Okay, to start off, this game may look cartoony and easy, but some of the later levels can get quite hard. For the purposes of this review I will call the game 'Sheep Raider', but it is also known as 'Sheep Dog 'n' Wolf', so bear that in mind. This is an underrated game for the PS1, and is a puzzle platformer. You can sometimes die from being too slow, not timing it right, or jumping wrong, so platforming does play a big part in this. The purpose of every level is to get a sheep and bring it to the white ring. To win, the sheep and the wolf must be in the ring at the same time. The game starts off simple, such as having a bridge that can only support 1 thing at a time, so no carrying the sheep across, to having to cross a minefield, wear a sheep costume to coax the sheep out of the guards sight, and remember the way across the minefield. So, on with the review!
Yoink!Presentation.Surprisingly enough, this game doesn't have what nearly all other games do. A title screen. It starts off with the language select screen, then goes onto a screen where you can load/create a game. and that's it. The in-game display is very easy to understand at a quick glance. On the upper left it shows you an action and what that action does. On the upper right it shows what Sam (The sheepdog) is currently doing, and whether he can see you or not. The colors are easy to understand. Green means your safe, Orange means be cautious, Red is bad.
The game is platform aswell as puzzle!Graphics.The graphics are pretty good in this game, taking into account that it's in the style of a cartoon, but there are still graphical glitches. There isn't much to say about graphics, You can tell which is the sheep, which is the dog and which is the wolf, very easily. There aren't many contrasting colors, which makes for good visuals. When items are on the ground, it is occasionally hard to tell what item is what, but that problem can be solved by just picking it up, or looking at the items in that level in the map screen.
Time clocks give you bonus points, which you can use to buy extra things, such as secrets or art.SoundThe tunes in the game are catchy, but sadly not too memorable. The sounds are very much like you would find in a cartoon, with high notes for tiptoeing and low trumpet notes for getting punched. Overall, the sound is very fitting for a game of this type. The music is very forgettable, and not one of the strongest points, and it feels like it's only there to cope with the silence, as a last minute job. The game has full voice-acting, though, and the voice acting isn't that bad, apart from the fact that the voice-acting has a long pause between sentences, as it needs time to load the next sentence, as far as I can see.
Huh, just a bush.GameplayThe gameplay in this game is about thinking and strategy. What do I use that button for? How do I keep that button down and still go through the gate? The game helps you in the first few levels, but out of them, it's not as easy-going. Sometimes, getting the sheep out of Sam's sight is easy, but getting it to the ring isn't. There are lots of items in the game, such as lettuce, a ghost costume, a sheep costume, a hairdryer, a metal detector. There are many others too. You will find yourself dying a lot in this game, from when your strategies do not work, but luckily it has no limit to lives and it restarts you right where you left off. It can be very fun to work out how to solve each level.
Sheep just love perfume!Lasting appealEach level takes quite a while to solve, and therefore, the whole story mode can take a while to beat. Even if you beat the game, you can still go back and find the bonus clock in each level. It lasts for quite a while. Sadly, though, the replayability is not very high, as after you know how to beat a level, it can be solved within about 5 minutes, with the exception of a few levels, and there really is no motive to play the whole game through again.Overall, this game is quite fun, and I hope more people play it, because it seems to be very underrated, most likely because of it's cartoony nature.Presentation: 5/10
Graphics:6/10
Sound:5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Lasting Appeal: 7/10Overall: 31/50