By the time it gets boring, you'll be in season four and will have moved on to another area, and a new portion of the soundtrack.
All in all, I'll give this game a 7/10, I have to give it props for being an exciting part of my childhood, and it's made by Toys for Bob, the same company that created the Star Control series! Definitely give this game a try, it's well worth your time.
No comments:
Post a Comment