U
ntitledGooseGamelookslikea gimmickyjoke,
anotherGoatSimulatorwithfeathersinsteadof
fur.Whilethere’ssomegimmickryaboutit, though,
it’swellmadeandgenuinelyamusing.Thepremiseis
straightforward.You’rea horriblegooseina lovelyBritish
village,andyourjobis towaddlearoundsaidvillageruining
everyone’sday.
Althoughthevillageis anopensandbox,you’llprogress
throughitsfourorfivelocationsalonga specificroute.Ateach
location,there’sa listofobjectivestoachieve.Theseinclude
stealing the gardener’s hat, chasing a local boy into a phone
box and making an old man at the pub fall on his backside.
The game plays out like a smaller, more light-hearted
version of Hitman. Each villager you encounter, from the
gardener to the shopkeeper, has their own routine. Using a
combination of your hardy beak and your loud honk, you
need to disrupt this routine, either by picking up and moving
an item, or by honking at the right moment. As a simple
example, honking makes a boy playing in the street run
away, so you can chase and direct him with your honk.
Much of the game’s gentle yet daft humour comes from
the presentation. House House is an Australian developer,
but its pastiche of a prim and proper British village is spot
on. Deliberately breaking all the village’s unsaid social
taboosintheguiseofthisobnoxious,honkingbirdfeels
gleefullyliberating.
Theanimationsareperfect,fromthearrogantwaddleto
thewayyoucanspreadyourwingsina naturalyetincredibly
aggressivemanner.Perhapsthebestaspectofthe
presentation,however,is thedynamicpianosoundtrack.
Basedona Debussycomposition,it altersinbothtempoand
volumeaccordingtotheon-screenaction,andcontributes
enormouslytobringingoutthehumour.
It’sontheshortside,offeringmerelya coupleofhours,
although you wouldn’t want the joke to run on for too long.
Also, the controls can be a little spongy, which makes it
difficult to enact precise movements, such as taking an
object off a person, or slipping through a narrow gap to
escape being caught. It could also do with a few more open-
ended objectives, and fewer ‘drag X number of items to this
spot’ tasks.
Nonetheless, Untitled Goose Game is a rare game that
deliberately uses its mechanics to create slapstick humour.
The fact that it does it well (unlike Goat Simulator) and costs
just over a tenner, makes it a treat. The broader concept also
has much wider potential, so we can only hope House
House explores them further.
RICK LANE/VERDICT
Featuring daft
puzzles and a
wonderful sense
of humour,
Untitled Goose
Game is a
splendid little
surprise, unlike
itstitulargoose.OVERALL SCORE
80
Untitled Goose Game
/ £11.99 inc VAT
DEVELOPER House House / PUBLISHER Panic!
BEAUTIFUL
SWAN
+^ Great presentation
+^ Enjoyable puzzles
+^ Genuinely funny
UGLY DUCKLING-^ Short
-^ Iffy control scheme
cc
uu
sst
omm
PP
CCA
P
PR
OVE
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