Finger Derpy Review

Finger Derpy is... an interesting game. It combines a pretty hilarious premise - drunk horse-racing - and implements it about as successfully as one could expect. The result is a game with endless runner and race modes, both of which star horses that are incredibly bad at moving (much less racing). Experience-wise this means that Finger Derpy is funny and endearing, but can become quite frustrating whenever the concept of drunk horse-racing stops generating chuckles.

The first thing to note about Finger Derpy is that it's a very segmented game. Choosing between the solo mode and multiplayer are quite different experiences, as the former plays like Temple Run while the latter is almost more akin to Mario Kart. Just like these modes are divided, Finger Derpy's control scheme also has players controlling each half of the horse separately - with a button to control the left-hand hooves and a button for the right-hand hooves. Mastering these controls involves steering these horses as one might a canoe and hoping that luck is in your favor.

To keep both of Finger Derpy's game modes interesting, there's quite a bit of variety that forces players to do more than try to constantly run straight. In the solo mode players are trying to outrun a finishing line that's chasing them while also gathering roses to spend on upgrades, avoiding barrels, using power-ups, and surviving police chases. For multiplayer, new tracks can be unlocked but only after watching a video add (this is a free-to-play game, after all).

The only problem with Finger Derpy is that it's much easier to laugh at than it is to control. It's understandable that controlling these intoxicated creatures is a difficult and messy process, but this committment to swimmy and relatively unresponsive controls might prevent some players from giving it a shot. That being said, drunk horses are funny; and they're even funnier when a group of four players are bumbling about and running into each other as they try to race around a track on the same screen in multiplayer.

Finger Derpy is definitely one of those games where players' mileage will vary greatly depending on their tolerance for the jokey premise and their own ability to find people to play with. Although the singleplayer can be enjoyable due to its sheer absurdity, it can grow tiresome since all the variety in the world cannot change the fact that it's ultimately another endless runner - and one that handles poorly at that. Still, there's something to Finger Derpy that makes it fun to laugh at while experiencing it, rather than at a distance, which makes it worth checking out.