''The Horde'' is a hybrid action-strategy video game that was originally released for the

3DO Interactive Multiplayer The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company ...

and was ported to the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

and

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

. It also featured full-motion video sequences featuring a number of actors including

Kirk Cameron Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor and evangelist. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom ''Growing Pains'' (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Glob ...

as Chauncey and Michael Gregory as Kronus Maelor. Video sequences were reduced to slide shows (with full sound) in some versions. The game was bundled with the

RealMagic RealMagic (or ''ReelMagic''), from Sigma Designs, was one of the first fully compliant MPEG playback boards on the market in the mid-1990s. RealMagic is a hardware-accelerated MPEG decoder that mixes its video stream into a computer video card's o ...

MPEG playback card as a demonstration of the card's abilities to play back full-motion MPEG video via the card's hardware decoder, at the time software MPEG decoding was not viable due to the lack of processing power in contemporary processors. The music was composed by Burke Trieschmann and won

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

's Premiere Award for Best Musical Score in 1994.

Plot

The player controls a servant boy, Chauncey, who was raised by a herd of wild cows. In a fortunate mishap, Chauncey prevents Winthrop the Good, King of Franzpowanki, from choking on his meal and is rewarded with a plot of land upon which he may build a self-sustaining town. However, the land is under constant attack by "The Horde." The Horde consists of a number of destructive and hungry red monsters referred to individually as Hordlings.

Gameplay

''The Horde'' has elements of

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

, city building, and

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

. It is played in alternating timed phases. Each season begins with a "build" phase in which the player develops a town with the resources at Chauncey's disposal. This includes constructing walls, setting traps, chopping down trees, and landscaping. Buildings, roads, crops, and residents are all added to the town automatically between seasons. The player is given only two minutes for each build phase. Then comes the "action" phase, where the player must defend the town from an onslaught of Hordlings with a huge sword, Grimthwacker, and various magical items. These items are powered by Chauncey's ATM ("Automated Transfer of Mana") card, which converts gold into usable magical energy. Hordlings occasionally drop money when defeated, which may be retrieved and used. However, the main sources of income are cows and crops, which are also sought by the Hordlings. If Chauncey runs out of

hit points Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the for ...

or all of the town's people are eaten by Hordlings, the game ends. At the end of the action phase, the season has ended and the player receives a report on how well the town has been managed. The player turns a profit by protecting the town's resources. At the end of Summer seasons, the player may receive a message through a

crystal ball A crystal ball, also known as an orbuculum or crystal sphere, is a crystal or glass ball and common fortune-telling object. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying in particular. In more recent times, the cry ...

from King Winthrop the Good, Kronus Maelor (the "Evil High Chancellor"), or the FNN ("Franzpowanki News Network"). With the exception of certain comic relief messages, these can have a direct influence on every aspect of the game. At the end of each year, Kronus Maelor requires Chauncey to pay taxes. The player then has the opportunity to save the game and buy special items. At the end of a set number of years, the player character is given charge of a new region of the kingdom and must start a new village there. Each new location features the challenges of different terrain and new breeds of Hordling, as well as hidden items (sometimes obtained through

side-quests A quest, or mission, is a task in video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. ...

) and new special items at the store. The game is won by completing all five regions.

Development

Lead artist Michael Provenza recounted how he designed the hordlings:

plays the teenage hero Chauncey, and Michael Gregory plays the Chancellor. All the live-action footage for the game was filmed in two days. The initial 3DO version of the game had a "feature" where it deleted all other saved files to make room for The Horde's save file. The publisher eventually recognized this behavior was generally disliked by players, and offered to replace discs with a copy of the game that prompted before deleting other files.

Reception

''The Horde'' received generally positive reviews. In April 1994 ''Computer Gaming World'' said of the PC version that "Excellent acting and game play combined with twisted humor ... should make this a winner". The magazine in May 1994 said that "''The Horde'' is a hybrid of the most editor-baffling kind, and what's more aggravating, it's good. ''Extremely'' good!". The reviewer praised its combination of resource management and action in varying settings, wonderful animation, and "amazingly good" video clips, stating that Gregory's "show-stealing Evil Chancellor" made the game "a must see". He concluded that "''The Horde'' is remarkably well rounded", and "without question" would win awards in "whichever category that might be". ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'''s Game Over Man gave the 3DO version a perfect score in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and FunFactor), citing the large number of stages, good controls, the overhead "satellite view", the outrageous hordling TV propaganda FMV clips, and use of audio to alert the player to off-screen situations. He concluded, "This imaginative game tries to do something different, and it works". ''

Famicom Tsūshin formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' scored the 3DO version of the game a 30 out of 40.3DO GAMES CROSS REVIEW: ザ・ホード. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.330. Pg.77. 14 April 1995. Reviewing the Saturn version in ''GamePro'', Johnny Ballgame called it "a clever and addicting game that should be eaten up by all Saturn owners". He particularly praised the challenging gameplay, exceptionally clean FMV, and the ability to locate hordlings by sound. David Hodgson of ''

Sega Saturn Magazine ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' was a monthly UK magazine covering the Sega Saturn, a home video game console. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, ''Sega Flash'', which included ...

'' gave the Saturn version a 90%, citing the "weird and wonderful gameplay", "genuinely humorous" sound effects, and "perfect difficulty level and learning curve", and said it was a perfect port of the 3DO original. Hodgson also reviewed the game in ''Maximum'', where he made similar praise. ''The Horde'' won ''Computer Gaming World''s Best Musical Score award in June 1994. The editors wrote, "Not only do we like the funky, whimsical riffs within the score, but we appreciate the way that every type of terrain or genus of hordling has its own musical theme". Gregory won the Best On-Screen Performance award for his role in ''The Horde'', and the editors noted that "we found ourselves particularly impressed with the way Gregory communicates via body language and facial expressions, even in scenes where he has no speaking part". ''

VideoGames Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedback ...

'' selected it as a runner-up for 1994's Best Strategy Game award, which was won by ''

Equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horde, The 1994 video games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games Crystal Dynamics games DOS games Fantasy video games Sega Saturn games Single-player video games Strategy video games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Burke Trieschmann Toys for Bob games