Get ready for some laughs with this fun yet challenging game. Neighbours back From Hell (from Handy Games and Massive Miniteam) silently dropped on to the Stadia store on Thursday at £12.99/$14.99 USD/$17.99 CAD and we’ve given it a review.
Filling Missing Gaps
Stadia may not bring as many games as other services to the platform each week. But they do an excellent job of curating the games that do come. And this was very apparent on Thursday when Neighbours back From Hell arrived on the same day as The Forgotten City. These are two completely different games to please two very different styles of gamers. The Forgotten City is an epic, action adventure game – rich in story and detail. And, Neighbours back From Hell is a comic style casual strategy game. There is no other game on Stadia that is similar to Neighbours back From Hell. For that, and the ongoing efforts to curate the best catalog of games, I thank the Stadia team.
Your Mission Should You Choose To Accept It
Neighbours back From Hell is a nice mix of strategy and stealth. The premise here is simple; sneak around your neighbours’ house placing traps and tricks without being seen. If you are seen by your neighbour, he will mercilessly beat you to within an inch of your life! He will do this 3 times, though, before it is game over.
You can enter into a camera mode which pans around the house following your neighbour. This is useful for learning his routine (this differs on each level) which he will stick to with rigidity. Camera mode is also for watching the action unfold when he walks into the trap. His angered expressions are worthy of a chuckle.
As easy as this might sound, and it definitely is to begin with, stick with it. As the levels progress the challenges become more difficult – with less time to set each trap and traps needing to be set in a specific sequence in order to complete them. It can get quite challenging!
Laughs For All The Family
The traps and tricks that you play in the game might not sound like much as you read this (whoopie cushions, eggs in a microwave, pen on a photo) but it is surprisingly fun to watch unfold. During the first few moments of the game, I found myself actually laughing out loud to myself. My 6 year old son also had the same reaction, which probably says more about me than him. But, we both thoroughly enjoyed playing this.
Although the game is suitable for all ages, you may want to play with little ones. The depictions of the items that you find aren’t always clear. You may need to read them out or explain what a laxative is in order to help them understand what to do with it. It is enjoyable to see them think about where to put it to make the neighbour hopping mad, though.
Simple and Repetitive.
Although each level differs from the last, there are some items that appear more than once and the thing you do with them is exactly the same. Be prepared to block toilets with toilet paper over and over again.
It would be nice if the game exercised a little more imagination and had more than one way to use each item. As it is, it’s quite limited. A lot of children today may have different ideas for what to do with the mousetrap, but the game won’t allow for it.
Let’s go round again!
There is a small element of replayability with this game as there are high scores and a timer. Which is good given that there are 27 levels to the game – all of which can be completed in just a few minutes. It’s fun to go back and see if you can beat your own score or complete the level in a faster time.
Your score for each level is based on the number of challenges completed, whether or not you got caught and how many of the set challenges you completed. Whilst you can escape the house after reaching the required number of pranks, there are always bonus ones to reach for. As mentioned earlier, sometimes the tricks need to be set out in sequence. So you won’t always be able to complete all tricks on the first play through. [HINT] For example, if the neighbour doesn’t go to the bathroom, you have to find a way to make him discover your next trap.
Play Neighbour back From Hell on Stadia now
Neighbours back From Hell
Summary
Neighbours back From Hell is a lot of fun. It would have been great to see more challenges and a global leader board here. The mediocre graphics and short playtime may put some people off. But, it’s still easy to recommend given the low price and easy controls.
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