Sheep

by Take 2

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004VWUC
• Item Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: December 6, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,566 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Format: Box
Age: 11 and Up
Platform: Windows

Your job is to take care of the sheep!

Product Information

Your task is to guide the Sheep back to their celestial ancestors, saving them from the perils of electric fences, shark-infested ice cream and combine harvesters.  It's not as easy as it sounds, especially when your sheep flock off in the other direction.

Product Features

• Choose from four hapless characters, including the sassy Bo Peep and the over enthusiastic Motley.
• Four incredibly stupid breeds of sheep, including the cutely simple Pastorals and the music and Longwools.
• Guide your sheep through 28 flocktastic levels, avoiding Mr. Pear and his evil Hench-Cows.
• Solve puzzles, collect the golden sheep and unlock the barmy bonus levels.

Windows Requirements

• Windows 95, 98, Me, XP
• Pentium II 233 MHz processor
• 32 MB of RAM
• 25 MB free Hard Disk space
• 4 MB Graphics Card
• DirectX 7.0 or higher
• CD-ROM drive

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Old School Action Game, January 4, 2001

By 

Kurt Squire - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sheep (CD-ROM)

Basically, the game involves herding your sheep, guiding them through mazes and helping them avoid obstacles so that they can reach the end safely and be beamed back to their planet. There are 6 worlds, with four unique levels to each world, making 24 unique levels total. Your sheep tend to flock together, so you must carefully balance when to herd the entire flock, as opposed to when to go after that lost sheep (insert one of many Little Bo Beep comments here). The action is pretty fast paced; leave your flock for more than a few moments and they're likely to get run over, blown up, or eaten.

Adam Halfpint Chases Sheep Around the Yard

You, as the herder, get to choose from one of four different characters, two of which are humans (Bopeep and Adam Halfpint), and two of which are dogs (Motley and Shep). The herders are cute little guys, although they really aren't developed too much; there aren't real noticeable differences between the characters, and they don't have any special moves or powers. This is really too bad, because the characters themselves seem fairly well- conceived, and integrating them into the gameplay better would make total sense. In order to make things more fun, there are four different kinds of sheep (Pastoral, Longwool, Neo-Genetic, and Factoral) you can try to rescue. Each breed is quite cute and has its own unique characteristics. The Neo-Genetic sheep, for example, look like little computer geeks and are more difficult to flock (figures) but also a little smarter than their pastoral kin.

The gameplay really is an old-school action game. You can pick up Sheep and be going within seconds. Within minutes, you will have a good feel for the game. The gameplay itself is a little like Lemmings, in that you're main goal is to steward little dumb but cute creatures to safety. The frenetic pace and maze layout are somewhat reminiscent of Pac-Man. Although you're never really chased by intelligent creatures (not that Inky, Pinky, Blinky & Clyde were ever that intelligent), you are constantly on the go. Your sheep are constantly wandering off toward tractors, racecars, dinosaurs, or lava, or other life-threatening implements of destruction that harken back to the days of Mario. Not surprisingly, Sheep is also being released for the PlayStation, as it really plays a lot more like a console game than a PC game.

The bold colors and surreal sheep give the game a playful feel a little reminiscent of Super Mario Brothers. The textures are rich, and the colorful characters combined with the bouncy animations give the gameplay a very joyful feel that will lift the spirits of even the most jaded gamer. The sounds are good, but not remarkable. The opening theme music and the general game sounds (like when you make a selection) are clean and lively. But, once you're in the game the quality falls off a bit. The Baahing of the sheep is fun for a while, but then grows old, as does the peppy synthesizer soundtrack. Still, the bright attractive colors and upbeat feel of Sheep makes a very strong impact and a unique gaming experience on the PC platform, and deserves credit for that

If you're tired of the basic gaming formulas, and you're looking for a game that provides, good old-fashioned gameplay with good characters, clever mazes, and fun graphics, then I wholeheartedly recommend Sheep. This innocuous little game has a lot of pizzazz, and lives up to the traditions of its forbearers. Oddly, Sheep is marketed as a puzzle game. While it does have elements of puzzle, really, it's an action game with some of the best straight forward, old-school action game playing there's been in a long while. Even more importantly, Sheep was designed with a creativity and imagination that is infrequent among games. I know that it's been a long time since I used words like "warmth, joy, and tickled" in a review. Heck, since the days of Mario, how often do the words play and wonder come to mind? Not often enough. And, really, that's kind of sad, since at one time, that's what games were all about.

for the full review and discussion on games, see joystick101.org

44 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT Buy This Game., November 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sheep (CD-ROM)

When I bought this game I was expecting a charming yet challenging puzzler akin to the original Lemmings. I expected it because that was the comparison used by some reviewers to describe Sheep.

What a disappointment! Sheep is not a challenging puzzle game. In fact, it's not a puzzle game at all-even though they call it that on the box. What self-respecting puzzle game would put up signs along the way telling the player what to do? Sheep is fraught with signs that literally tell you what buttons to push, what to avoid, etc.

You can't call Sheep a maze game, either: there are arrows all along the floor of each level telling you which way to go to reach the exit. Sheese!

Neither is Sheep charming or funny. (Farting cows are funny maybe the first time you see them. After that it's just crude.) The music in Lemmings was beautiful and lent much to the charm of the game. In Sheep the music is just repetitive and annoying.

So, if Sheep isn't any of the above good things, what is it then? It is a boring, gets-old-fast exercise in frustration. The only challenge lies in how good you are with your right thumb (if you use a game pad). The docs tell you to match up the four types of herders with the right type of sheep, but it really doesn't matter. No matter which herder you use with which sheep, it will always boil down to how good your "thumb-eye" coordination is. That is the whole game in a nutshell. You have to control the herder so he or she keeps all the sheep together and moving in the right direction. Maneuver the herder correctly and you can beat every level your first time through. Like I said, there are signs on each level telling you what to do and arrows on the floor telling you where to go.

There are also a few minor issues: The save game feature is easy to miss and is buggy. Some of the saves do not appear on the Load Game screen. Also, you cannot remap the control keys or buttons.

It is rare that I cannot find *any* good thing to say about a game. In fact, that's never happened. Until now.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bah Bah BAD SHEEP!, January 25, 2003

By 

"chicabird" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sheep (CD-ROM)

You may find yourself cursing at the sheep in this game, because they are so stupid and at times, very difficult to control. There are four different sheep herders (you must choose one) and 4 different varieties of sheep. Your purpose is to herd the sheep through the increasingly difficult levels so that eventually they get to the mother-ship. (see product info)

For those who enjoy an adventure game (as opposed to games similar to Civilizations or Age of Empires), this product is great. The different aspects of each "maze" do have their quirks... some levels it would seem nearly impossible to beat and some obstacles impossible to get past...but I assure you it is possible.

The basic concept of the game is easy to grasp: get at least 10 sheep to the end of the level in the time limit, and try to get the "golden sheep" statue thats hidden in the maze.

The main problems that the player might encounter are:
1) Having selected the "wrong" herder. Make sure you pick the right herder for you, as some people are more comfortable with the different styles of herding. (my personal favorite is Adam)

2) Becoming frustrated with a particular level. I recommend this game for those who are bored, easily amused, seldomly frustrated, or have been told by their friends that they are insane. This game is probably not meant for the faint of heart or weak of spirit.

3) Not knowing what sheep to play with in each level. Read the instruction booklet that comes with the game. Also make sure you try out the Training parts, as you will see which sheep are the hardest for your herder to manage. Use those sheep on the EASIEST and usually 1st of the 4 games. Use your easiest for the harder levels.

All in all, this game is one of my favorite adventure games, simply because its easy to understand, and fun to play. I highly recommend it.