At first glance at Hellhog you may wonder why we needed another space shooter. The game is good enough looking. However, the games above average graphics are not at all the showcase on this one. Hellhog XP introduces a slightly different take on the space shooter genre. In this game, you don't really go anywhere. Instead, you control a bot. This bot is a small ship that moves about your ship. Your ship is unable to move at all, but the bot can move anywhere it wants as long as it stays a specific specified distance from the ship.

At first the set-up can be tricky to control and will cause a bit of frustration, but the intrigue that the concept causes will keep you playing on. Using the keyboard you move your bot around the ship, and the mouse controls targeting, weapon selection and weapon firing. The game is played in waves with enemies approaching the ship from all directions and blasting away at you. Different weapons have different loading times, speed and strength, but most all of them seem inadequate to the task, so good targeting is very key to survival.

The music and graphics of Hellhog are above well above average, and the overall feel of the environment and theme of game is well displayed visually.. The game play is fun and interesting and I believe that most people who check this one out will be pleasantly pleased. A word of warning on the website though. It is a nightmare to use as the use of frames has been overdone and wrongly so making it impossible to easily read the information on the website for those who have lower resolution monitors.

By: Russell Carroll
Posted: Thursday September 18, 2003