Not exactly Love Thy Neighbour..
As Woody, the vengeful star protagonist of Neighbours back From Hell, you will prank your way through Seasons 1 and 2 of the fictitious, but aptly named TV show. Take the mischief from your nasty neighbour’s flat all the way to China, India, and Mexico where you will make sure his holiday is a living hell. While you’re at it, why limit targeting your antics at your neighbour, when you can involve his mother and fellow travellers?
Neighbours back From Hell is a remake of two PC games in which you play as Woody who is looking to get even with his gross neighbour by breaking into his house and setting up pranks such as putting an egg in the microwave, cutting the legs off his armchair, placing whoopee cushions and so on. The levels are set out in a 2D perspective with doors leading to upstairs and downstairs. The Neighbour is always going around doing the same tasks, so you have to wait for your opportunity to move in and set the prank for him or risk getting caught.
The good news is that each level gives Woody 3 lives, so if you get caught you have a few more chances to redeem yourself. As the levels go on, you’ll get more pranks to do in his house but also his holiday homes as well, which adds to the fun but also the difficulty. It’s a decent game overall and it’s fun to work out the best strategy so you can pull off the pranks successfully for the best rating.
If there’s criticisms to be had, its that the game doesn’t exactly explain how to pull off the pranks and instead makes you collect items and try and combine them with others to try and work out what is a compatible prank. It’s fine when you know how, but like I said it doesn’t really help you in figuring out exactly what you need to do.
The visuals are simplistic, but charming with its slapstick nature and tone. It kind of reminds me of something from Wallace and Gromit with the characters, which I assume was what they were going for originally. Load times are nice and short and the framerate holds up well overall.
The Verdict
Neighbours back From Hell is a surprise game, one that has plenty of fun attached regardless of if you’ve played the originals or not. While it would have been nice to have clearer instructions on the pranks, it’s still an enjoyable experience overall.