Sheep

"Oh little sheepies! Why must you evade me so?"

Sheep are magnificent beasts. Wonderfully versatile, you can eat them, wear them, stick them in a nice curry and crap them out the next morning, and now you can play them. Having appeared on the Playstation, MSX and PC as well as the GBA, the handheld experience seems the most natural for this game, and this really is a game that no puzzle fan should be without.

The basic premise is to herd a collection of sheep towards a ''goal'' through simple and not so simple levels by using a sheepdog which you guide behind the sheep to stop them straying too far. Sounds easy, and it really is easy initially, but the difficulty level increases in no time and soon you'll be swearing at the sheep and feeling betrayed and wondering why they recoil from you when all you want to do is give them a big kiss... ahem! I mean, herd them into the back of a lorry. Cutely, the sheep are all named, and if you are really not very sane at all, you could become quite attached to them and view them as members of your own family. This could lead to your feeling distressed if they get squished into many tiny pieces by a passing combine harvester, as tends to happen in certain levels, but you could always turn them into a lovely Shepherd's Pie and eat them for Sunday dinner if you wanted to.

Whilst using the directional pad to steer the sheepdog inelegantly around the levels, the sheep will move away from you in predictable formation, adding to the ease of the game. However, if you happen to chance upon a big open field, the sheep can become seperated. Remembering that you are working against a timer, on the harder settings and later levels you really can run out of time periodically and have to start over. The learning curve may not be steep (to the extent of being barely existant) but the difficulty level is - you need skill and luck to play this, but not brains.

The hazards that appear in the levels which can kill your sheep can also kill you, although they are easy to avoid. Keeping the sheep away from them is the hard part. The graphics are very clear indeed though, so the hazards are easy to spot. Controls are very responsive and easy to use, and particularly easy to pick up. In fact, there is very little puzzling about this game at all other than its difficulty and the skill needed to complete the levels. Anyone can just pick it up and play.

The graphics of this game are superb - very brightly coloured and easy on the eye, but without being overly gaudy. The look and feel is cartoonish and charming but without being childish. This game is for all ages and the appearance reflects this. A good amount of detail has been included - enough to make it exciting to look at and easy to play, but not so much that it is difficult to see what you are doing.

I would recommend this as an excellent value, entertaining game with excellent replayability.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/03/04