Systems > PC > B > Bone: The Great Cow Race > Staff Review
Sign up for a free user account and you can leave feedback for this review or even submit a game review of your own!
Review by Josh Higley
May 18, 2007
The fact that the game isn't going to put you through some kind of mental olympics is apparent from the moment you start. Everything is rendered with a cartoonishly low polygon count and simple textures, the visual style actually compliments the clean-cut style of gameplay well. Bone's based on a comic book, afterall. The characters are incredibly expressive, and the art has a simple elegance that captures its graphic novel roots.
Within minutes, you'll be intimately familiar with every control you'll ever need to use. Point and click. Click people to talk. Click the ground to walk. Click things to...do things. The game never requires a large tutorial, everything works just about as you would expect it to. You can explore the entire fairground where the game starts in a few minutes. Fone, the game's ghots-like primary protagonist, quickly alienates suitably less odd looking femme Thorn on a normal day at the fair, and then sets off to woo her back.
So then, where's the enjoyment to be had? Everywhere, really. What the game lacks in complexity, it makes up for with simple charm. Bone quite neatly drips with personality. Every bit of dialogue is an opportunity for a wry quip or a zany grin-to-yourself kind of line, all of which are delivered with stellar voice acting. Where else can you search out a lost stuffed chicken for a vendor who makes soup with 'a pinch of sawdust', or tangle with a giant honeybee that has a New York tough-guy accent? Nowhere, that's where!
However, there's more there than just fun and games at the fair. One of the game's most interesting features is the ability to switch the focus from Fone Bone to his cousins. Phoney and Smiley both provide a notably different style from the quiet, brainy Fone. Unlike their cousin, Phoney and Smiley start out at a local tavern, working to pay off a debt that was no doubt the fault of one of Phoney's dodgy schemes. And while it seems sort of obvious that it'd be hard to con anyone when your name is 'Phoney', darn it, he tries, usually to great comic effect.
The real reason that this feature is worthwhile, however, doesn't lay with the fact that it adds more opportunity for giggles. Instead, it allows you to work towards solving the game's puzzles from multiple angles. If something isn't clicking, change your perspective, and maybe you can find a hint that way.
The largest bone to be picked with Bone, is the game's meager length; it's the sort of game you can beat in a lazy afternoon, and while such attempts at keeping the experience from becoming too overbearing generally work well for the game, in the case of length...not so much. Just about the time the game really seems to get rolling, it's over. Sure, the game is part of an episodic franchise, so there's more to come, however, that just means that you have to look forward to dropping more money later on for what could very easily have been part of this installment.
Minor complaints aside, Bone: The Great Cow Race is a worthy throwback to a struggling genre. Point and click adventures were the gaming place to be years ago, and this title proves that they can still keep up with "greater" genres now. Putting aside obscure controls and vast complexity in favor of simple fun and laughs isn't a bad idea, and there are plenty of each to be found here.
|
|
|
Most recent video game reviews written by Josh Higley
Antipole (Xbox 360) [February 22, 2011]
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2) [January 08, 2011]
Saira (PC) [October 03, 2010]
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (PlayStation 3) [May 08, 2010]
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii) [February 28, 2010]
|
You can click the tabs on the above bar to choose whether you wish to read comments from visitors who have posted on Facebook, or from registered site users who have left feedback on the forums. Please leave a comment of your own if you have anything to say!
|
|
|
Follow Us |
Advertise exclusively for 1 month... only $1000!
Recent Forum Discussions
+ JoeTheDestroyer's Tales of Phantasia review
+ Alpha Olympics 2012
+ holdthephone's Final Fantasy XIII-2 review
+ Where's SkyWard Sword's review ? And please bring back the rating feature.
+ JoeTheDestroyer's Area 51 review
+ zippdementia's Mega Jump review
+ [News] Schafer has pitched Psychonauts 2, Minecraft dev says 'let's make it happen'
+ playstation vita, yo.
+ RotW January 29 - February 04 2012
+ Games to be added to the database...
+ The Final Fantasy XIII-2 thread
+ [News] Final Fantasy X HD will be a remaster, not a remake
Staff Game Reviews
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim |
| SoulCalibur V |
| The Simpsons Arcade Game |
| Quarrel |
| Star Ocean: The Last Hope |
| Pushmo |
Site Staff
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |  | ||
 |
Featured Reviews [+]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Rayman Origins |
| Othello |
| Scarface: The World is Yours |
| The Last Express |
| Golden Axe II |
| Assassin's Creed: Revelations |
Exclusive User Reviews [+]
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Tales of Phantasia |
| Mega Jump |
| White Knight Chronicles |
| Dragon Wars |
| F-Zero GX |
| Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door |
Info |
Help |
Privacy Policy |
Contact |
Advertise
© 1998-2012 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site--from reviews, guides, cheats and editorials to message board posts--may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Bone: The Great Cow Race is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Bone: The Great Cow Race, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors.
