Conker Live and Reloaded

This review is only for the single player portion of the game. I haven't had enough time clocked into the Multiplayer yet to give it a score.

When Conker's Bad Fur Day came out on the N64 back in 01, it had the unfortunate luck to come out toward the end of game development. Nintendo had started promoting their next console, the Gamecube and this fact, coupled with the fact that Conker was retailing for an ungodly $70+ made many people miss this game. What a treasure it was to be missed.

It is the first game that meshed the genre of platforming with third person shooting. It also introduced context sensitive situations where, at the push of a button, different things would happen. Both of these have become old hat now, especially the mixing of genres. You can look at Jak and Daxter for the PS2 to find that. On top of revolutions of gameplay, this was the funniest game I have ever played.

And so it's out again on the Xbox, bearing beautiful graphics, re-recorded dialogue and some shifting of difficulties. The graphics in this game are probably some of the best, if not the best, seen in an Xbox game to date. This doesn't surprise me, though, given that Rare creates beautiful games. What did surprise me was how they toned the game down as far as difficulty goes. The original game was hard, downright frustrating in some parts. Now, Rare either tamed down the difficulty (as in the Saving Private Ryan level) or completely cut out a section (as in a sequence involving underwater travel and an electric eel used to power different generators). Both sections were insanely difficult and not forgiving in the least.

Part of the problem of the first game was the pacing at the beginning. Some reviewers here are misinformed when they say the game is not a "shooter" that it is a "platformer." The beginning levels are very platform heavy, true, but give it some time. It isn't until later stages where you are facing zombies and tediz that the gameplay focus switches to a shooter type from platforming. I enjoy both parts but it would have been nice to have a better mixing of the two genres. However, since this is basically a port of that game I'm glad they didn't change it.

Along with awesome graphics, the audio portion of the game has been completely redone. The dialogue has been re-recorded (using the same people), and the music has been redone to perfection. All of this in Dolby Digital surround.

Basically, my biggest recommendation for the single player comes in the form of what is in this game. Where else, for instance, can you fight the operatic Great Mighty Poo, hit a boiler plant in his brass balls, ride a raptor, bite a caveman in the ass with said raptor, lava surf, be a bat, ride in a tank, have bullet time, hit on a cavewoman, jump on a female flower's "petals," shoot zombies, meet Death, get drunk, urinate on Fire Imps and partake in many movie parodies? Honestly, the list can go on and on.

Then, on top of this wonderful single player game, a game I have played over and over on the N64 and will probably play over and over on the Xbox, is the Live portion.

I haven't played the Live portion too much but I think people will be divided on it. Especially the console gamers used to games like Halo 2. There are six classes that range from the bazooka carrying demolitionists to the airplane flying sky jockeys. Each character has their own weapon set complete with upgrades and special abilities. All of this in an arena that is objective based instead of simply death match based. This involves large arenas to play CTF and other games similar to this. But there's strategy involved not only in how to get the flag from point A to point B but also in the classes which opens up a variety of ways to accomplish your tasks.

For instance, do you have your sky jockey transport troops into the thick of things and provide cover fire? Do you have your Sneeker troops sneak in with their up close and personal melee weapons? Or do you rain devastation with your bazookas? There's so many choices for tactical strategy. Conversely, there's a lot of room for things to go sour. I think the quality of the people playing, not only in how they play but also in personality, will determine whether this Live experience will be a fun one or a horrible one.

The Live portion seems to be more in line with PC online games, like Counter Strike, where there's a little more strategy involved. Don't get me wrong, Halo 2 has strategy but if you play Counter Strike the way most Live people play Halo 2, you wouldn't last very long. And I think that same type of strategy will carry over into Conker's Live portion. I could be wrong. I hope it's very successful because Rare put a lot of time and effort into fine tuning it. We'll see.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you online and I hope you pick up this game because the quality inside it shines. Look to Rare to lead the way into Xbox 360. Not only with Conker but in the games they have ready for X360 Launch. Thanks, Rare, for bringing Conker to a new generation of players who probably missed out of the game the first go around.

**Word of Warning for Parents** - Don't let Conker's cute little noggin fool you, this game is for mature audiences only. Kids need not apply with Conker. There is violence, crazy amounts of profanity, sexual references and violence. If you're under the age of 17, might want to stick with something else!

A drunk fowl mouthed squirrel with problems urinating in public. What's not to like right for XBOX gamers? Well. The stardom this crazy squirrel had with his introduction on the N64 turned some heads for sure. Nintendo lost out to Rare by them going to Microsoft, or did they?

The money Microsoft spent to acquire Rareware seemed like a smart move 3 years ago. Or is it? RememberGrabbed by the Ghoulies? Most heard of it, but it was certainly not one of Rare's memorable games and considering it was their first game on the XBOX, people were ready for Conker. Conker has been delayed countless times and it was certainly a hotly anticipated title. I was expecting the delay to do some marvelous things for the franchise and I wanted Rare to redeem themselves. I personally expected this to be the best XBOX game ever as I am a big Conker junkie as I still played Bad Fur Day on the N64. Suffice to say, I was a bit disappointed when I found out the single player is a remake of "Bad Fur Day" from the N64 with XBOX graphics. While newbies to Conker will love this game, you might want to consider passing it buy if you've played Bad Fur Day.

As stated above, the adventure aspect of the game is a virutal remake of Bad Fur Day with better graphics. Certainly points up for gamers who have not experienced it on the dead N64, but what about the people who have? I played this game already and many others have too. Sure the luscious sweeet graphics are amazing and it's certainly one of the better looking XBOX titles I've seen, but I was wanting more, so I guess that's where the multiplayer comes into play. But back to Bad Fur Day. How about some new levels? Or a new adventure all together? Mind you, I like remakes too, but I didn't wait 3 years to play Conker's Bad Fur day all over again. If you never played the game before, expect naughty language, sexual innuendos, and some of the funniest moments in video game history. This is still one of the funniest games ever produced. Just don't let the cuddly looking characters fool you, this is for mature audiences only.

The multiplayer offers the game a little more replay value, but I personally have not played it enough to give it my honest opinion. If you don't have XBOX Live, you can still play the multiplayer solo or with a friend. The game takes control of the other characters and refers to them as dumbots. I've played a few levels, it's basically every man (well squirrel or Teddy) for himself. The objectives are not very clear, and it's clearly more fun playing on live than with the computer controlled teammates and opponents. I can say with confidence the multiplayer is not a Halo killer, but I know some people are diggin the action when they go online. The game supports 16 simultaneous players at once if you go online.

Rare disappoints me. I didn't want to play Bad Fur Day again. Sure, it's a great title, but it's nearly 5 + years old now and I wanted to play something new. But like I said, if you haven't played it, you're going to love it. But those of you that have played it before might want to look at something else to buy. Conker is a great game, but it's remade. Good for some, bad for many.

Warning to Parents: Intense Violence, Gore, Strong Language and Sexual Content

Conker, the most amazing squirrel comes to the Xbox! This game has super graphics, about 50 times better than the origanal on the N64. This game is very fun where you can use shotguns, Sub-Machine Guns, tanks, and more. The multiplayer is decent. In mutiplayer, it's a bit hard to switch weapons, reload, get in vehicles, and move. The single-player is the only good part of the game. In campaign mode, you have to defeat at least 5 bosses,collect a few million $$$, and do many fun missions. The campaign mode is a PLATFOTMER, not a shooter. If you're buying this game for campaign mode, rent it first. There are many puzzles and humorous spoofs such as the terminator and alien. Overall this is a fun game, but if you're easily grossed out and get bored with games with puzzles, don't buy it. Hope this review was helpful.

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