Genre: Strategy
Developer: Toys for Bob
Publisher: Crystal Dynamics

First impressions of The Horde come from its lengthy FMV intro, and just how high resolution it is. Incidentally, these sequences were done by a Hollywood studio, and the writing, acting, set, and costume design is quite literally "Monty Python" caliber-- it's that polished and funny. The game itself is isometric and tile-based. Like all 2D games on the 3DO, the various houses, trees, and roads look uncannily sharp via the hardware's 640x480 interpolation. NPC and enemies are pre-rendered, and have dozens of animation frames each. Everything is linked together by a gorgeous menu system with pre-rendered backgrounds and fonts.

Burke Trieschmann, composer of numerous 3DO soundtracks such as "Total Eclipse" and "Captain Quazar", provides the music for this release. As is his style, it's all keyboard pre-recordings and very high energy, with lots of experimental instrumentation. The swamp song is a real highlight, with its sloshing, burping bayou oddness. The game's sound effects are master class in functional design, conveying tremendous amounts of information to the player about off-screen events. There is a huge "Toejam and Earl" influence to the in-game yelps and shouts, showing the strong overlap between this group of friends' various projects.

The Horde is a tower defense game, before that genre had been formally invented. The player has two minutes to cursor-place walls, cows, knights, archers, plant trees, or dig moats. The player can flip between the "game" view, or a zoomed out map mode. Once time runs out, the player runs around the map using his sword and purchasable upgrade items to fend off invading baddies. The game is tremendous fun, although input latency becomes noticeable as the framerate drops during especially busy moments. The isometric view means the cursor is also a bit finicky to move correctly, with consistency.

This release is like a cross between "Rampart" and "ActRaiser", with the former's core loop, and the latter's passively-expanding townscapes in need of vigilant protection. Lots of things propel it into "A" territory: its almost unbelievably good FMV story segments; its great soundtrack; its phenomenally colorful and detailed 32-bit level graphics; and the hilarious writing and design around its in-game items. There are some balance issues: to name one, why are archers so expensive yet do so little damage? But in spite of these small flaws, The Horde is one of the 3DO's hidden gems, even among fans of the system.