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Platform Filters:   All Platforms  Xbox   GameCube   PlayStation 2   PC   Game Boy Advance   Site Sections:   Updates  News   Games   Publishers   Developers   Reviews   Previews   Release Dates   Editorials   Glossary   Contact Us		Review:       31st March 2002: Herdy Gerdy  A cute, innovative title from Eidos, but can a game based on herding gain mass-market appeal? We find out Posted by Marc Hull - PlayStation 2 - UK and Europe This is a review of the European version of Herdy Gerdy - if you'd like to see our review of the American version, please click here. When news first emerged that the company behind Lara Croft was working on a big new project, it didn't take long before we were gagging for new information on this potential hit - imagine our surprise, then, when Core Designs revealed that the main concept behind it was herding animals. Well, since we're always going on about how games should be more original, we didn't let it deter us, and now over a year later the final review disk is sitting happily inside my PS2; but should they have stuck to what they do best and created another Tomb Raider instead, or does this new concept actually work as a good game? First of all, despite its title, a big part of Herdy Gerdy doesn't just involve herding. In fact, initially at least, it plays much more as a cartoony adventure than anything else. You start off by meeting Gerdy, a boy whose father is a master herder, and seems set on winning a herding tournament that's held every four years, apart from the small problem that he's asleep an no-one can wake him. In a panic, Gerdy quickly hunts down a villager known as Yggdrasil, who tells him that his dad has been put under a spell by a fiend called Sadorf in an attempt to rig the contest. It soon unfolds that the winner of the tournament receives the legendary Acorn Of Power, which grants the owner special abilities, and Sadorf has stopped Gerdy's dad from entering the competition so that he can hold on to the sacred nut. So, inevitably, Gerdy has to win the tournament himself to stop Sadorf and obtain the Acorn Of Power to wake up his docile parent. Fortunately the game doesn't throw you in at the deep end by entering you into the tournament straight away; instead you follow Gerdy as he travels to the tournament, and learn how to herd at the same time. When you start off, you're quickly introduced to some of the cute (but hair-pullingly annoying) creatures that inhabit the game world, with the first of them being Doops, which are afraid of Gerdy, and run away from him when he gets close. This, of course, is useful for herding, since by carefully walking behind a flock of Doops you can control their movement and navigate them towards their pen. However, like most creatures, they often don't want to be herded, and you will soon find that your nice ordered group breaks up into many smaller groups, each insistent on going their own way, so you have to round them up again before you can proceed. Luckily for Gerdy (and your sanity), herding has advanced slightly from the stage of simply scaring animals. As you proceed through the game you'll be able to win various herding tools by completing challenges, and these tools end up being invaluable for successfully herding the animals later on. Your first utensil is a musical stick, which can be planted in the ground and attracts certain animals, putting them into a weird trance when they get close. This makes herding Doops together much easier, since once you've got one group together you can keep them stationary with the stick whilst you go off looking for the rest of them. After your first few attempts at herding, you'll probably find it to be reasonably easy; however, that's when the game introduces more animals starting with Bleeps and Gromps. You encounter Bleeps quite early on, but all they seem to do is ignore you completely, making herding them near-impossible. However, the key to grabbing their attention is a flute obtained in a later level, which when played attracts them towards you until they form a line behind Gerdy and follow his every move. This makes them much more obedient than the Doops, and therefore easier to herd, but the fact that they can glide gently to the ground from tall heights opens up some interesting puzzle-based play as you try to figure out how to get them to their relevant pens. The Gromps cause havoc very early on in the game, and can't really be herded at all. They are big pink bear-like creatures whose only goal in life seems to be to eat things; including any animals you happen to be herding nearby. This can cause big problems for Gerdy, since the more animals that get eaten by Gromps the less chance he has of reaching his level target. Fortunately, by getting them to chase you around levels, they can be lured into Gromp traps, which keep them secured in place for the rest of the level. However, where you trap them requires some thought, since if they end up near a pen then they can 'fish' the animals out from it (it has to be seen to be believed). Graphically, Herdy Gerdy looks closer to a cartoon than most games that have attempted the same style, and the animation on Gerdy and the other characters is also top-notch. However, sometimes the levels just look too bright, which stops you from picking out the fine detail, and the draw-in can cause you to miss things in the distance. The experience is also degraded a fair bit if you don't have a 60hz compatible TV, since in 50hz mode there are borders at the top and bottom of the screen, and the frame-rate seems to drop sharply when there's a lot going on. Musically, Herdy Gerdy contains some nice classical pieces to introduce the game at the beginning, but the in-game background music is generally quiet and unobtrusive. The sound effects are where the title excels, though, as a whole wealth of noises surround you in each level, from the noises each of the herding creatures make to the sounds of bird chirping, woodpeckers pecking, rivers flowing, and more. It really does provide quite an immersive experience, and adds to the general business of each level. You'll rarely find an area of Herdy Gerdy where everything is still - there always seem to be animals running across the grass or leaves falling to the ground; at first it's like a fairytale reality, and the detail is pretty impressive. Gameplay, however, is a mixed bag. The adventure side is reasonably solid - it's actually quite engaging meeting the various weird characters that inhabit the game world, and the cut-scenes (although FMV and not realtime) have a nice cartoony look and feel to them. It's the herding that causes the main problem, not because it's boring or shallow as some might think, but because at times it's frustrating, verging on unreasonable. When you start the game, you only have to herd one or two types of animal, with no real rush allowing you to plan out how you can manoeuvre them into position. However, once the Gromps are introduced this calm method gets more hectic, so while carefully planning your task you can find yourself being chased by a six-foot pink bear across the terrain or, even worse, have your animals eaten forcing you to restart the level. Where the game gets criminal is during the time-trials, when you have to beat a competitor's time in order to gain an important item needed to progress. During these it often feels as if the animals just don't want to do what you want them to, and the Doops, for instance, sometimes seem to go against the rules laid out by the game and run towards you to escape from being herded. The camera doesn't make life any easier either, since it always manages to get too close to Gerdy, or move behind some scenery, in the most annoying moments such as when you're being chased, or about to finish a level with the time ticking down. Let me just say that if you don't have much patience and want to keep your PS2 in one piece for the foreseeable future then this probably isn't the game for you. Overall, Herdy Gerdy tries something different, but fails to stand out from the crowd. While the annoying nature of the gameplay could be forgiven, since its addictiveness will probably bring you back even after you've wrecked two control pads in the process, the poor 50hz mode that the European conversion has received is quite disappointing. Couple this with some atrocious loading times (we're talking a good two-minute load when the game starts, then additional 30-second loads between each level) and you're looking at a rent-only title. It's a shame, because this could have been very good indeed. Marc Hull             Latest Images:		Review Scores:    Graphics:   Sound:   Gameplay:   Length:   Overall: Click here for our Review Score Guidelines.  Review Summary:  Herdy Gerdy offers original gameplay and a nice graphical style, but fails to get the basics right. Black bars, dodgy frame rates and long loading times dog it from the start, meaning this is only for the most patient of gamers.  Related Games:  Herdy Gerdy for PlayStation 2  20  Screenshots  1  Review Click here for All Game Information.
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