On August 5th, 2006, DNA Productions and Nickelodeon made an odd animated movie that mixes comedy and surrealism known as Barnyard. This film featured a party cow named Otis who needs to either step up as the next leader of the herd or stay as a mischievous troublemaker.
Barnyard received mixed reviews during its prime, unlike the game that came out four days before its debut. Developer Blue Tongue would be the genius behind this cult classic. While it follows the same story of Otis and the Barnyard, this time it’s through the perspective and pacing of the player.
Welcome to the Barnyard
Barnyard The Game starts with you, the Player, as a new cow of the Barnyard. A brown cow named Ben welcomes you, putting you on your first assignment to meet the other farm animals. You meet Pig, Pip the Mouse, Miles the Mule, Hanna the Hen, her niece, Maddy, Root the Rooster, Duke the Dog, and last but not least, Otis, Ben’s son.
Ben notices some farm animals are missing and asks you to search for them around the Countryside. You soon meet the Jersey Cows, Eddie, Igg, and Bud. And the rooster and weasel duo, Peck and Freddy. Freddy is doing his best to hide his craving for chicken.
Later in the story, you will meet the single pregnant mother, Daisy, and her best friend, Bessy. The story about these two cows is they got adopted after an awful storm killed their previous herd including Daisy’s late husband. They survived by taking shelter at a nearby hill.
The Barnyard’s Errand Runner, Protector, and Party Animal
Ben and Otis will give you a cell phone for messages and GPS, a bike key to travel in and out of the Barnyard, and cool shades for milk shooting. No, you did not misheard me. Barnyard The Game allows you to shoot milk at everything with your udders.
As the new member of the Barnyard, you perform different tasks from day to night through mini-games and collecting around the world:
Errands: You run errands for the farm animals. These errands involve gathering ingredients for Pig to cook in his Kitchen and Bar, rounding the chicks to the Chicken coop, gathering flowers for Daisy, and serving milk in the Barnyard.
Home Defense: Ben and Miles will assign you to guard duty in the Farmer’s Vegetable Garden, the Chicken Coop, and the Meadows. You squirt milk and launch tomatoes at human children, raccoons, and coyotes.
Party Games: Otis and his friends will challenge you to different games for fun. Gopher golf, bike-racing, tease the Mailman and Mrs. Beady with dancing, mud knockout, and night racing. Three of these games must be unlocked by purchasing furniture and recreational games for the Barnyard. They are billiards with Duke, darts with Root, and Whack-the-Mole.
Many of the mini-games will have scored to be tracked by Pip. He’s currently holding a game tournament to see who won the most games. Doing these tasks will reward you with money to buy items from the Gopher shop. You can sell items there, too.
The Story of Barnyard
The game follows the plot of the Barnyard film from the player’s perspective. You are drawn into the relaxing Countryside and adapting to your new home. Like Otis, you are a natural party animal. As you party, run errands, and train to defend your home from raccoons, coyotes, and children under Miles and Ben, Dag and his pack of coyotes come to attack the chicken coop to harvest the chickens.
Ben did all he could to defend it but it cost him his life. In the film, there is a hill Ben plays his guitar and watches the stars with Otis. Blue Tongue has a location named after him called Ben’s Hill and let him rest here for the player to visit. You see how sad Otis is with Daisy, requesting you to bring 5 Bluebells and put them on Ben’s grave.
That sense of comfort soon became distraught, unsure of what would happen next unless you watched the movie first. Animals began to party during the day after Otis was deemed the leader. Otis is unsure what to do with this new responsibility as he tries to cheer himself up by challenging you in party games. Then, he decides to journey outside the farm to think, leaving you in charge of the Barnyard.
The burden grows as the mini-games become more challenging until half of the hens and chicks including Maddy get kidnapped by Dag and his pack. Otis hears the news and quickly runs towards the coyote’s turf, the Junkyard. You enter a boss battle together along with your other friends. And when it was over, Dag was soon teed off by a bicycle club or as Pip calls it, the Iron.
There is also a new member of the Barnyard waiting for you, Daisy’s son. All of the Barnyard are happy to see this calf being born healthy. Daisy would name him after Ben in memory of him.
Party Games but No Party
Surprisingly for a party game, the Multiplayer was cut from the final game. In the beta version, unlocking games in the Story Mode will transfer to Multiplayer. You can play up to 4 players to compete who will be the top dog. Blue Tongue cut the Multiplayer due to time constraints towards Baryard’s film release.
Another possibility may have to do with some of these mini-games being meant for one player going against a computer and the game was made for a 4:3 CRTV screen instead of a 16:9 widescreen.
Is Barnyard Still Worth Playing?
Barnyard The Game is great for any licensed game enthusiast or someone who wants to experience a relaxing open world with games to play. Despite its short length and learning the difficulty of each mini-game, it fits the party animal concept well.
The world-building uses the player’s pace to allow the story to flow more naturally than the film itself. Safe to say if there was a time I didn’t know the movie existed, this game is satisfying to experience firsthand. Even the soundtrack is soothing from the day-to-night cycle.
I wish Blue Tongue had more time to incorporate the Multiplayer mode. It’s a shame that it got cut and would have made the game more replayable.
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