When given this game to review, I legitimately believed I was about to play a “My Little Pony” video game. To my surprise, I was technically wrong, while everything about “Them’s Fightin’ Herds” is heavily influenced by MLP its very slight differences I suppose are enough for it to be its own thing. Still though, my excitement level was fairly on the low side, despite very much enjoying fighting games. Thankfully after overlooking the childlike design, I was met with a fairly complex little gem, with some really cool offerings I was impressed to see.
Originally released on PC back in 2020, developers Mane 6 had been working on this game for many years before then, I believe there was a time back in 2014 where this game indeed was an unlicensed “My Little Pony” game, but the powers that be over at Hasbro finally slapped them with a cease and desist, which then led to all the slight alterations to make “Them Fightin’ Herds” its own thing. The game contains seven playable characters: Arizona, Velvet, Oleander, Paprika, Pom, Tianhuo, and Shanty. So, as I said there are some really cool offerings here, the lack of a large fighter count is definitely one of its biggest crutches. You can only play with and against the same characters for so long before things start to feel stale. A decent counterbalance to this though, was the Story Mode. A pixelated, iso-metric, top/down adventure that reminded me a lot of the classic Pokémon games. The first story revolves around the character of Arizona, and all the cleverly written dialogue is presented through text boxes, some voice acting would have gone a long way, but I’m sure sacrifices were made, and they did the best with what they could do.
A really neat feature I don’t see that often today is their online lobby, looking similar to the story mode portion of the game, where you can walk around the map and find other fighters to initiate a match with. There is also salt, which is an in-game currency you use to purchase cosmetic items that can also be found around the map. Treasure chests are also here, and 2 online players can duke it out for the ownership of said chest. As far as the actual fighting, things can get welcomingly intricate with its four-button system. You have your light, medium, heavy attacks, as well as the ability to use magic. Each character uses magic differently, and while the roster is small, all of them are very unique and different, brimming with their own personalities. With a very strong in-depth training mode, the game does a decent job at easing you into all the ways of how to use your fighters.
While there are some glaring things there should be more a lot more of in “Them’s Fightin’ Herds,” everything that was given to us was done exceptionally well. The Story Mode isn’t terribly long, can be finished within a few hours, but for a fighting game this is a feature that shouldn’t overstay its welcome. With the GGPO rollback net code, I can see this being an ongoing audience favorite to witness at future EVO tournaments. I do hope with this title expanding onto consoles that they will more easily be able to add more characters to the roster to maintain the longevity of the game’s lifespan. So, if you’re not turned off by the Brony designs and are able to find friends who can also overlook this art style this may just be a fighting game worth your time, at least for a little while.
8/10
For more information, visit: https://www.mane6.com/
Related: Reviews by Nick Navarro
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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