Review of Hoard for PSN

Written by Erik Kubik Tuesday, 16 November 2010 05:00

I’m not really into PSN or XBLA games that much, mainly due to the costs and time constraints, and the fact that I have too many games as it is. But after seeing Hoard at PAX I had a lot of interest in seeing what Big Sandwich Games was capable of. The game has dragons burning villages for gold, stealing princesses, and stealing other dragons’ loot; all of this with co-op play. Okay I can dig this, it sounds like fun.

Hoard is a fun game. It’s got the graphical feeling of a game that is not trying to be all next-gen and place itself high on a pedestal. Hoard has the feeling of, ”Hey, I’m here, but I’m not taking myself too seriously.” This is a good thing, as Hoard seems to be the perfect blend of casual and fun. The graphics are cartoon-like and look good, which works well with the environments and dragons. The control scheme is that of a twin stick shooter allowing veterans and rookies to feel right at home. Most of the game modes either involves getting the most gold the fastest, getting the most princesses, or surviving for a certain amount of time, with or without fellow human players.

The A.I. in the co-op is good. The dragons fly here and there, collecting gold with you and then depositing it at your cave. They show up to assist you in taking down magic towers or giants. Both enemies pack a decent punch and may require an extra hand. But if you play one of the game modes with enemy Dragons, the AI goes downhill. For the most part, the enemy dragons left me alone as long as I avoided the area they were focusing on. This does make the game easier in the long run but will it keep players interested?

Co-op/local/network multiplayer is fun. It doesn’t matter if your friends/enemies are in the same room or another room, this is where the game excels. From burning other Dragons to watching my friends getting distracted by my other friends, therefore leaving me wide open to steal a princess or two, Hoard sucked away several Saturday afternoons.

The only other questionable element is the cost. At nearly $15 a lot of gamers will consider walking away. This is until they realize how much they get for the price. If it was $10, I’d say buy it now, you’ll have more fun than most of the psn games out there; and even at $15, I still have to say, do yourself a favor and support a great company with a unique game.