You know at first I thought I'd be busier than ever in my senior year, but the assignments for my current classes are shorter than I thought. Now I have plenty of time to gear out content of my own while still having enough time to goof off or do my school work. So let's talk about a game which I never played in my lifetime, but will give my point of view as an outsider.
The PC has always been a unique gaming outlet. Back in the mid-90s to the early-2000s, it was a hub for the point-and-click adventure genre (and personal software). You could get away with a lot more on the PC than any console, but then again, once the next operating system comes out your old-as-hell games may not cut it. Point-and-click games are prevalent in the licensed market, namely in the young adult cartoon industry. We have more Beavis and Butt-head games on the PC than there are for home/handheld consoles (and for the record, only two of them are any good), there do exist two Daria games (a sub-par P&C game and a nihilistic personal app), you name it. But enough name-dropping games you never heard of/would like to care for.
=====================
I'm sure a lot of you have heard of King of the Hill. A show that was so ahead of its time, it predicted the rise of liberal lunacy and social justice warriors. There's nothing about the show that hasn't been said already... yeah. "Hey, you know that general comedy series on FOX with minimal gamey elements? It'd be perfect for a video game."
Most of you might not know this, but there does exist a game based on King of the Hill for the PC. It was released in 2000 and can't run on anything higher than Windows 2000, which is why I was never able to play it, but a lot of the game is more of a visual experience, so it's no loss.
The game was produced by Flying Tiger Development, still active to this day, and it was founded by Johnathan Brandstetter, aka Johnny Turbo, aka the worst gaming-related mascot ever, but I'll make you squirm by not giving a full explanation. Another interesting thing was that this was also produced by Mondo Media, aka Mondo Mini Shows. It sorta adds up since Mondo Media is credited for the game's animation, and they're rooted in flash (the Macromedia era flash before it became overused)
====================
When you put in the game for the first time, you'll get two games. Hootenanny, a block party type game, and Texas Huntin', do the math. I'll talk about the latter first because I have less to say about it.
Texas Huntin' has you take the role of a nameless hunter who joins Hank Hill, Dale, Boomhauer, Bill and Bobby on a five-outing hunting trip. You have to abide to your hunting license and kill everything on it (but in the allowed amount). There is some strategy in the beginning, where you pick areas that have the most game you need to shoot, and you have to pick a specific amount of items to bring on your trip. You may need snacks to keep your morale up and you could use certain animal calls to bring over the game you need.
You'd think that you'd need to bring both rifles (there're two) with you, but you could manage to kill the animals with the right timing. There's also a bogus scoring system where the animals you kill give you a certain amount of points. As far as I know, all that happens is that the dialogue at the end would be different.
Is there any way to lose at this game? If you shoot an animal that isn't on your hunting license, you'd be forced to end the season early, but nobody seems to care, not even Hank, who would probably make a big deal about a deviation from natural rules.
Overall, if it were released on its own, it would probably be a $5 game at best. It's fun for a while, but as with any hunting game it becomes boring fast. You could throw on the Cabela's logo and you'd have a title that'd be geared out by FUN Labs/Activision Value. It has the cheap value of Beavis and Butthead: Weiner Takes All and Little Thingies and is slightly beneath Daria's Inferno and Beavis and Butthead: Bunghole in One.
====================
If hunting's not your game, what's Hootenanny like?
This game assigns you the role of a new neighbor. You're invited by Hank to a block party, where you get to play certain games according to a schedule, and it's in real time, and there's like five or so. How do you kill time up until then? You talk to people, and at this point, the game's poor flash animation comes into play. The animation is sorta choppy, and the faces are nearly static. To shell-nut it, it's like a more stiff version of GoAnimate. I'm making a big deal about this because at least since 1999, decent flash animation has been implemented into PC adventure games, like (again) Daria's Inferno and Beavis and Butthead: Do U.
But onto the gameplay. As I mentioned before, you have to wait for certain events to begin, and you have a very small amount of time wasters. You could talk to people and get a few funny lines, you could venture into the Hill house until you wander into one of the shut rooms and get kicked out, you could try to throw doggie treats toward Ladybird to keep her away from Kahn's grill (or do the same with a beer toward Hank) so the game could mock you for not figuring out the right throwing method.
Rarely, you'll get quick assignments in between events, such as getting ice for the cooler, putting food in the cooler in a certain pattern, retrieving a signed football, possibly more, this game isn't that known enough. No matter how you do, you'd hardly get much flack by the end. All you get for doing the tasks right or wrong is commentary from one of the characters, usually Cotton from the footage I've seen. If he compliments you you've fucked up, and the opposite if you do it right.
Onto the mini-games.
First is a scavenger hunt, set up by Bobby. You follow cryptic hints and find certain items. It's straightforward and doable, I'll admit, good way to ease players into the rest of the game I suppose.
Next is a lawnmower race, where you try to mow as much grass as you could before the other does, all while you tend to a ever-filling bag. They say some mowers are faster than others and one carries more than others, but from what I've noticed, neither hold much of an impact. I didn't mention the different opponents, because all that's different about them is what they say.
After that is mini golf in Bill's lawn. It's small and doable, but every time you land over the par, you get insulted for it. Like a minimalist Bunghole in One.
Then there's a paintball game, not much to say about that.
Then it all ends with Peggy's game, a tic-tac-toe type game where you try to make words. Only tip I have for the game is make sure you get the first word, otherwise you'll never win.
===============
Overall, the game isn't good, but it's far from being bad. It's shovelware, but come on, how could anyone make a game about King of the Hill? That's like making a game about Dr. Dolittle, which they did (and that sucked). If you're a fan of the series, this could be right up your alley. If you could play this you may get some enjoyment out of it. But for point-and-click enthusiasts, it's a hard pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment