IN-DEPTH REVIEW!

If I have time, I will also write guides on how to beat the game and some extra tips and tricks to help you along the way.

The game must be exited via the in-game menu. Do not Alt+Tab or Alt+F4 as this will cause your computer to crash.

WARNING: This game does contain stereotypes which may be considered racist. If you are angered by this then I recommend not buying this game because there is a fair bit of it. (To me, they are pretty tame but I'd prefer just to warn you guys. Like, even the British and Americans have the mickey take out of them so...)

However, if you don't mind, you're in for a treat.

---
Hogs of War Review
Written by SMK - 28/07/2015

"WELCOME TO BOOT CAMP!" - Major I.P Grimly

Yes, indeed, welcome one and all to this review of my favourite game of all time, Hogs of War.
Now, before you leave because you can clearly see this review will be biased, it will not be. There are a lot of problems with the game at the moment and many of them are unfixable. All problems that I have encountered in this version will be noted.

Small history lesson first, this game was created by Infogrames who developed the original Alone in the Dark series and also published Robot Arena 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. This game began to be sold in June of 2000 on the PSX and later the PC. The game didn't sell well due it's bad use of advertising on TV. A second game was in the works but was however cancelled due to the takeover of Infogrames by Atari in the mid-2000s and due to a lack of funding for the game.

Anyway-
The game.

There is a small backstory behind this game which kind of develops throughout the game. The initial story is that some pigs have enlisted into the army, Major I.P Grimy (Narrated by Rik Mayall) informs them about the 'Isle of Swill' which they must get to so that they can control the world. To do this, they must take all of 'Saustralisa' which many other nations own. The story develops in each mission before it starts where a written document awaits you by Major Grimly telling you what to do and how it will affect the war. That's about all the story there is until the end when you get a few cut scenes about one of the pigs. (Which I won't spoil.)
The story offers an excellent level of challenge which builds up as you progress. There are a few missions that break this mold however but it feels amazing when you beat them finally.
In the campaign, you control a squad of pigs which you can upgrade as you complete missions. You get one upgrade point for beating a level with a pig dying but you can get two for beating the level without losing any pigs. You can also get more medals later on by doing specific tasks asked by Grimly and that's why it's important to read the mission details before each mission.

A quick section on graphics too... The graphics aren't any good by today's standards as you might expect. However, I believe they've held up rather well and the game is definitely something which shouldn't be shunned at because of it's graphics. Especially in comparison with the PSX version.

The game plays in a very similar style to Worms. It's turned based combat in 3D using weapons to kill off enemy pigs from different nations in a WWI setting. The pigs are based off real life nations during World War 1, for instance, Tommy's Trotters represents the UK, Garlic Grunts represent the French and the Sushi Swines represent Japan. You have a turn timer in which to perform your pigs actions. Your pigs have classes and depending on the class you're controlling depends on what weapons the pig will have. I.E, Engineers have TNT and Mines while Paratroopers have Jetpacks and Machine Guns. The pig's health also depends on which class they are. During the time that you're given, you can walk around, get in a tank or a shelter, find some weapons but as you might imagine, the main objective of your turn is to damage or kill a pig which can be done in an amazing amount of creative ways from as simple as smacking them with your Trotter to throwing some Madness Gas their way to make them go insane and start hopping around.

The gameplay is solid turn based combat, nothing wrong at all. Extremely satisfying to kill pigs from afar using the Mortar or Airburst. Close combat is still fun as long range, especially as it becomes much more tactical. This is enhanced if you play hotseat multiplayer also.

The game is narrated all by the British comedy legend Rik Mayall who is unfortunately no longer with us however his fantastic impressions live on through this game. And this is one of the best parts of the game, hearing Mayall's voice is fantastic. He does brilliant impressions of all nations within the game which will make you laugh every time you hear them. Despite them being stereotypical, they shouldn't be taken the wrong way as everyone gets the same treatment, even the British.
(As a side note, Mayall also played 'Lord Flashheart' in 'Blackadder Goes Forth' which is a World War 1 based comedy mini-series featuring other British comedians such as Rowan Atkinson which he is also God-like in and I highly, highly recommend it.)

Despite all this however, especially in the PC version of the game.

First of all, the AI pigs do not move. This was a bug in the original version of the game and wasn't fixed by Infogrames and therefore cannot be fixed now.
The music is way too loud and cannot be lowered in-game. The kick in the teeth is that you can't lower it by tabbing out either because it will lock your PC up. This isn't a big problem if you lower your sound before you start the game however.
The music constantly plays when it's not suppose to. For instance, when you drop in to a game, you are suppose to hear one small song to start the mission but for some reason, the game plays the extended version of the song and then plays another one on top of it. This also happens when the enemy team is taking its go where it will play 2 songs instead of just one, this can become annoying because it will sometimes overlap into your turn too.
The game has a number of graphical glitches if you use the Steam GUI. For instance, you'll get a skeleton pig when the pig runs away and towards you when it switches screens or the text will freak out and become random lines or text. (As far as I'm aware though this doesn't disrupt gameplay.)
One last thing is that this game can crash. I finished a mission once and it just crashed after the mission so make sure you save your team after every campaign mission.

Just a quick look at some technical stuff too.
Load times are non-existent in this game.
The options are basically useless as changing the resolution will do nothing. The sound options seems to work at times.
Controls are not re-mappable.
There is no controller support.
As you might imagine, there are no dedicated servers. The only way to create a game is either portfowarding or using hamachi which I haven't tried so I cannot tell if it'll work. (I will try this and update this later.) They will not add dedicated servers in the future either.
Game runs like a dream. Locks at 25 FPS in-game and that's how it's meant to be played so...


To conclude, you can make up your own mind if you want this game. But at a price of £3.99, this game is absolute steal, to me, the game is absolutely worth it at this price and despite all it's glitches, it's still playable and is a ton of fun.

IN-DEPTH REVIEW! If I have time, I will also write guides on how to beat the game and some extra tips and tricks to help you along the way. The game must be exited via the in-game menu. Do not Alt+Tab or Alt+F4 as this will cause your computer to crash. WARNING: This game does contain stereotypes which may be considered racist. If you are angered by this then I recommend not buying this game because there is a fair bit of it. (To me, they are pretty tame but I'd prefer just to warn you guys. Like, even the British and Americans have the mickey take out of them so...) However, if you don't mind, you're in for a treat. --- Hogs of War Review Written by SMK - 28/07/2015 "WELCOME TO BOOT CAMP!" - Major I.P Grimly Yes, indeed, welcome one and all to this review of my favourite game of all time, Hogs of War. Now, before you leave because you can clearly see this review will be biased, it will not be. There are a lot of problems with the game at the moment and many of them are unfixable. All problems that I have encountered in this version will be noted. Small history lesson first, this game was created by Infogrames who developed the original Alone in the Dark series and also published Robot Arena 2 and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. This game began to be sold in June of 2000 on the PSX and later the PC. The game didn't sell well due it's bad use of advertising on TV. A second game was in the works but was however cancelled due to the takeover of Infogrames by Atari in the mid-2000s and due to a lack of funding for the game. Anyway- The game. There is a small backstory behind this game which kind of develops throughout the game. The initial story is that some pigs have enlisted into the army, Major I.P Grimy (Narrated by Rik Mayall) informs them about the 'Isle of Swill' which they must get to so that they can control the world. To do this, they must take all of 'Saustralisa' which many other nations own. The story develops in each mission before it starts where a written document awaits you by Major Grimly telling you what to do and how it will affect the war. That's about all the story there is until the end when you get a few cut scenes about one of the pigs. (Which I won't spoil.) The story offers an excellent level of challenge which builds up as you progress. There are a few missions that break this mold however but it feels amazing when you beat them finally. In the campaign, you control a squad of pigs which you can upgrade as you complete missions. You get one upgrade point for beating a level with a pig dying but you can get two for beating the level without losing any pigs. You can also get more medals later on by doing specific tasks asked by Grimly and that's why it's important to read the mission details before each mission. A quick section on graphics too... The graphics aren't any good by today's standards as you might expect. However, I believe they've held up rather well and the game is definitely something which shouldn't be shunned at because of it's graphics. Especially in comparison with the PSX version. The game plays in a very similar style to Worms. It's turned based combat in 3D using weapons to kill off enemy pigs from different nations in a WWI setting. The pigs are based off real life nations during World War 1, for instance, Tommy's Trotters represents the UK, Garlic Grunts represent the French and the Sushi Swines represent Japan. You have a turn timer in which to perform your pigs actions. Your pigs have classes and depending on the class you're controlling depends on what weapons the pig will have. I.E, Engineers have TNT and Mines while Paratroopers have Jetpacks and Machine Guns. The pig's health also depends on which class they are. During the time that you're given, you can walk around, get in a tank or a shelter, find some weapons but as you might imagine, the main objective of your turn is to damage or kill a pig which can be done in an amazing amount of creative ways from as simple as smacking them with your Trotter to throwing some Madness Gas their way to make them go insane and start hopping around. The gameplay is solid turn based combat, nothing wrong at all. Extremely satisfying to kill pigs from afar using the Mortar or Airburst. Close combat is still fun as long range, especially as it becomes much more tactical. This is enhanced if you play hotseat multiplayer also. The game is narrated all by the British comedy legend Rik Mayall who is unfortunately no longer with us however his fantastic impressions live on through this game. And this is one of the best parts of the game, hearing Mayall's voice is fantastic. He does brilliant impressions of all nations within the game which will make you laugh every time you hear them. Despite them being stereotypical, they shouldn't be taken the wrong way as everyone gets the same treatment, even the British. (As a side note, Mayall also played 'Lord Flashheart' in 'Blackadder Goes Forth' which is a World War 1 based comedy mini-series featuring other British comedians such as Rowan Atkinson which he is also God-like in and I highly, highly recommend it.) Despite all this however, especially in the PC version of the game. First of all, the AI pigs do not move. This was a bug in the original version of the game and wasn't fixed by Infogrames and therefore cannot be fixed now. The music is way too loud and cannot be lowered in-game. The kick in the teeth is that you can't lower it by tabbing out either because it will lock your PC up. This isn't a big problem if you lower your sound before you start the game however. The music constantly plays when it's not suppose to. For instance, when you drop in to a game, you are suppose to hear one small song to start the mission but for some reason, the game plays the extended version of the song and then plays another one on top of it. This also happens when the enemy team is taking its go where it will play 2 songs instead of just one, this can become annoying because it will sometimes overlap into your turn too. The game has a number of graphical glitches if you use the Steam GUI. For instance, you'll get a skeleton pig when the pig runs away and towards you when it switches screens or the text will freak out and become random lines or text. (As far as I'm aware though this doesn't disrupt gameplay.) One last thing is that this game can crash. I finished a mission once and it just crashed after the mission so make sure you save your team after every campaign mission. Just a quick look at some technical stuff too. Load times are non-existent in this game. The options are basically useless as changing the resolution will do nothing. The sound options seems to work at times. Controls are not re-mappable. There is no controller support. As you might imagine, there are no dedicated servers. The only way to create a game is either portfowarding or using hamachi which I haven't tried so I cannot tell if it'll work. (I will try this and update this later.) They will not add dedicated servers in the future either. Game runs like a dream. Locks at 25 FPS in-game and that's how it's meant to be played so... To conclude, you can make up your own mind if you want this game. But at a price of £3.99, this game is absolute steal, to me, the game is absolutely worth it at this price and despite all it's glitches, it's still playable and is a ton of fun.