Neighbours from Hell (2003)
Neighbours from Hell 2: On Vacation (2006)
Neighbours Back from Hell (2020)
All these games are so similar it's not often I directly point stuff out. On both Steam and GOG, when you buy Neighbours Back from Hell. You get also get Neighbours from Hell Compilation. Virtually the original two games is already a great idea. The main goal is constantly pranking your neighbor. Yes an entire game you gotta be a real prick to your neighbor by doing a lot of pranks.
Half of Neighbours Back from Hell as well as Neighbours from Hell 1 takes entirely inside your neighbor's house. You sneak inside to quickly move in between rooms to collect stuff. Officially this franchise labeled as strategy, puzzle game series. To me, it's more of a comical stealth game. Not in the same way UnMetal was for the stealth genre either.
You gotta sneak around setting up planks while not getting caught. If you get caught three times you'll lose. The other half of Neighbors Back from Hell and Neighbours from Hell 2 is a different ball game. It's true in the original Neighbours from Hell you also had to sneak around pets. The only decent "pet" if you wanna call em that is a poor pig that gets eaten in another level.
In later levels you get to explore more of your neighbor's house. This game doesn't hold back on delivering the punishment to em. There's some slap stick humor to a degree. Neighbours from Hell 2 has more characters with majority of them simply being within levels not even given names. The only newer character named is Olga whose your neighbor's love interest.
Around half way through Neighbours from Hell 2, you also gotta avoid your neighbor's mom. She only cameo through a picture. In some levels you used a marker on the picture as a prank. She also accompanied by her dog. In the original intro to the first game these characters debut. Your neighbor gets a dog and a parrot that acts like an alert system.
You better get out of that room before your neighbor shows up. What makes Neighbors from Hell 2 stand out more. Some levels takes place on cruises. The rest of them are in a few countries. Almost going around the world with this game. I also felt Neighbours from Hell 2 was notably funnier.
At times it's a more challenging game. Yes they do have some disgusting jokes as well. I felt most jokes landed I did laugh a lot. They give you just enough to work with. Some levels mostly in Neighbours from Hell 2 has a few interesting hiding spots. This sequel felt notably more creative with the concept.
It's bad enough Woody constantly pranking the neighbor at home. It's also being done live for an television show. We go from his neighbor's house to a few countries. At least you be willing if this guy deserve all of this. Very quickly if you watch the intro to the first game. He really does deserve Woody doing all of this to him.
You actually wanna root for Woody to get even with his neighbor. I felt more levels in Neighbours from Hell 2 were more notably different. You really can't repeat a lot of the same pranks. You could to a degree in Neighbours from Hell 1. I must give respect to the sequel being more ambitious.
It's so satisfying to pull off some pranks. Especially when you gotta wait for em to happen. Sometimes you could pull a few close by pranks. Almost like you're prank combo your neighbor. You really gotta pay attention to your neighbor then later his mom's routes. It's so easy to be stuck unable to avoid detection especially in the later levels.
Now I'm going to start comparing the versions. I must give a slight edge to Neighbours Back from Hell with it's controller support. Although it's still a small thing since it's originally an point & click game. Not like the interactive story games I played in the past. It still has some similar mechanics in terms of movement as well as picking & using items.
I gotta be honest I actually prefer the older versions more. I felt audio wise, those had better usage of audio. It's a little weird a particular character. In this case an director named Joe isn't even in the newer version at all. He also would do a few tutorial sections in the original games. Basically all of that is missing in the newer version.
Joe never shows up directly within the levels. You also see a dialogue screen with a picture of him. Which is notably different between the original two games. Even a few jokes are missing because of his removal from the games. It's hard for me to argue the newer version being the definitive version.
Another issue I sorta had is level selection screen. It's not bad in Neighbours Back from Hell. I just felt after playing Neighbours from Hell 2, it's such a huge missed opportunity. Let me explain, they mostly reused the level selection layout from Neighbours from Hell 1. Which does include levels from Neighbours from Hell 2.
Now it would've been awesome if they would've done a more ambitious level selection for the first game. Then give us this awesome recreation of the level selection screen from the second game. Both of those would've really made the newer version popped. Another weird change is when you are ready to finish levels from Neighbours from Hell 2 in the newer version.
You gotta find the finish flag area. Not get detected on your way to the flag. Then you can select the flag to end the level. Of course, it will depend on how many pranks you'll pulled off. You don't get anything if you level before you have enough to move on. In all games if you pull off every prank you instantly win.
Update: I recently realize since I wrote this. You pause the game you have finish the level option. Which means you don't have to go to the exits to finish em. I felt a little stupid not noticing that in the entire run of Neighbours Back from Hell.
I know some of you are wondering why am I complaining about this right? It's quite simple originally in Neighbours from Hell 2. When you done enough pranks, you simply click on the check mark to finish an level. Now notice how much easier that made everything? This is very helpful for the later levels dealing with two people you gotta avoid.
It's no secret Neighbours from Hell 2 is hands down my favorite game in the series. I will say in the other aspects of the newer version, it's quite faithful. The newer version is kinda impressive with what it does bring to the table. Originally a few levels from the first Neighbours from Hell weren't in the game. It's very accurate to how those games were.
They later had been added in since then. Some early GOG reviews weren't happy about that. The controls are quite easy to memorize. I also like some items has multiple usage within the games. Neighbours from Hell 2 has these item mini games. It does variety which object to use. Just like required objects to do another particular action.
You gotta keep within the circle or it'll rapidly go down. This process is made much easier in the newer version. Neighbours Back from Hell also added another item mini game mechanic. You gotta match up the only item that appears in all three slots. Doing so will give you that item. It's kinda rng based meaning you could get lucky to solve it fast or take longer instead.
After a while I didn't mind this mechanic much. It did make the game play a little trickier than it originally was. Don't expect Conker: Live & Reloaded changes in this. The achievements/trophies in the newer version is very straight forward. I'll be more direct just play through the game that's it. Sometimes something so simple leaves such an impact.
It's more straight forward than I expected. At the same time, you will be having so much fun pranking your neighbor. You don't really mind this lineup at all. It kinda helps I can directly focus more on playing the game rather than going out my way to do a few stupid things. I also liked doors or similar spots are like moving up or down the screen.
It's kinda like you simply appear above or below including the exact spot on screen those floors. At first it's a little confusing you quickly adapt to how they work. This is almost like how people wanted Home Alone video games to be like. I actually grew up with Home Alone on Sega Genesis myself.
In that Home Alone, you are setting up traps within five houses against the Wet Bandits. This franchise largely similar to that except you aren't defending your house as well as your neighbor's houses. No this is you secretly going to war with your neighbor by pulling off pranks. Now throw in further doing this while your neighbor on quite an vacation.
Look I never said to take this game series seriously. In fact, I highly imply to laugh out loud with em. These games were designed to go wild with pranks. Which are rather creative as these games goes on. The levels aren't take longer than necessary. Unless you really aren't sure what else you could do to prank em.
Obviously there's a couple television shows that's all about pranking people. A theme that likely continue on for years to come. I never expected a game series with that concept. Playing these actually reminded me of the classic cartoons I grew up watching. Personally, I really couldn't recommend this series more even if I tried.
You get to explore around locations that are rather amazing as well as beautiful in Neighbours from Hell 2. It's exactly how you want a game sequel should be. They literately gave you more than ever before. Honestly, it's mind blowing I didn't even knew these games existed. Until early on planning out my Funny Christmas purchase true story.
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