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Review
Neighbors
From Hell 2: On Vacation
Review by Ugur Sener
May 4, 2006 |
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 Woody is the star of a popular reality TV show. But Woody does not
have to publicly compete with other job applicants for an employment
opportunity. He does not have to live on an island deprived from
the conveniences of urban life. Instead, Woody gets to pull pranks
on his obnoxious neighbor for a living.
In the original Neighbors
from Hell, Woody was pitted against the neighbor that had made
the young man’s life miserable. Through
the course of fourteen episodes, Woody pulled numerous pranks on
the ill-mannered, noisy, and mean neighbor to exact sweet revenge.
Having put up with one too many of Woody’s tricks, the neighbor
is now ready for a vacation. Thus he goes on a cruise on a beautiful
ship to travel around the world and visit exotic locations. This
of course presents the perfect opportunity for a new season of Neighbors
from Hell. Unbeknownst to the neighbor, Woody and his camera crew
sneak on board the cruise ship. The prank master is going to make
sure this will be a vacation the neighbor can never forget.
 Neighbors
from Hell on Vacation starts on board the cruise ship
with a tutorial episode. The director of the show kindly teaches
players the delicate art of pulling pranks. Yet unlike the original
game, Woody and the neighbor are not confined to a single location.
The journey on the cruise ship takes Woody and the neighbor to China,
India, and Mexico. The diversity of locations makes for opportunities
to perform a number of unique tricks and keeps the game from becoming
repetitive. Players are expected to keep their eyes open and look
for all the tools they can use to pull the most twisted pranks.
The core game play is
very similar to the original game. In each episode, the neighbor
has a specific routine. He walks around from
one area to the next, performing various actions and engaging in
numerous vacation activities. From waterskiing to wooing one of the
passengers on the cruise ship, the neighbor tries to relax and have
a good time in a number of ways. Of course, it is Woody’s job
to make sure the neighbor has a miserable time instead. Players are
expected to observe the neighbor’s routine and look for ways
to disrupt it. There are numerous tools Woody can utilize to prepare
tricks in each episode. Woody has to find the right tools and use
them on the correct objects to prepare his pranks while hiding from
the neighbor to avoid detection. Continuing his regular activities,
the neighbor never suspects a thing. He eventually comes full circle
on his routine and falls right into the trap.
 In order to complete each
episode, Woody has to find and perform a predetermined number of
tricks. Upon completing the required amount,
players are allowed to leave the episode and move onto the next one.
However, the real challenge comes from finding all the tricks and
performing them in the correct sequence to make the neighbor completely
infuriated. Each time he falls for a trick, the neighbor’s
anger meter rises. If Woody manages to set off another trick before
the neighbor can calm down, he gets angrier. In each episode, setting
up the tricks in the most effective way, Woody can completely fill
up the neighbor’s anger bar, causing the miserable man to throw
a fit. Achieving the maximum fury level gives you extra points and
helps Woody win an award for the episode. It also delivers the sadistic
and decidedly twisted satisfaction of harassing an obnoxious man
to the fullest extent possible.
The actual pranks are
greatly varied and have far more diversity than what was offered
in the first game. For instance, in the very
first episode of the game, Woody can perform a very simple prank
by putting a bar of soap on a puddle of water. When the neighbor
walks over the puddle, he inadvertently steps on the bar of soap
and falls on the floor. There are also far more complex pranks that
require Woody to manipulate a greater number of objects. One of the
episodes that takes place in India features a pool. Woody first has
to find a way to empty the pool. Then he has to use an object he
will obtain by emptying the pool to prepare a prank on a different
part of the location. Of course a pool with no water also makes for
a nice spot to mess with the neighbor. Since the first game was confined
to the neighbor’s house, Woody resorted to performing a number
of tricks more than once throughout the course of his adventure.
Neighbors from Hell on Vacation resolves this problem nicely with
distinct locations and a great variety of tricks.
 An interesting new feature
implemented in Neighbors from Hell on Vacation is the chain tricks.
Woody can manipulate multiple objects
to hurt the neighbor in a number of ways all at once. For instance,
in one of the episodes in China, the neighbor periodically goes on
a small bridge to take a look at the fish swimming in a small pond.
As a simple trick, Woody can find a way to mess with the rails of
the bridge and cause the neighbor to fall in the water. Yet Woody
can take the trick one step further and dump a nasty surprise in
the pond to further torture the unsuspecting neighbor when he lands
in the water. Triggering chain tricks is an excellent way to raise
the neighbor’s anger bar, much to his frustration and your
amusement.
 Some episodes of the original
game featured pets that could detect Woody and alert the neighbor
to the TV star’s presence. In
order to avoid these pe(s)ts, Woody had to sneak around their rooms
and try to prepare his pranks quietly. The sequel does away with
the sneaking, allowing Woody to roam each location at full speed.
However, the developers have come up with a new way to make the TV
star’s life a little harder. A third of the way through the
game, the neighbor’s mother joins the cruise. Having watched
the show, this highly unpleasant woman decides to journey with her
son to help him avoid Woody and offer emotional support. Thus, Woody
is required to avoid detection by two characters during most episodes
of the game. Just like the neighbor, the mother has a routine she
continually repeats in each episode. Her routine is much simpler
than the neighbor’s and she does travels around a much smaller
portion of the level. However, players still have to pay close attention
to her actions and move around carefully. In the first game, Woody
lost the level if he was caught by the neighbor once. In the sequel,
both the neighbor and his mother are capable of catching Woody. Thankfully,
the brave prankster has three lives, giving him an improved chance
of avoiding detection and performing all of his tricks. The inclusion
of the neighbor’s mother is a most welcome additional challenge
and makes for many humorous moments as Woody pulls pranks that embarrass
the neighbor in front of his beloved parent.
Neighbors from Hell
on Vacation also features a small number of
other characters. Olga, the most notable among these extra characters,
is a on the cruise with her son. Irresistibly attracted to Olga,
the neighbor makes numerous attempts to impress the woman. Yet as
much as he likes Olga, the neighbor cannot stand her son. As such,
he continually harasses the poor little boy by teasing him or destroying
his sand castles. Woody of course makes it his personal responsibility
to turn things around. A number of the pranks include making the
neighbor look bad in front of Olga. Woody also finds clever ways
to make sure the neighbor will suffer if he tries to mess with the
innocent child.
 One potentially annoying
feature of Neighbors from Hell is the mini-game featured in each
level. Every episode has an object that requires
special effort to manipulate. For instance, Woody might be straining
to reach high enough to hang a bee hive or dexterously trying to
catch a crab. During these sequences, the game displays a small white
circle with an icon indicating either the tool you are using or the
object you are trying to catch. The icon automatically moves within
the white circle towards a random direction. Your job is to move
the mouse in the opposite direction to keep the object from reaching
the edge of the circle. After a few seconds, the icon starts moving
in a different direction, demanding you to make an adjustment with
the mouse. During this time, the white circle slowly turns green.
When the entire circle is green, Woody completes the action successfully.
If you can’t keep the icon from reaching the edge, the green
coloring recedes and you are required to continue trying for longer.
Since time does not stop as you are busy trying to get past the mini-game,
if you make mistakes, the neighbor or his mother are highly likely
to walk into the area and catch Woody. Thus, players are required
to be very careful and as fast as possible with the mini-game in
each level. Yet despite the best care, you can expect to lose a few
lives while trying to center the icon inside the white circle. While
losing a single life will certainly not keep you from passing the
level, since every second matters in attaining the highest score,
players may find themselves replaying a few levels just because they
took too long with the mini-game. While it is certainly not a great
problem and does not significantly take away from the experience,
Neighbors from Hell on Vacation would have been better off without
the tedious mini-games.
 Overall, Neighbors
from Hell on Vacation is fairly stable and runs smoothly. Shipping on
one CD, the game does not even require the
disk to stay in the drive after completing the installation. As an
added bonus, the original Neighbors from Hell is also included in
the package. Thus, players get to experience a total of twenty eight
episodes full of pranks. However, there were two times during the
game where some of the tricks did not trigger properly. Woody’s
interaction with a hotspot did not take effect, making it impossible
to complete the preparation of the prank. Thankfully, these issues
were in no way frequent and did not hinder the experience. While
they should have been avoided altogether, simply restarting the episode
was sufficient to get past them. Many players may be able to finish
the game without ever encountering the issue.
From an overall presentation
point of view, Neighbors from Hell on Vacation most certainly succeeds
in creating a humorous and whimsical
atmosphere. The deliberately exaggerated cartoon-like graphics are
very fitting for the story and the setting. They create a lighthearted
tone that goes a long way towards making the game enjoyable. The
animations for the various pranks are nicely handled and sufficiently
over-the-top. Anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed a Buggs Bunny
or Tom & Jerry cartoon will most certainly appreciate all the
torture the neighbor endures. The neighbor also has the uncanny cartoon
character ability to instantly recover from any amount of bodily
injury. The only things missing are random anvils falling out of
the sky and ingenious Acme contraptions that never seem to work quite
as expected. While they are not stellar, the sound effects and music
also seem fitting for the game and contribute towards creating the
atmosphere. Neighbors from Hell on Vacation successfully manages
to take horrible pranks and turn them into a series of funny moments.
 Neighbors
from Hell on Vacation makes an excellent sequel to the original game. Finding
all the pranks and attaining the highest anger
levels in each episode will certainly keep players busy for a while.
Adventure game enthusiasts may especially enjoy hunting for the pranks
as the experience is very much comparable to the inventory-based
puzzles in adventure titles. The diversity of locations and the wider
variety of pranks makes the game more interesting and engaging than
the original. The inclusion of the neighbor’s mother adds an
extra challenge and requires players to carefully consider their
strategies. The comical tone can make for a pleasant experience while
Woody’s cleverness and the neighbor’s continual misfortune
can deliver a few laughs. Especially considering that the game is
getting released at a budget retail price and comes with the full
version of the original game, Neighbors from Hell on Vacation is
recommended to players looking for a casual puzzle game with a very
distinct flair.
Final Grade: B
(find out more about our
grading system)
System Requirements:
- A Pentium® compatible
MMX processor with at least 233 MHz
(All Pentium® II-compatible processors or higher have MMX)
- At least 128 megabytes
of RAM
- Windows 95® with Internet Explorer 5.5, Windows 98® SE, Windows
Me®, Windows
2000® or Windows XP®
- A DirectX® 8-compatible video card with at least 8 megabytes
of video RAM
- A DirectX® 8-compatible sound card
- A Windows-compatible
mouse, keyboard and CD-ROM drive
- At least 310 megabytes
(MB) of free space on your hard disk
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