I’ll be honest, I hate Wallace and Grommit. The characters actually creep me out and the movie was such a bore… so when I received Shaun the Sheep, I was almost sure I wouldn’t like it one bit. But then, the little sheep with its googly eyes started looking cuter on the game box as if begging “play me”. So I did, and I found was a simple game that’s just right for little gamers.
In Shaun the Sheep, the farm’s gate was left open and the sheep are now loose and hiding all over. It’s up to you as Shaun – the clever little sheep – to find them all before the Farmer returns.
For the most part, the game plays as an adventure. You move around by tapping the touch screen to where you want Shaun to go, and you change areas by walking into the wooden signs. Things that can be interacted with will have a sheep’s head on them (such as bushes or bales of hay) which turns into a stylus icon when you’re close enough to actually inspect them.
The top screen represents the map of the farm and surrounding areas. A red star will show you where to go next, so you will never be lost. When there is a puzzle to be solved, the possible solutions will appear in the form of Shaun’s thought bubbles. For example, early in the game you need to reach a higher platform in the barn, but you can’t do it alone. One of Shaun’s thoughts will be stacking sheep, and if you stack the sheep, you can climb and reach the higher platform. All it takes is a bit of logical thinking, nothing too complicated or strange.
When you encounter certain situations, Shaun will also stop to think what can be used there. Your goal is to find that object, and when you do, Shaun reminds you again where to use it. For example, you saw a locked box somewhere and you have just found a key. Shaun will hint that you can try to use the key by showing you a thought balloon with the locked box. When you find keys to unlock certain things, you play a simple mini-game: match the key with the lock to proceed.
Mini-games are presented as various tasks. There’s a trampoline game for trying to reach a baby sheep in the tight rope at the circus, a bathing game where you scrub the sheep with the stylus and blow the soap suds off by blowing into the microphone, a guitar-playing task where you have to discard the wrong notes out of the scrolling music sheet, whack-a-mole with a twist (blow to make the moles come out of their holes), make your way through a series of hedges and creatures by pushing them aside, and a few others.
The games you encounter in Story Mode will become available in Minigame Mode. By finding collectibles (chicks and other items) you will unlock more, including eight sliding puzzles. Pictures of the TV show that you unlock in Story Mode will appear in the Collection Mode.
As far as the presentation, Shaun the Sheep is a very cute game, especially the sheep. The artwork and 3D models was taken straight out of the TV show, resulting in the likeness of the characters, even if a bit jagged sometimes, while the notebook shows what resembles hand-drawn figures for the sheep and collectibles. The music could have use a little more variety, but it’s not the kind that gets on your nerves. The sound effects are probably the best, although you might get tired of all the “baa-aaahs” soon.
Overall, Shaun the Sheep is great for kids. It’s a very simple game with straightforward goals, plenty of hints to eliminate the frustrations of being stuck, and quite a bit of replay value. Aside from the Minigame Mode, when you’re done with the adventure you can go back and explore the farm to try to find all the extras you might have missed. For little ones who are fans of the TV show and its characters, it might be just the perfect game.
Special thanks to D3P for providing a copy of this title.