Neighbours from Hell

           Demo from www.neighbours-from-hell.com

                      Reviewed by Sue

Neighbours from Hell is a game out of the same mould as great
cartoon classics like Tom and Jerry as well as magazine cartoons
like Dennis the Menace. You play Woody, the star of a TV show. The
purpose of the show is to upset your nasty neighbour as much as
possible by playing tricks on him. The demo consists of three
introductory episodes and two from Season One of the show.

As you complete each part you get a percentage score according to
how many tricks you played and your rating according to the studio
audience. They whoop and applaud as you succeed in winding up your
neighbour. Each episode has a minimum rating that you must achieve
to move on. There's also a time limit for each one.

Mr Nasty lives in the flat above you. Woody moves round the
building using the mouse. Click on a point on the floor to move
him there or on a door to open it. As you play, Woody will find
items he can use, sometimes combining them to make something to
use against the neighbour.

Here's an example. In the first episode of Season One, there are
four possible tricks you can play. Your neighbour is sitting in an
easy chair watching TV. But from time to time he wanders through
to the kitchen to use his binoculars and spy on the young lady
next door. If Woody searches his flat he can find a whoopee
cushion and a tube of superglue. While the neighbour goes to look
at the girl, Woody can pop the cushion under the seat of the
neighbour's chair. He can also tie the TV aerial in knots! In the
kitchen he can not only superglue the binoculars and give his
neighbour a nasty shock, he can also get an egg from the fridge
and put it into the microwave - what a stink!

Playing each trick gains points and improves Woody's rating.  But
for maximum annoyance, playing the tricks close together so that
your neighbour's anger rating remains at boiling point - shown by
a thermometer - gives you the full 100%. What you have to do is
collect the cushion, egg and superglue. Then go to the kitchen and
do the glue and egg tricks, then dash to the lounge and do the
cushion and aerial while the neighbour is discovering what you've
done in the kitchen.

Of course, your neighbour mustn't see Woody doing any of these
things so you have to time your entry and exit from the rooms with
precision. A thought bubble always shows what your neighbour is
going to do or go to next - chair, window etc - so this will warn
you when to dash for cover. In some episodes Woody must hide when
the neighbour walks through the flat by ducking into a cupboard.
It's all good, not-so-clean fun.

Because of the cartoon style, it's easy to look on the game as not
being about real people. So unlike Ghost Master, where I felt a
bit sorry for the girls in the sorority house, Neighbours from
Hell was just fun.

The full game has 14 episodes over three seasons. The solution is
in this issue but I haven't read through it as this is definitely
a game I'll play eventually, and I don't want to see what happens!

















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