Conker's Bad Fur Day

Summary

Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-4
Rumble Pak: Yes
Controller Pak: No
Expansion Pak: Not used

Review

As Gamesmark regulars will be aware from our earlier feature on this game, Conker's Bad Fur Day is an adult-orientated platform game from Rare, creators of rather good games such as Perfect Dark. Featuring the cute and cuddly red squirrel Conker, Bad Fur Day contains all manner of rude, crude and lewd subject matter, with plenty of gratuitous violence and foul language. Such content would ordinarily be used by developers to conceal an otherwise-poor game: is this true of Rare's latest effort?


Gameplay: The gameplay in Conker is both similar and different to Rare's previous platform efforts. Similar, in that you control a protagonist with varied jumping and attacking skills whose job it is to complete tasks set in a large 3D world; different, in that the collection aspect of all Rare's earlier platformers is greatly toned down. In fact, just about the only thing that Conker can collect is cold, hard cash: the reward for completing the game's many challenges. This makes the gameplay much more focused, and it is a gigantic improvement on the often-ridiculous collecting which was seen in Donkey Kong 64. The money is used to pay tolls and purchase things from occasional characters, and in that you usually need to have collected all the cash in an area before progressing to newer places, it makes the gameplay rather linear. I don't think this is a particularly bad thing, though, since it means you're less likely to find yourself in a position where you have no idea where to go next, although it does tend to slightly restrict the feeling of freedom.

The gameplay itself is both simple and complex. Conker has only a handful of basic skills, such as the obligatory high jump and hover move, while his sole basic attack consists of swinging a frying pan. However, Conker can gain access to a far larger range of abilities by standing on one of the many 'context sensitive pads' spread throughout the game: standing on one of these and pressing the B button grants Conker a temporary skill while he is on the pad, ranging from a catapult to some hangover-curing pills. There is thus a great variety in the game, and you really never know what to expect next.

The 'mature' content in the game (which would actually be more accurately called 'immature content') is actually rather well-done, and is definitely not a cover-up for a poor game. Some of the jokes in the game are downright hilarious, even if they are pure toilet-humour (often literally so). Besides the amusing parts of the game, Conker also features a huge number of movie spoofs and homages, from Dracula and Jaws to The Matrix and Saving Private Ryan. Many of these spoofs are great fun to play, besides being perfect parodies. Suffice to say that the mature themes don't spoil the game, and can be enjoyable - as long as you aren't easily offended.

Overall, Conker plays really well, and is highly satisfying. The one problem - often a major one - is the poor camera positioning found in the game. The camera is a nightmare to control using the C buttons, refusing to swing around properly, and the default camera positions often make it really hard to see around you properly. You're often forced to move in what you hope is the right direction through lack of vision, and sometimes this can result in death or injury to Conker. In that the camera in games such as Banjo-Tooie was so good, it's a shame that Rare didn't do the same good work in Conker. However, this is the only serious grievance that can be found with the gameplay, despite being a major annoyance at times.


Challenge: I'll get the one main problem with Conker out of the way right now: the game is too short. The first time through, you won't really notice this, due mainly to the sheer variety and downright fun of playing it, but if you replay the one-player mode you'll become aware that it's certainly much shorter than other Rare platformers, and there aren't that many levels. Even so, it's tremendous while it lasts.

In terms of game difficulty, though, Conker is a fairly challenging game, and some sections are surprisingly difficult. Even so, it rarely takes more than a few tries to complete a task, so you won't find yourself getting frustrated all that often, provided you remain observant and try everything. Completing a tough challenge is rewarding and satisfying, and you feel that you've accomplished something. Even so, the game still ends quickly, though replay value is still reasonable, with the 'chapters' mode where you can replay any of your favourite sections as often as you like. Multiplayer, which I'll come to a bit later, also has longevity, so overall the game is quite good value for money - if you can get over the price, which is right up there with the most expensive N64 games even five years after the system's release. I wouldn't even have bought a copy if there hadn't been a "50% off all N64 games" sale on at the local store...


Graphics: The graphics are excellent, believe me. Despite not using the expansion pak, everything looks really good, with detailed landscapes and characters, and excellent animation - particularly the bang-on lip-synching from any speaking character. Variety in graphics between different areas is as large as that of gameplay, and overall the game looks most impressive.


Sounds: Sounds are also very good. In a first for a Rare platformer, and along the same lines as Perfect Dark, all the dialogue in Conker is actually spoken out loud rather than the text messages of previous platformers, and while the recording quality is necessarily poor due to small storage space of cartridges, and occasionally hard to understand, there's always a textual version on the screen inside speech bubbles to clarify things. The game's music is also good, varying between happy and cheery music which seems totally at odds to the crude and violent action it accompanies, to more tense and atmospheric music, and finally to all manner of flatulence making up the music in the Poo Mountain area. Speaking of which, the song and music which accompany the boss of this area are absolutely hilarious, by the way.


Multiplayer: Multiplayer in Conker is unique in many ways. Rather than a single multiplayer mode, or variation on a genre, Conker's multiplayer comprises a series of totally different games, ranging from a team game of capture the flag, to an every-weasel-for- himself bank robbery. The seven different modes play very differently from each other, with some, naturally enough, being better than others. My personal favourite has to be the 'Beach' game, which is a team game where you control either a French squirrel attempting to reach the other end of the landscape, or as an evil teddy bear trying to slaughter the squirrels with a machine gun, sniper rifle or bazooka. Other modes are also highly entertaining, such as the afore-mentioned war and heist games, while one or two modes, such as the lacklustre racing mode or the unbalanced 'Raptor' mode aren't as good as they could be. Overall, though, there's a lot to do in Conker's multiplay mode, particularly for several players, and the addition of computer-controlled opponents is very welcome. A solid effort.


Summing up: Not the world's most pleasant game, but quite possibly the most amusing, Conker's Bad Fur Day is a terrific piece of software. As long as you aren't put off by the lowbrow humour, there's a great deal of fun to be had with the game, and, even though it's a short game, it can be hugely enjoyable. Multiplayer is a good addition, and the game is undoubtedly one of the finest titles available on the N64, as well as the most puerile...


Gamesmark: 96%


Reviewer: Maverik



Tangycheese's opinion: Conker's Bad Fur Day is a reasonable platform game which could have been so much better if not for the absolutely dire camera. However there's a lot to this game, and it's good fun to play. Sure, it's exceptionally immature in places, but the "Great Mighty Poo" is one of the most amusing bosses I've ever fought against. Worth a look.