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The Barnyard crowd hits the Wii with new motion-sensitive controls. Like THQ’s other Wii releases, Barnyard is more or less a port of the Gamecube version of the game with some motion-sensitive controls (and in this case improved graphics) tossed in for good measure.
In Barnyard, you play as a teenage cow delivered to the farm. You’ll meet a number of farm animals including other cows (one who likes golfing and swimming) and other crazy characters. Barnyard is a free-roaming game that lets you, at your leisure, complete tasks like collecting certain items, playing minigames, exploring the firm, and socializing with the other characters. The minigames in the game range from squirting raccoons and coyotes with your udders, playing goal and even dancing. The game does throw in some quick missions here and there but you’ll complete them in a few minutes and can get back to your real priorities. You are free to explore two farms and the areas around them. Exploring the environment is actually fairly enjoyable since you can ride a bike (and even pull off tricks) and pick flowers, among other things.
As expected, the biggest difference between the Wii version and other versions of the game is the addition of motion-sensitive controls. You use both the Nunchuk and Wiimote to aim, jump, pick up and throw items, etc is fun and makes the light-hearted game feel even more casual. The game’s minigames like pool and golf work very well with the Wiimote, as well.
The game’s graphics are pretty good and faithful to the movie. The character models are fairly stylish and have cool details like when you notice that animals smile and blink. There are also some cool particle effects like dirt and leaves moving around as you would expect. The Wii version looks visibly better than the Gamecube version thanks to improved character models and a better framerate, although this isn’t by any means a colossal graphical upgrade.
The game’s background music is a relaxing banjo tune, which fits in wonderfully with the game’s atmosphere. There isn’t much voice acting in the game but what is there sounds good. The sound effects are great, especially the ambient sound effects. This world is full of life and if you pause to take it all in, you’ll hear the trees swaying, animals running, and water flowing from the river.
Barnyard was a solid title to begin with and it’s good to see that THQ put some effort into this Wii port. The motion-sensitive controls work very well and the graphical upgrade is appreciated. The game is definitely aimed at younger gamers but you would be surprised how easy it is to spend an hour or two just taking in everything the game has to offer. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Jan 31, 2007
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