Them's Fightin' Herds (Xbox One) - Review
by Evan Norris , posted on 31 October 2022 / 1,779 Views
The wisest video game enthusiasts know not to judge a game by its cover. The criminally-misleading box art for Mega Man taught us that important lesson almost 40 years ago, after all. To that end, fans should approach Them's Fightin' Herds, a 1v1 fighting game with cartoon quadrupeds inspired indirectly by My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, with an open mind. They might actually like what they find.
Them's Fightin' Herds is a typical 2D 1v1 fighting title, with one big distinction. In the place of traditional bipedal characters, the game features four-legged fighters of the ungulate variety (large mammals with hooves). That means that instead of playing as a samurai, sumo wrestler, or special forces officer, you'll play as a cow, deer, llama, etc. This represents a major shake-up to the status quo, but it absolutely works. Thanks to developer Mane6's attention to detail and mastery of complex mechanics, Them's Fightin' Herds is, at least technically, one of the better fighters on the market. Moreover, it's both approachable for greenhorns and rewarding for veterans of the genre.
Them's Fightin' Herds relies on a four-button fighting system. On Xbox, buttons X, Y, and B correspond to light, medium, and heavy attacks, respectively, and A represents magic. Just as in BlazBlue, players can create basic combos by stringing together light, medium, and heavy attacks in quick succession. As you begin to get more experience, you'll learn to extend these basic combos by tacking on specials and, finally, supers to the end of the chain. Speaking of supers, you can opt to empty your super meter entirely on powerful attacks or spend half a bar while blocking to "cross canter" and counterattack your opponent.
Cross canter is but one of the defensive moves Mane6 installed in its fighting game. Anyone who's ever been sent to oblivion online by a long-lasting, uninterrupted combo will be glad to know the development team created plenty of maneuvers and behind-the-scenes logic to keep matches as even and balanced as possible. Not only can players deploy a traditional block — both on the ground and mid-air — but they can "push block" to create some valuable space or "tech" out of an opponent's combo. Furthermore, the game allows only a single "wall bounce", "ground bounce", and "wall stick" per combo, meaning players can't abuse the system. Finally, there's a juggle decay meter, designed to manage combo length. Once full, your opponent is more affected by gravity and harder to keep in a combo.
If all of this sounds a little overwhelming, you're not wrong. Luckily, Them's Fightin' Herds arrives with a deep, incredibly helpful tutorial to walk you through basic, intermediate, and advanced moves, and even pull back the curtain on the game's background systems such as stun-boxes and recovery frames. It's one of best fighting game tutorials out there.
While the tutorial in Them's Fightin' Herds is exemplary, the remaining single player content leaves a lot to be desired. Story mode in particular is a bit of a mess. Now, Mane6 deserves credit for designing a story mode in the first place and for delivering it in an unusual way — a top-down sprite-based action-adventure — but the studio also deserves criticism for making it mostly dull and repetitive. Although the bovine heroine Arizona, voiced splendidly by Tara Strong, is delightful, the challenges and battles within the adventure are tedious. You'll fight the same shadowy NPC predators again and again on your way to far more interesting scripted showdowns against playable characters like Velvet, Paprika, and Oleander. Additionally, you'll take on a handful of trying platforming sections, which feel out of place. On the bright side, there are some fun diversions and secret, collectible cosmetics to be found in the lands of Foenum, the game's fictional world.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about story mode is that it's incomplete. The console version of the Them's Fightin' Herds launched with only a single chapter, with more promised via free updates in the coming months. It makes the game feel unfinished.
If you want a more traditional single player campaign, you could try arcade mode, but this too is wanting. You'll go hoof to hoof with all seven fighters in the game before facing off against a lackluster boss — not some hidden, unlockable ungulate but rather a series of back-to-back-to-back-to-back battles against the same shadowy NPCs from story mode. You'll get a character portrait at the end, but nothing else in terms of fighter-specific intro or outro content.
If you're less interested in single player content and more invested in mastering the game online against the best of the best, then you're in luck. Finding a match is a breeze thanks to the game's matchmaking system, and performance is reliable due to rollback netcode. You can opt to queue up directly for a match against a random opponent, create your own lobby, or venture into one of several pixel lobbies, which borrow the retro-style top-down overworld of story mode. Here you can train, buy and equip cosmetic items, walk up to other online players and challenge them to a duel, or simply explore at your leisure. Who knows, you might find the "salt mines", a PvE mini-game that unlocks salt, the currency of Foenum. All online lobbies support cross-play, so feel free to invite your friends on other platforms.
The one downside to online play is that you might see the same characters over and over. This is due in part to some ungulates being more popular than others — I'm looking at you, Tianhuo — but also in part because the game simply doesn't have many fighters. There are only seven playable characters, an unusually low number for a modern fighting game. Now, it's clear that a lot of care and attention went into the strengths, weaknesses, and unique magical properties of each of these combatants; nevertheless, there are only so many match-ups you can create with such a limited roster. Four more characters are on the way, but only as part of the paid season pass.
Although there are only seven playable characters in Them's Fightin' Herds, every one of them is, visually, a delight. Designed by Lauren Faust, creator of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, each ungulate has a distinct look and identity. They feel spiritually linked to Faust's TV show but with style and personality all their own. Furthermore, they all look great in action, thanks to silky smooth animation. This is a very pretty fighting game, no matter your allegiance to the My Little Pony franchise.
With its punny name and four-legged cartoon mascots, Them's Fightin' Herds might be mistaken for a frivolous or casual fighting game. Nothing could be further from the truth. On a technical level, it represents one of the better 1v1 fighters on the market, due to its approachable controls, tactical action, and balanced system of offensive and defensive maneuvers. Regrettably, the single player content and character roster that surround that strong mechanical core are lacking. That said, if you're a fighting fan who cares less about solo modes and more about online connectivity and competition, don't hesitate to pony up the $19.99 asking price.
VGChartz Verdict
7
Good
This review is based on a digital copy of Them's Fightin' Herds for the XOne, provided by the publisher.
