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Barnyard Blast: Swine of the Night
Publisher: Destination Software, Inc.
Developer: Sanuk Software
Genre: Platformer
Release Date: January 30, 2008
Platform: Nintendo DS
Reviewer: Eric
 Games use to be fun back in the day on the original Nintendo. Numerous
get-ready-and-go games were released with a dozen different kinds of characters.
Destination Software must have enjoyed these kinds of games because Barnyard
Blast: Swine of the Night is a retro gamer’s dream game.
This platformer is a riot. Everything you liked about Mega Man and every other
kind of platformer game is in here. Barnyard Blast may not be as polished, but
the humor alone is what makes this game a diamond in the ruff.
Barnyard Blast’s introduction is extremely random and funny. Robert Belmart’s
little piglet was caught tee-peeing a castle. Belmart saddles up and goes to
rescue his son.
Without getting mad at all Robert Belmart is off. If my child got caught
tee-peeing I’d be pissed. But if they got caught doing it I would still be made.
I’m not sure if I would jump for joy on saving him or her, but the cops would
defiantly receive a phone call.
Now being serious, the games story seems to be ripping on numerous games from
the 8-bit era. I can be wrong about this one; however to me it seems like this.
I think Destination Software went all out with this games story. Instead of
being serious they went with a comical approach. Great stuff here indeed.
Gameplay wise this game feels like an 8-bit game. Some of the gaming mechanics
might be outdated and for the most part they should have been axed in the
production phase. Jumping in the game is really annoying and the enemy spawns
can appear from no where. Old school fans will enjoy this game, even with its
problems.
 The game also fails to give gamers continues. In-between levels you can save
your game, but once your lives are gone that’s it. You have to load up your data
and start from that point. There is a way to earn more lives, but you won’t
always get the stars to earn these continues.
Attacking enemies is just like old games, which again can be a problem. Barnyard
Blast gives you four set weapons (pistol, shotgun, a whip, and dynamite) to use.
The pistol has unlimited ammo while your other weapons don’t. Problems will
arise if you don’t find ammo for certain weapons since the dynamite is key to
killing those small, annoying creators that jump around like idiots.
Graphically this game looks like a bold version of Castlevania. The enemies
might not be as scary, but they do move and attack just like the enemies in
Castlevania. You can figure out the monsters patterns if you have a good eye.
Good luck though on boss fights, these battles aren’t always that easy.
The stylus feature in this game seems half-assed. To be fair there really isn’t
a whole lot you can do with platform games for the DS, we saw this before. By
using the stylus you can switch your weapons, but I found it better to use the L
and R buttons instead. This way you have two free hands at all times.
Final Verdict
One thing for sure is the Nintendo DS has plenty of games that take the risk.
Barnyard Blast: Swine of the Night is the perfect game to cure those classic
gamer blues. The story is funny and the gameplay is great, but it is on the hard
side.
Rating
8 out of 10
Barnyard Blast: Swine of the Night Trailer
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