Final Verdict - Give It A Shot
The little goat that could; or should I say the little joke that could. Goat simulator fever has taken the gaming community by storm and what started out as a simple joke project soon became a reality. Coffee Stain Studios, the Swedish team behind the Sanctum series, have used artistic licence and given us their view on the epic day to day life of a goat. So come along for the ride and experience the only Goat Simulation game in existence...(as far as I know of anyways)
Goat Simulator is an open-ended third-person perspective game in which the player controls a goat. The player is free to explore the game's world, a suburban semi-urban setting, as a goat, and jump, run, bash things, and lick objects, which attaches the goat's tongue to the object and lets the player drag the object around until they let go. At any time, the player can let the goat drop into a rag-doll model, allowing the game's physics to take over, and another control makes the game run in slow-motion. It was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam on 1 April 2014, while ports for Mac OS X and Linux are presently being developed. The game has been compared by the developer as akin to skateboarding games, but where the player controls a goat aimed at doing as much damage as possible around an open-world map, without any other larger goals. The game, initially developed as a joke prototype from an internal game jam and shown in a early alpha state in YouTube videos, was met with excitement and attention, prompting the studio to build out the game into a releasable state while still retaining various non-breaking bugs and glitches to retain the game's entertainment value.
What’s Good:
Game Mechanics: Somewhat paying homage to the innovator of its engine Goat Simulator the game features a scoring system similar to skateboarding games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, whereby doing tricks or other actions earns points. Like the old adage goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and oddly enough this works well in Goat Simulator. Couple that with insane rag-doll physics and even a slow down time button and you have the makings of a fun time whether you are high, drunk or sober.
Replay value: The DLC is a coming so that give us hope for replay value as well as a Leaderboard that tracks world wide ranking points for the game so you can be the very best like no one ever was. There also exists a variety of different goat models that the player can gain access to via small golden goat statues that are hidden in the game's world and certain quests.
Soundtrack: The game's soundtrack is somewhat limited but this is to be expected somewhat given the overall nature and price of the game. The soundtrack music is however quite catchy and I found myself quite naturally humming along to the music.
What’s Bad:
Story-line: There is none, short of a couple quests that get you acclimated to the game and its controls there is no real directive or flow to the mayhem that is Goat Simulator. I can see how since the game is a open world sandbox title it lends itself to the premise of creativity though. Essentially letting the player do as they please, but there isn't any excuse not to have even a crappy story-line instead of none at all to give some sense of meaning to the twisted world of Goat Simulator.
What Should Have Been Added:
Definitely should have added multiple levels at launch considering the small size of the only level available. Can't really fault them though since the game is in general just one big joke that went viral and had a strong enough hype to get it made into a reality. Obviously a story-line would need to be added as well to give further motivation past just the occasional cheap laugh at the rag-doll physics that befall the goat. Some form of multi-player interaction maybe akin to the Dark Souls franchise where you can invade other players games.
Final Thoughts:
Honestly the game is ridiculously fun; for about the first 15-30 minutes depending on your sense of humor, creativity and maturity level. Without a story-line or sense of meaningful progression its hard to say that you will stay motivated to play. This is the fundamental flaw of the game as its novelty and viral hype can only be expected to carry it for so long and no more. Thankfully this game is priced nowhere near the full retail price of a AAA game title so you don't have much to lose on experiencing the one of a kind "goating" experience.
