How about we diversify the blog a little?? Talk not only about my memories associated with games that I did not complete, but also touch on other projects. For example, those where there is local multiplayer. Oh right! Seems like a good idea.
Speaking of local multiplayer on the beloved Playstation One, I want to talk about Hogs of War. But first, let’s talk about the studio that created this game. Infogrames Sheffield House, that’s what it was called, also known by other names. For example, Gremlin Interactive Limited. Since their founding, they have been creating games using ZX Spectrum And Commodore 64. They even created Space Crusade, the first computer game in the universe Warhammer 40k. A little later, the studio switched to 16-bit consoles, several of which I got to know better as a child. The first such game was an excellent racing arcade Top Gear 2 on Sega Mega Drive, which also had a nice co-op mode, so my little brother and I didn’t have to share the console. The second one should have been Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing (she’s practically my age, judging by the game’s release on Sega Mega Drive), but it just so happened that instead of this cartridge there was another one in the box. If I’m not mistaken, it was Mario Andretti Racing. This is my introduction to Gremlin Interactive Limited can be considered completed. In 1999 it was bought by the company Infogrames and renames it to Infogrames Sheffield House. And under this name it is already being created Hogs of War, the developments of which existed long before the purchase of the studio.
Metacritic ratings
Hogs of War released on two platforms at once. On Playstation One August 25, 2000 in Europe and September 29 in North America, as well as on PC in Europe November 3, 2000. The game received mixed reviews. Gamespot, for example, he criticized the single-player mode, but praised the local co-op. Eurogamer praised the game in almost every aspect and showered him with compliments, simultaneously comparing the game with Cannon Fodder, legendary classic. IGN scolded Hogs of War for poor graphics for 2000 and features Playstation One, noted that there could be more opportunities for strategic maneuvers, and at the same time comparing the game with no less legendary Worms, whose creators Infogrames purchased previously. As you can see, major gaming critics either did not talk about the single-player mode, or simply noted that it was boring and drawn-out.
Campaign? Definitely not with "O"?
With a statement Gamespot I can’t help but agree about the single-player campaign. The first levels give the illusion of good leveling and interesting missions. Your fighters are improving their skills, you are trying to diversify your classes to the fullest in order to be ready for any turn of the war. Valiant boars are waging a desperate struggle for dominance over the island of mud on the Pigland archipelago (at least that’s what it sounded like in the translation I received). In general, the game tries to convey a certain absurdity and frivolity of everything that happens. Island of dirt, ha, there’s not much of it around?
But the further into the forest, the more wild boars. Over time, missions become more and more boring, tasks become more and more idiotic, and leveling stops altogether. This is a known problem of many games, where the gameplay of the later part is reduced to excessive complexity due to unbearable initial conditions, or a banal pile of multi-level enemies. Hogs of War takes both of these points and sticks them into the campaign. Moreover, it “shoves”. I repeat, even with such things you can make interesting gameplay, but here they don’t even try. How about protecting forts from strong enemies without the possibility of shelter in these very forts?? Or battles with a crowd of enemies of maximum level at a level where any extra step or any hit from a grenade fragment will throw your fighter into the water? Although pigs are trained to kill enemies in every possible way, they do not know how to swim. Apparently it wasn’t included in the training.
In general, the single-player campaign here is not for everyone. Passing the last stage completely depends on the luck of your piglets and their desire in life, because you will have to dive into the water and get hit by an airstrike (and this is the most destructive thing the game has to offer) literally every turn. It’s hard, but we can do it. In addition, you will still have to run through the campaign, because by opening new levels, new types of weapons will open in multiplayer.
Now we’re finally playing as a group!
Gameplay Hogs of War is a kind of turn-based strategy in a 3D world. Our fighting boar moves first, and as soon as its time ends, the enemy pig moves. This rather simple moment allows you to calmly play with four friends without using any multitaps, using only one controller. Somewhat reminiscent of the famous "Chervyachkov", which used similar move mechanics, except that the world was in 2D. At least for Playstation One.
Hogs of War feel completely different in local multiplayer. First, artificial intelligence is artificial intelligence. He cannot think and act like a person, and quite quickly gets bored with the same type of actions. Secondly, due to the fact that the last title (would-be localizers on Playstation One used the word "Chin") you cannot select in multiplayer, a certain balance of classes is maintained. Thirdly, there are huge opportunities for fine-tuning the game, and this is half of a successful game!
Hogs of War offers several presets https://gamebookerscasino.uk/withdrawal/ to get you started. For beginners, experienced and pro gamers. However, the most interesting thing is to set your parameters. And among them there is a turn time, and the number of lives, and a few other interesting things. And again I have to agree with Gamespot, each new game with friends with new round conditions, even on the same maps, feels different. You can mix the classes of fighters as you like, use different tactics for battle, use the unevenness of the landscape for your own victory in the end! Local multiplayer possibilities are almost limitless.
Long live the flat earth!
Checkmate, believers in the spherical Earth, because Hogs of War clearly demonstrates to us that the Earth is actually flat and square! Jokes aside, Infogrames Sheffield House decided to not bother too much with constructing the edge of the map. Here is a small square where the pigs are fighting, and behind it – nothing. Just empty space. If you get to this edge of the map, the boar warrior will die quickly. This can be done with an enemy, the main thing is to launch him into the air with a projectile harder. It still looks pretty crappy though. The developers, of course, tried to make the edge of the map an inaccessible place, but somehow it was too simple, placing impassable mountains in a circle.
The graphics are not good here either. Here you will have to agree with IGN, the surrounding landscape looks pretty sparse for a 2000 game. The surfaces in some places look as if the textures were stretched with great difficulty onto the frame. The water generally looks "incomparable". You can’t even immediately understand that there is water there, although you can partially see the reflections of clouds in it (it’s unlikely that they are, rather just a pattern of clouds). There are no waves or any other surface disturbance, just calm water.
There’s water here. Blue path. But how to distinguish it from ice?? And is there ice there?? What kind of game design?
However, the pig models are made at the highest level. They are different from each other, when an enemy approaches, they are funny scared, and when they are injured, you sincerely believe that they have received damage.
And in the pigs one can easily guess the shapes of soldiers from different countries. There are only six of them: German, French, British, American, Japanese and Russian forms. And the setting itself is painfully suspiciously similar to the time period of the First World War.
Gameplay or trying different weapons
It was already mentioned above that in Hogs of War there are several classes. Depending on the classes you choose, your gameplay style will depend. For example, a sniper is good at shooting at long distances and blending into the terrain, a medic can heal his own and SUDDENLY strangers, a demolition pig wields a shotgun and can plant dynamite sticks on enemies or scatter mines across the maps. There are several more classes, it’s better to familiarize yourself with them.
You may get a wrong impression regarding the gameplay. It’s as if grunts of certain classes can only use weapons meant for them. But that’s not true. Boxes with weapons and first aid kits are scattered throughout the levels in large quantities. They contain everything from mortars to cluster bombs. Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Comrade spy can not only hide in boxes and become a palm tree, he can also inspect your pockets for new weapons for his beloved. So although there is a certain binding to the class, it is not as strict as it might seem from the very beginning.
Types of weapons in Hogs of War plenty. Take at least rifles. The sniper has his own, it covers quite a long distance, the demolitionists have a shotgun, which is only good at close ranges due to the large spread of the shot, and so on. There is no need to talk about any advanced ballistics, but it is worth noting that a bullet fired from a rifle does not fly across the entire map, but falls to the ground after a certain time. Another thing worth noting is aiming with this type of weapon. The longer the war hog takes aim, the more its hooves shake, and therefore it becomes more difficult to hit.
Next you can touch bazookas and mortars. The bazooka is what you will use most often. It is quite easy to use and after a couple of hours of training in the single player campaign, it does not cause any difficulties at all. You can set two parameters: force and angle of the shot. Incredibly convenient if the enemy is hiding behind some hill. With a mortar everything is more complicated. It only has an angle of inclination, it is adjustable in an extremely small range, as it may seem, which is why it is not so easy to hit the enemy. But it’s quite easy to launch a projectile at an airship flying around the map, and something interesting will definitely fall out of it. The main thing is to be in time faster than others.
Grenades! Here’s what will force you to make the most of the local landscape. Conventional, fragmentation, cluster and the dream of the Geneva Convention – poisonous grenades. The throw range of each of them is not that great, but the main thing is to cause maximum damage! After being thrown and falling to the ground, the projectile continues to roll on the ground for some time. And here you need to calculate the right moment. Throw the enemy pig behind the map or into the water, take advantage of its disadvantageous position in the lowlands and detonate a cluster bomb, and if several pigs are standing nearby, then there is no need to think about it, throw a fragmentation bomb!
On some types of maps you can find a bunker where it is easy to wait out an enemy attack. You can also get into gun turrets and distribute different types of shells at your opponents. As you can see, everything is fine with weapons here too.
Let’s sum it up
Gamers themselves did not agree with the mixed reviews from gamers. And if you compare the score on metacritic, you can easily see this. Players say that 62 points from magazines is too low, they note excellent gameplay, good humor and excellent multiplayer. And it’s hard to disagree with this. If removed from single player mode Hogs of War annoying situations where your fighters are simply used as cannon fodder, the campaign turned out to be very tolerable. And this is the main problem part Hogs of War. However, you don’t remember, because the main thing here is fighting with friends. It was extremely fun for three or four of us to get together around the TV and turn on Hogs of War and just have fun. Over time, unspoken rules were developed that cannot be turned on in the starting settings, hell, they even tried to write a set of rules, if my memory serves me correctly!
Hogs of War still plays great to this day. The main thing is to find a company!
Thank you for your attention!
P.S. The game has been in development since 2019 Hogs of War: Reheated. It is created on a new engine, partially assembled from the old one from the time of the original’s release. The project grew out of a dissertation "Hogs of War: A case study for Remastering Classic PlayStation games". The student who made it studied with a lecturer who was involved in the creation of the original project. He liked the idea of such a thing and after a conversation with the founder of the studio Gremlin Interactive Limited received a remaster "green light". So far nothing is known about release plans, except that it will happen someday. Now you can find a demonstration of the updated graphics and gameplay online. But that’s all. Fingers crossed!