Here's a question for you: What do you get when you cross relatively simple
gameplay mechanics with no story other than placing you in the role of the
(often thought to be) antagonist from our greatest made up (or is it?)
historical rivalry? The answer is Hoard, an action game where you are the Dragon
and your only mission in life is to collect more gold than the next guy. Why are
you such a Magpie, and why are you competing against other Dragons instead of
working together to rule the world and rid it of humans? Those are obviously
questions that are left to games with a much more serious tone as you won't find
them anywhere in here. What you will find though is a pretty deep set of maps to
play across on your own or with a friend (up to 4 online), as well as a
complementary set of visuals, audio, and controls to help push the fun factor
along. I will say that the controls for the PC/Mac version are a little jerky
and I was disappointed that I couldn't fly in a certain direction and breath
fire at the same time, making it difficult to have standoffs with multiple
archers, but it only added to the strategy required to come out on top. And
speaking of strategy, it's something you will need.. lots of it.. and the
ability to change it on the fly.. quickly.. did I mention this game can get
rather intense? You see, as you progress through a round you unlock upgrade
points to be used for faster flight, more destructive fire breath, larger piggy
bank for carrying gold to and fro, etc. While this makes you a potentially
unstoppable threat to the villages and castles available for plunder, you will
be countered by not only a number of computer controlled archers and knights,
but also a number of computer or human controlled Dragons that have the exact
same objective as you. Since the objective of the main gameplay mode is to end
up with the biggest pile of cash at the end of the round, choosing which
upgrades you want mid-game can seem innocuous at that moment but a bad choice
can (and often does) quickly become obvious as another player starts to pull
ahead. As I mentioned before the visual and audio components of Hoard are more
of a compliment to the gameplay itself. They aren't the fanciest collection of
super high res graphics and audio assets ever made, but for the price of the
game they are both pretty good. While we're on the subject of value, it should
be pointed out that Hoard is a SteamPlay enabled game. For those of you that are
new to that keyword, it means you pay for it once and can download/play it on
either PC or Mac systems. To me this is an incredible value as I am often
hopping between both environments and it's nice to know that whichever computer
in the house I land some free time on will be able to load up my game regardless
of OS. All in all, Hoard is a decently rounded game that only needs a little bit
of polishing to finish off its great game design and put itself on the list of
titles that will probably have a cult following for years to come.
Final Rating:
88%. "Meddle not in the affairs of a Dragon; for
you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup." --Unknown
