Coffee Stain Studios’ Goat Simulator started off as a gag internal game which once released to the public gained a huge following. Previously available on PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, the game is now available on the Xbox One and we tested out just how fun being a goat could possibly be in our Goat Simulator review.
Gameplay
In Goat Simulator, you play as a goat who runs around and tries his (her?) best to wreak as much havoc and destruction as he can. You can run, jump, bounce on trampolines, lick stuff (which if it’s a vehicle will drag you along), headbutt people, and more. Progressing by meeting different goals will unlock modifiers such as a rocket pack, skateboards, buff goat, tall goat, and more providing different ways to try and destroy things.
It’s a sandbox type destruction game, and the studio has been upfront from the beginning about leaving bugs and glitches in the game, only fixing very serious ones. At first the game is fun as you run around, jumping, crashing into things, laughing at the obvious glitches, but it gets old real fast. First, there’s a limited number of things you can do, and secondly, the zones are fairly small and it’s not long before you’ve explored the far (close) regions of the map and destroyed, licked, headbutted, or jumped on just about everything you can.
I must admit though, trying to ride a bike as a goat was quite the experience…
Graphics
The graphics are fairly mediocre as well, definitely nothing that screams “next-gen” or really jumps out at you. Given the type of game it is though, with all the bugs and glitches, the simpler graphics oddly fit and add to the experience.
Sound
Aside from the concept, the sound design is probably the best feature of Goat Simulator. From the clicking of the goat’s hooves, to the constant baaa-ing (do goats baa?) you can trigger with one of the buttons, and explosion sounds, the sound effects are well done. Like the graphics, the cheesy background music also adds to the experience of a game that prides itself on being buggy.
Wrap-up
While Goat Simulator is fun for a few minutes here and there, once you’ve tried everything or experienced all that the goat can do, it does become fairly old rather quickly. The developer disclaimer on the Xbox Store reads “Goat Simulator is a completely stupid game and, to be honest, you should probably spend your money on something else, such as a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe pool your money together with your friends and buy a real goat” – and that isn’t that far from the truth. Still, for $10 it’s nice to have a stupid game like this in your library for those nights when you have a few buddies over and have one too many…
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
