It’s hard to believe, but the legendary “How to Annoy Your Neighbor” was released back in 2003, that is, almost twenty years ago, and the developer studio JoWooD Entertainment has ceased to exist for more than ten years. And although critics rated the project rather coolly, the idea of mocking an annoying virtual neighbor really went to the audience – in the future, the project was transferred to almost all major platforms, collecting, probably, a good box office. But the development studio for some reason decided not to release anything else – after the failed second part, the team literally disappeared from the radar. However, this does not matter, because the original game is still a chic way to spend a few evenings.
Not an arcade, but a strategy where you need to act without delay
I think absolutely everyone knows about the gameplay in How to Get Your Neighbor – you need to harm your opponent in every possible way, create chains of jokes and get points in return (in percentage terms). It sounds simple enough, but in fact, even now a gamer will hardly be able to collect 100% without the help of YouTube and guides. The whole point of the gameplay is that you can mess up in any order, while the locations are multifaceted, there are many factors that affect success or failure, and the player needs to not only think a few steps ahead, but also do it with lightning speed – if you hesitate, then your character will be beaten by a neighbor.
So, in a sense, “How to get a neighbor” is not only an arcade, but also a turn-based strategy – you need to quickly assess the location, roughly draw up an action plan, then walk through the rooms in search of improvised items in order to build an ideal chain of actions and bring your neighbor to 100 %. Some locations are very easy to pass, others had to puzzle over several evenings in a row (there was no Internet with guides then). But when everything worked out, and the coveted maximum mark appeared on the screen, it was impossible to describe the pleasure and satisfaction from what was done in words.
Probably, this was the whole point of “How to get a neighbor” – in the process of passing levels, your nerves will be strained to the limit, you will need to think very actively and act without delay, and then you exhale with a smile on your face and watch from the closet how a character in a T-shirt falls, breaks something, or is nervous for one of a hundred other reasons. And at the time of release, the list of tricks and dirty tricks was so wide that even now you are surprised at the good imagination of the developers – from time to time you just want to go into the game in order to pull off another prank, remembering the days of computer clubs and games on CDs.
Now they don’t do that anymore. Don’t even try
At one time, “How to Get Your Neighbor” literally flooded computer clubs and home PCs (who already had them then), but now it would never occur to any of the large or even indie developers to create such a thing. In the modern market, video games for “adult” platforms in the Arcade genre have practically ceased to exist – only occasionally small studios release something like this as a debut, but, naturally, the quality is lame on both legs. And you, most likely, will not immediately remember a single arcade game on PC or consoles. Accordingly, it will be extremely difficult to monetize a game in a dead genre and no one will risk such an adventure – now it is extremely expensive to create even such a simple-looking game.
And the idea itself is so unique and inimitable that it won’t be possible to successfully copy it – many have tried for twenty years, but even the most avid gamers simply have not heard about 99% of clones (we’ll talk about them in the next paragraph). It’s like with the painting “Mona Lisa” – you can draw similar portraits as many times as you like, but creating the second such masterpiece will not work. And although the comparison is certainly very far-fetched, no one really could rethink the unique idea in their own way, satisfying the needs of the audience.
The second part as an unsuccessful addon to the first
A couple of years after the successful release of the original How to Annoy Your Neighbor, the developers decided to try their luck a second time by introducing the world to How to Annoy Your Neighbor 2: Hell Holidays. It was a direct plot continuation of the first part with new locations, but the gameplay has not changed one iota. Accordingly, the audience did not experience much joy from the launch of the second part – the fans were simply fed up with the same jokes of a neighbor and related characters, gamers wanted something fresh and unknown. Unfortunately, the developers did not think about it, so the world will never receive the official third part.
Clones that shouldn’t have been
Although I say that no one has been able to copy the original idea, it should be noted that many have actively tried. For example, the developers from VZlab quite quickly released How to Get Your Neighbor 3: In the Office, which was actually just a reworked copy of the first part of the series – and, of course, this game had nothing to do with the franchise. The graphics of the clone was simply disgusting, the entire gameplay was copied literally under the ruler, but what was the point in this is not entirely clear. Why would a gamer play the same thing, only with a flawed picture? But, as it turned out, the developers did not stop there and even released the second part – in it they copied the idea and gameplay of the second game in the series, replacing the cruise ship with a recreation center.
But if it seems to you that it is the screenshots of the games described above that should appear in the search engine results for the query “cringe”, then it’s worth taking a quick look at the game How to Get Your Neighbor: From Russia with Love. Here the plot was based on the fact that a specially trained soldier was sent to spoil the nerves of an American millionaire – the gameplay is absolutely the same as in the original game (without innovations, interesting mechanics, or at least unusual ways to piss off a character), only the graphics are much worse, there were many bugs and, of course, the concept itself raises a lot of questions. But this, unfortunately, is not the brightest representative of the clones of that time.
The very bottom, it seems to me, is the game “How to Get Your Neighbor: Oligarch Vacation”, which was released in 2011 by the authors of “From Russia with Love” – they completely redrawn the graphics, making it even simpler and more unpleasant, and most of the gameplay chips are gone to no. Probably, the plot about how an ordinary hard worker ruins the life of a rich oligarch by burning his jeep or preventing him from building a huge house could appeal to the audience of gamers, but apparently not fate – after the release of this fake, the developers no longer took up copying the franchise. And, of course, thank God.
Graphics do not spoil the mood if there is a soul
Of course, many gamers now have a real rejection at the sight of video games with bad graphics, which in the case of older releases, of course, is a standard story. But when it comes to unshakable classics, you simply don’t want to pay attention to an outdated picture – who needs photorealistic models, textures and effects if a neighbor brings a lot of energy and positive emotions when falling on a banana peel? Take a little time, download and go through at least a couple of levels – you definitely won’t regret it, even if you have never spoiled your virtual neighbor’s nerves due to age.
Source: Trash Box
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
