Title: Hogs of War
Developed/Published By: Infogrammes
Released: 2000
Consoles: Playstation/PC
Background: Now, I can't tell which idea is more over the top, worms killing each other...or pigs killing each other while set in a piggy version of theFirst World War...actually Worms almost sounds normal in comparision. This game is up there in nostalgic memories. Originally, one of my friends had this game and we had a great amount of fun. Then he stopped being cool. So a couple of years went by and I had no pigs to fry. That is until that fateful day I walked into my local ASDA with £10 and came out with a double pack of games, Worms and Hogs of War. Hours was spent on this game as I sat there realising that...it is not as good as I remembered it to be. But that is for another section of the review. So, shall we proceed?
Story: Unlike Worms there is a story. You take one team of stereotypes, Tommy's Trotters (Britian), Sow-A-Krauts (Germany), Sushi Swine (Japan, obviously), Uncle Ham's Hogs (United States), Garlic Grunts (France) and Piggystroika (Russia). You may have noticed that these teams have subtle piggy references, oh those witty and clever guys! Each team has unique characters with unique voices (although I can only really remember the depressed Russian dude...I played this less than a couple of hours ago and I've already forgotten most of the characters. Well done me, well done. You take your team and you take over sections of the continent of...sigh...Saustralasia in the...for crying out loud...Pigsific ocean. Yeah...there are many pig puns in this game. Saustralasia is made up of five different lands, brace yourself folks, Hogshead, Bellyopolis, Trottsville, Arstria and the Isle of Swill. The pig in charge is Commander IP Grimly...ha ha ha. Maybe this is why I failed to capture the magic of it, maybe I just grew up? However, surely the gameplay has some delights?
Gameplay: The game is essentially the same as Worms, one pig from a team gets a turn, moves to a spot and attacks within a time limit, then the other team's pig has a turn. In fact the gameplay is IDENTICAL to Worms, the only difference is that it is in 3D, which seems to make it feel a little slow. However, this does not mean it is not fun, because by golly it is fun. Just like Worms it can be addicitive if you let it take over you. Other changes are that water is no longer SUPER-UBER LETHAL, you can swim out of it (but you lose a lot of health if you go into the water). Also, you can throw grenades across the water if you aim it right (there is an optional tutorial level which teaches you how to do this. First time players should do this as it can be very useful). There are now shelters you can hide in which have it's own lifebar. However, there's nothing radically new except it is in 3D. Worms fans should find themselves in familiar territory playing this game.
Graphics/Sound: Like most PS1 games in 3D, the graphics are dated, but nothing too serious. Like Worms, graphics take back seat to the gameplay. Being in 3D does give it some advantages, being able to add a lot more detail to the locations and to help give each of the characters some unique features. However there is not much else to say about the graphics. They were not extraordinary for the time and neither were they terrible for the time. They were the normal graphics you would find in a 3D PS1 game. The sound is generally pretty good. The song that plays in the menu can get a little annoying if you are ever forced to listen to it long enough. The sound effects are also decent enough, while the voices do the job. Comedian Rik Mayall lends his voice to the game, but he was slightly before my time, so it does not affect me that much.
Criticisms: It can get quite repetitive, and although they managed to get a decent single player campaign in, it's still better with friends. However, I'm starting to get a little repetitive with my criticisms. Basically, the same flaws are present here that were present for Worms, but some issues are sorted out a little.
Overall: While this will always be in my top ten nostaligic games for me, I can not help but feel a little bit deflated everytime I play it. Not literally, although I could use with some deflating, but I digress. In conclusion, this game is good, but is slightly ruined for me due to those pesky rose tinted glasses I seem to wear while looking back at this game. It cannot live up to my hype of the game. Still, there is apparently a sequel in the making and you can be sure I will be trying out that game to see if they have made any improvements.
Final Score: 7.5 pork sausages out of 10.
NEXT TIME: They were nightmares to the pockets of all parents in the late 90s to the early 00s, yet these pocket monsters were quite possibly the greatest thing in the minds of many kids my age. The fact that at just 16, a group of four guys (me included) still knew just about every one of the original 150 of them. I am of course talking about Pokémon. Hate 'em or love 'em, they still make Nintendo a load of cash and thus won't dissapear competely for a loooooooong time. I plan on reviewing MOST of the Pokémon games, the Wii games are the only ones I can't possibly play. Hopefully I'll go back to a fortnightly schedule in the future, so expect Pokémon Red/Blue Review to be finished sometime 2010.
Note: Thanks for telling me about that game. I promise I'll get to it, maybe in the middle of the Pokémon specials. I've never played a game as old as that, but god dammit, I cannot help but be intrigued by it (and I've yet to even play it!).
