Every time I hear someone say “Hey, you play Hoard yet?” I think of Warcraft. Old habits die hard, I’m afraid.
Hoard, as opposed to “the Horde,” is a simplistic and minimalistic game where you play a dragon breathing fire on sections of a village to steal their gold and battle other dragons doing the same. The more gold you collect before the time runs out, the better you rate against other players and computer dragons or other players, depending on how you have the game set up. Hoard may seem basic and inept at first glance, however the more you play Hoard, the more you realize the quick easy play style is only a front for the depth at the multiple layers underneath the main premise itself.
The basic idea of Hoard is to cause destruction, instill fear, and steal gold; not necessarily in that order. Each ten-minute game you play will cause your blood pressure to rise as you try to burn down one last building or farm before your health bar runs out and you lose whatever loot you were holding at the time. There are power-ups in the game as well: Speed, stronger fire, more storage for gold. You can also upgrade as you gain experience points, depending on how well you’re burning down the village.
The PC Version is a bit buggy with strange freezes happening after the match ends. Since each game starts your dragon back at level 1, those freezes don’t really matter since there’s no long-term detrimental effects of a quick reboot. The MAC version works great with my PS3 controller Bluetooth connected to my MacBook, while the PS3 version is without any noticeable differences as well. There are leader boards on Steam which tell the best played matches – I’m nowhere near the top, but it’s a goal you can shoot for. Other than the leaderboard, Hoard is best played as a quick game when you want to set stuff on fire and don’t feel like summoning a real dragon or playing Skyrim.
Bottom Line: Great little quick game when you feel the need to release your inner pyro.
Rating System: (0-10 ranking) |
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| Graphics: | Reminiscent of older console games from the early 90’s. It’s a nice touch to have a game where you know what you’re supposed to do without having the realism some newer games have instilled. | 8 |
| Storyline: | No storyline to speak of. Burn villages, villagers, dragons and take their gold back to your den. | 8 |
| Controls: | I had a bit of trouble getting the keyboard and mouse to work the way I wanted it to work, but after plugging in a controller there were no problems to speak of. | 8 |
| Kid Friendly: | My son wants me to get off the computer and let him play. This alone should tell you how kid friendly the game is. | 9 |
| Replayability: | Hoard is a game you can play for a long time and still never master. Remember the old Coin-Op game, Rampage? It’s kind of like that: Basic, simple and FUN. | 9 |
| Value: | Much better value than some of the other games listed in Steam and PSN at the moment. | 9 |
| Cost: | $10 as of this writing on PSN and Steam, with a free Demo on Steam if you want to try it out before you buy anything. | 8 |
| Fun: | More fun than I care to admit. | 9 |
| Total: | 88% | |
- Chris Tallant
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