H.U.R.L.

About

H.U.R.L. is a first-person shooter designed for kids that swaps guns for soap and explosions for farts. You play as a clean-underwear-hunting hero battling Bob the Slob’s gang of trash-throwing animals like giant frogs and cats. Each level tasks you with collecting litter, banana peels, soda cans, apple cores, to trade at vending machines for weapons like water balloons and deodorant. Get hit too much and the game declares “YOU’VE BEEN SLOBBED!” forcing you to restart. Progress can be saved to keep your collected trash and weapons, but expect respawns if you fail. The goal isn’t just to survive but to clean up the Slob Zone’s increasingly disgusting neighborhoods while dodging smelly projectiles. The game stands out for its absurd potty humor and retro charm, blending early 90s FPS mechanics with a nonviolent twist. Its focus on cleanup over combat was rare for the genre, though clunky enemy AI and occasional level-blocking bugs frustrated some players. Released in 1995, it joined the wave of family-friendly shooters after Doom but carved its own niche with surreal visuals and a storyline about stolen underwear. The final level’s diaper-throwing boss and lack of bathrooms add to the game’s uniquely gross but lighthearted vibe.

Storyline

The game takes place in an area called The Slob Zone which is under the control of Bob the Slob, who controls the Hardcore Union of Radical Litterbugs, a legion of oversized creatures such as frogs and cats who give the game its name. The game provides a storyline stating that Bob the Slob has stolen the world's supply of clean underwear and it is up to the player to get it back. The player finds himself navigating through various neighborhoods from which the human population seems to have been chased out, and which are now occupied by the aforementioned sloppy animals, most of whom are armed with trash and ready to dump it on any player attempting to break in and clean up. The hero's role involves not only staying clean while navigating through the game's ten increasingly messy levels, but also cleaning up after the animals, who have dirtied the landscape with waste items such as banana peels, empty soda bottles, and apple cores. As the player gathers up this rubbish, he will be on the lookout for vending machines where it can be dropped off and traded for weapons: soap, water balloons, and deodorant, which he can use to fight back against the animals as they hurl their trash at him. If an animal is hit too many times, it will stop attacking and usually allow the player to pass. If the player is hit too many times, the screen displays the message "YOU'VE BEEN SLOBBED!" and the level starts over again with all the trash and animals respawned, and no weapons or trash in the hands of the player. However, the game can be saved at any point, and restoring a saved game will also restore the weapons and money the player had when it was saved.