If you remember making turn-based bacon with war torn pigs in the Playstation€™s twilight years, then you probably enjoyed Hogs of War. This tactical third-person war sim was a charming game with outstanding gameplay, but perhaps failed to achieve the popularity and success it deserves. Hogs of War was released for the original Playstation and the PC in mid-2000, after the Playstation 2 had been released but before most people had upgraded to Sony€™s newest machine, the cash-money needed was just too much. I first encountered Hogs€™ on a demo disc for the Official Playstation Magazine, and it struck me as something special from the first time I played it, mainly because I love bacon and shooting stuff.

I later bought the full game with its stand out cover art featuring a helmet with the words €œBorn to Grill€-one of the many pig references throughout the game. This one provided me with hours and hours of single and multiplayer fun. The gameplay was essentially a copy of the popular Worms format but reimagined in 3D, three years before Team17 took their series down that path with Worms 3D. Developers at Infogames knowingly decided to try and cash in on Worms€™ tried and tested gameplay, but they also added a lot, not only successfully applying the format to a 3D environment but also adding their own humor and depth that meant the game didn€™t just rest on it€™s spiritual older brother. Hogs or War had great charm and humour, everything from the voiceover work to the retro-style cut scenes. Set in a World War I style world in which anthropomorphised pigs battle it out for control of €œSwill€ on pig shaped islands known as Saustralasia in the South Pigcific Ocean (yes there are lots and lots of pig based puns).

Gameplay is comparable to the Worms games, but Hogs Of War comes completely in 3D. There are many different types of weapons to choose from, as well as.

The game does a good job commenting on the absurdities of war, all with the aid of British comedy master Rik Mayall, who provides the voiceover and many of the games pig voices. Created in Sheffield, the game has a very British feel and isn€™t afraid of using British humour, something modern games appear to be afraid of, even though many, many of todays most popular titles are produced in the UK. The 3D environments work well with decent draw distance for the time, often bright and with a weather effect to suit each stage, new maps brought new challengers, terrains and joys.

The maps where well thought through and pig placement worked well, but despite this, the environments were bare by todays standards and usually quite bland. The single player provided a lot of fun with a satisfying level-up system based upon medals and classes for your pigs. It was hard not to become attached to your porky pals as you narrowly made it through each battle.

Losing one of your comrades could be hard, but they were only completely dead if you let more than two perish. Multiplayer is where the game shined, you could play with up to four friends, taking turns to blast the enemy swine. The turn based element added to the tense battles, in which a few good moves meant disaster for you or your opponent. The game was nearly revived in 2008, when Infogames announced Hogs of War 2 to be released for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Playstation 2 and PC.

This idea ended in heartbreak for fans as the game was cancelled, mainly due to financial issues from Infogames seeing the company eventually absorbed into Atari. So there is little hope for those who want to see pigs fight to the death again, but maybe someone could start an internet petition or something, as that's how things get done nowadays.

Playstation Developer:InfogramesPublisher:InfogramesPrice: £34.99

Introduction

In Hogs of War, there's one single rule of thumb - Swill is everything! He who controls the swill, controls the universe.

I also saw the dangerous and damaged soul inside—so much like my own. I needed him as surely as I needed my heart to beat.No one knows how much he risked for me. I was drawn to it. Entwined with you epub. How much I’d been threatened, or just how dark and desperate the shadow of our pasts would become.Entwined by our secrets, we tried to defy the odds.

Scientists have uncovered a new source of swill on the island of Saustralasia located in the South Pigsific. Don't worry, the 'pigisms' get worse! There are 25 regions in Saustralasia, all laden with wonderful swill.

There's one small snag to all this - there are various continents hell bent on ensuring the swill becomes their own. The only solution therefore is war.

You get to choose which continent you will represent. Are you going to be British and take on the leadership of Tommy's Trotters? Or perhaps you feel a German side to your nature, and want to lead the Sow-A-Krauts to victory.

Choose your team. There's a war to be won.

Pork Scratchings

Let's put this simply; Hogs of War is hilarious. Even reading the manual has you laughing to yourself. The humour continues with an excellent intro, showing the British sergeant de-briefing some hapless new recruits. Rik Mayall (star of such fine pillars of British comedy as The Young Ones and, er, Bottom) provides the voiceover for not only the video, but all the voices throughout the game.

Then it's down to the business of choosing which side you're going to represent. You also get to name the team of heroes, and the piglets themselves. This is great, as you can name your pigs after family members, much to their chagrin!

Hogs of War can be played either in single player mode versus the computer, or up to four players can take it in turns in multiplayer. I recommend the latter option highly. The amount of arguments this game produces is funny in itself.

Before you begin the missions, you can opt to play through the training level. The sergeant bellows his instructions to you, and your little obedient piglet does the rest. The unsteady handling of the sniper rifle is one amusing moment you'll discover.

The game is a 3D rendered turn based strategy. Each team takes it in turns to mount attacks upon one another. Once one pig has made his move, the enemy then gets a chance. This continues on until all pigs have made a move, returning to your first pig to begin over again.

Once all the pigs on either side have been eliminated, the mission is complete. Success means progression to the next mission, failure means you'll have to start all over again.

Slaughterhouse

Playing Hogs of War couldn't be simpler. When it's your turn, you get a certain amount of time to take your move. Your allotted time is more than enough in the first missions, but as you get further into the game you get less time to make decisions. Panic moves can be quite fatal! The enemy then gets the same amount of time to carry out their move.

With your pig selected, you simply walk around the landscape, looking for enemy pigs to slaughter. Standing still will provide indicators as to where the enemy and your teammates are situated, along with how much health they have. Once you have chosen your target, select the weapon you'd like to use and let rip.

Normal hand weapons rely on you pointing in exactly the right direction. A more accurate option is the use of the rifle and sniper rifle with their sights and zoomable sights respectively. That said, rifles are only really useful for finishing off a weakened enemy.

For more damage and satisfaction, use of the bazookas, mortars and hand-grenades comes highly recommended. In the top right corner of the screen is an angle slide. This can be moved up or down to decide what trajectory the bombs are going to take.

. Advanced flight model based on blade element theory. Objects according to their weight distribution, construction, and/or suspension (in the case of vehicles). Soft-body physics.

Later on you will be able to mount vehicles, disguise yourself, order air-attacks and much much more. It's this variety as you move through the missions, that keeps the game fresh from start to finish.

When a mission is completed, you will receive a certain amount of promotion points. These can be used against any pig, to promote their rank. When you first promote a pig, you can select what class of war-pig they are going to be. The classes are Heavy Weapons, Medic, Espionage and Engineer. All have their uses, so make sure you have one of each in your squad.

Graphics and Sound

The 3D landscapes of the game are all very nicely done, with your polygon-based pigs looking really cute and prone to disaster! The expressions on their faces are good too, with a frightened pig looking just that.

There are a lot of nice little touches in there too. In a cold environment, steam puffs from their snouts and you can see them huddling to keep themselves warm. If pigs of the same team get near each other, they will salute. If you get close enough to an enemy pig, they will cower, appealing to your better nature no doubt.

There's not a vast amount of landscape detail; a few trees, small buildings, bridges, but nothing too complex. The static objects are all well designed though. The result is that the game never becomes too cluttered, and hence runs smoothly with only the occasional dip in frame-rate.

Sound has to be Hogs of War's biggest selling point. Rik Mayall's various character voices are excellently done. From the rather camp sounding French pigs, to the business like Russians, all providing great amusement. The little bursts of the Sergeant radioing in are a nice touch.

What's impressive is the variety of one-liners, accents and dramatic death throes that pop up throughout the game. Check out the Geordie pig in the British team, and also the French taunts. If you don't laugh, then you must be dead already!

The music within the game is very good too. The 'Monty Python' theme plays at the main menu, and you will hear little excerpts from this in places during the game too. Tunes that suit the nationality of the pigs play too. Sombre tunes based around minor chords for the Russians, and over-the-top Chinese style for the Sushi Swines team!

Conclusion

I freely admit that on a number of occasions my sides were aching with laughter when playing this game. It's been a long time since a game has done that. The last one would have to be Cannon Fodder. In fact, Hogs of War reminds me a lot of that old Commodore Amiga classic.

Like Cannon Fodder, you find yourself becoming particularly attached to one or more of your team members. This member is always the one that gets the promotions and merits, but at the expense of his comrades. When that character dies, you are stupidly torn between reloading in the saved game, or carrying on without them!

It's great when a game has you making these 'really important' decisions. I can heartily recommend this game to anyone. It even had my family in hysterics too, watching me play!

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