Star Hogs

With all the press and hype that surrounded Star Hogs I wasn't sure if the game could live up to the ridiculous expectations that I had for it. What arrived in my hands was a game that met all my expectations and exceeded them.

Star Hogs works alot like a Worms game, you take turns firing weapons at each other until one of you runs out of hit points and explodes. The ground around your battleships can sometimes yield bonuses which add to the strategy of the game. Gameplay is easy and intuitive and I was shooting fairly accurately after only fifteen minutes with the game.

Although the color selection was limited the possibilities for ship builds (and even to some degree ship types) is endless. I found myself creating a juggernaught, but could easily see where a variety of field strategies could be augmented by the different weapons, hull options, and technology options available on each ship as well as the types of slots each had.

The tutorial level had a ship that was maybe a little tougher than I expected, but as this was the tutorial level I wasn't really worried about losing. Campaign mode is accompanied by a free play mode and an online play segment. I couldn't find any online games so I didn't get a chance to put online play to the test.

Graphics and presentation are fantastic for an iPhone game, they were as good as if not better than what I would expect to see on a low-mid PC game or a Wii game. The visual effects were entrancing enough to get me somewhat emotionally involved in a turn based game, something many other games have failed to do. The campaign mode doesn't have any sort of story, you're just on your quest to get bigger and better ships for crushing your opponents, but thats what I enjoyed about the game.

I was a little annoyed to find out that accepting a phone call or replying to a text message would cripple the game, there was no place saver feature in the midst of battle. Because of this I often had to restart a battle which I was previously winning. This is perhaps my biggest complaint as I like to take my time when playing through a round of battle. Worse still, in multi ship games, this time is multiplied.

Overall Star Hogs has met most of the hype that I found associated with the game. It has solid game play, great graphics, and is alot of fun. Features like online play and free play only add to the replay value of the game. Strategic elements like ship building and varied methods for achieving the same destructive goal only enhance the need to come back and play again and again.

If you enjoy worms, but are looking for something with a little more depth, I don't think you could be wrong in purchasing Star Hogs.

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