Horgihugh and Friends

 Switch
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Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: HORGIHUGH is a challenging horizontal side-scrolling shooter from Japanese developer PiXEL. Developed by a team of industry veterans, HORGIHUGH mixes old with new to deliver a beautiful retro shoot 'em up experience that sports vibrant pixel graphics, intense boss battles, a unique power-upHORGIHUGH is a challenging horizontal side-scrolling shooter from Japanese developer PiXEL. Developed by a team of industry veterans, HORGIHUGH mixes old with new to deliver a beautiful retro shoot 'em up experience that sports vibrant pixel graphics, intense boss battles, a unique power-up system, unlockable upgrades, and an adorable roster of anthropomorphic characters.… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Hey Poor Player
    Jun 16, 2022
    80
    As someone that was curious about the first iteration of the game, I’m happy to have reviewed Horgihugh and Friends. It’s easily the definitive edition of the game, a charming and challenging Shmup that is well balanced and forgiving to newer players. While boss battles are the highlight, you’ll still have a lot of fun blasting your way through the Gozarean hordes—a game I can easily recommend to fans of the genre.
  2. Video Chums
    Jun 19, 2022
    70
    Although Horgihugh And Friends leaves a shoddy first impression, it eventually becomes quite a good shmup after sticking with it. Unfortunately, soon after it starts getting good, you'll run out of things to see and do. It's still very cute, though.
  3. TouchArcade
    Jul 13, 2022
    70
    Barring the font that makes some aspects of Horgihugh and Friends feel cheap, the only problem I have with the release is the price point. While an expanded version of a game should cost more, the price point for the North American version is a bit too much for it to be an easy recommendation right now. There are so many quality shoot ‘em ups for half of the asking price, that I can’t recommend this in its current state without that big caveat. The retail release being more expensive is understandable given cartridge costs, but this is definitely too expensive for what it is on the eShop.
  4. GameSpew
    Jun 20, 2022
    70
    Horgihugh and Friends isn’t going to set anyone’s world on fire – it’s not spectacular in any way. Despite some issues, though, it’s a solid shoot ’em up, and thanks to Eterday mode the more you put into it the more you get out. Ultimately, it’s the fact that it’s got cute animals as central characters that’s going to draw you to it, and that feelgood factor wins out. With its grim backstory, you’ll be rooting for Hugh and Figaro every step of the way.

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. Ironplushy
    Jul 1, 2022
    5
    Should preface this by saying Aksys did not develop this game, they simply published it. Horgihugh and Friends is a bright, colorful cute 'emShould preface this by saying Aksys did not develop this game, they simply published it. Horgihugh and Friends is a bright, colorful cute 'em up with pleasant music which fails on almost every level of game design. Like with most cute 'em ups, don't let the child-friendly aesthetic fool you, this game is hard, arguably harder on easy mode.
    The first major flaw in gameplay is level design. This game plays like a euro shmup with it's boring enemy patterns where most enemy swarms can be wiped out by simply sitting in the middle of the screen and holding autoshot. Not the most egregious flaw, but it makes replaying levels unpleasant.
    Then there is enemy placement. I feel like the developer purposefully placed enemies just to aggravate you. The biggest problem is this bouncy enemy which appears multiple times every level. This enemy is faster than you and will launch out of the back of the screen, slamming into your ship and killing you. The obvious solution would be to stay in the middle of the screen at all times. Easier said than done. The bouncy enemy will bounce off physical obstacles in the level, making its movements hard to predict, BUT it does not bounce off all obstacles. It bounces off all blocks, but at random it will bounce off of or move through terrain like volcanoes, making its trajectory completely unpredictable. Did I mention it moves faster than you?
    Then you have bonus balloons which raise your score, but these are often beginner traps. In the first level alone there are three instances where going for the balloons will immediately get you killed. The first two, enemies will fly in off screen with no warning and stop over the balloon as you go to pick it up, crashing into your ship and killing you. Then later in the level, there is a swarm of bonus balloons, but this is another beginner's trap. With no warning, a massive rock spawns from underwater, taking the place of the balloons and making them unreachable. You won't fall for these traps on multiple playthroughs, but just punishing people starting out is bad game design.
    Then there is movement....easily the worst movement in a shmup since Habroxia. You don't move particularly slow or too fast, and you can even augment your speed by spending gems, but after level one, your movement is screwed for the rest of the game. I couldn't figure out why I was crashing so much in the game. I haven't died more to crashing in a shmup since R-Type. Then I figured it out. After level 1, the screen moves as you move. This has been done before in games like Lightening Force, but in Horgihugh, the screen moves in the opposite direction! That means if you move up, the screen comes down to meet you and totally throws off your spatial awareness. It's something you'll never truly get past because it happens in every level. You can buy power downs in the shop to slow your ship down, but they probably should have just kept a static screen.
    Lastly, there are the items. I have never seen such a convoluted power-up and item system in a shmup before. There are exactly three ways to get power-ups in game. The professor will fly in from off screen and toss you a randomized one, but if you're out of position, you'll never catch it. Sometimes when you kill an enemy, a power-up container will spawn. Lastly, the game has an in-level shop like in Fantasy Zone. The shop...it took me forever to figure this out and the game never explains it. When you buy a weapon mod, life, shield, or speed augment, you get the power-up. Simple enough. When you buy a rocket or bomb power-up, YOU DON'T GET THE POWER-UP! It's absolutely baffling they made this design choice. When you buy a rocket or bomb power-up, you have to wait for it to spawn later in the level. But don't items spawn naturally in a level? YES! And when the professor gives you an item, you have no idea what it will be until you pick it up, so it might be something you don't even want. The design of the shop is such a baffling decision, I don't know how someone could sit there and think it's a good idea to give players some of the power-ups they bought but not others.
    Lastly, there is easy mode. W.T.F. The mode gives you a second AI ship to fight with you. This may seem like it would make the game easier, but it does not. Constantly, in the heat of gameplay, you will forget which ship is yours because they are identical except for color, causing constant accidental crashes. I stopped trying easy mode after my tenth crash.
    All that combined, this game is immensely frustrating and not fun to play. You'll die many more times to bad design than enemy ships. There could be a fun, little game here if they fixed all these problems, but even then, it's kind of a boring, uninspired shmup. It's so basic, it feels like it was made twenty years ago, not just in aesthetic which is actually charming, but in the archaic design as well.    … Expand
  2. vasteel12000
    Oct 11, 2022
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Another garbage shooter that I'm not going to give a pass to because of cute graphics. The game is brutally difficult. Don't let the animal facade for you. And it's brutally difficult in the wrong way. Enemies will spawn behind you without you even realizing that they're coming and kill you instantly. The score across the top of the screen blocks enemy bullets if you go anywhere near the top of the screen, resulting in... you guessed it death. And something is totally off about the control. I can't put my finger on it, but when you have a option in the shop to slow your ship down.. that should be your first clue that this is a terribly programmed game. And speaking of the shop, there's a fantasy zone style shop in game. However it spawns at the most inopportune times. When you continue a game, And you will be tons of times due to dying.. you don't even have enough money to buy a power up and it'll spawn. It's ridiculous. I'm not sure what they were thinking with this. The graphics are bland flat and plain. No effort at all. This was put out by a developer named Pixel company limited and I'll have to check to see what other garbage they have. Maybe there's a good one out there from them. Who knows.. I'm not sure if any tweaks with a patch can save this game. There's far better shmups out there for the switch. Steer clear of this one unless you want to throw your controller into your TV. Oh and Aksys games just released it. They didn't publish it. They should have really took a good look at this trainwreck of a shooter before they put their name on the box. Just saying. NEXT...… Expand

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