Jump cut to 2001. Conker gets a new look, a new game and a new vocabulary. Conker's Bad Fur Day gives gamers one of the first mature rated games, a platformer that features some of the most foul mouthed dialogue, sexual references and violence ever found in a video game, let alone one on a Nintendo system. It was an instant hit with adults. The game was great and it wasn't afraid to be balls out funny. The developers spoofed dozens of movies and pop culture icons while at the same time making jabs at themselves at frequent turns. Love it or hate it, the game is unforgettable.
Now here in 2005, Conker has been in hiding, but Rare has been promising a sequel. Back at E3, 2003, Rare and Microsoft previewed a new title to show-goers: Conker: Live and Uncut. The new title rehashed the old game with some spectacular new graphics and online multiplayer. Rare has finally shot the game out to stores, now titled Conker: Live and Reloaded to mostly mixed reviews. We're happy, but a bit disappointed.
Conker's single player game is a beautiful updated to 2001's game. Conker is fuzzy to the point where you can pick out bunches of hair and whiskers on his tail and face. Likewise the liquid effects, from water to blood to to frequent instances of poop, are detailed and fluid. The graphic, mostly realtime, are easily the game's best assett. Camera tricks, like focal view (blurring the background, whille leaving foreground elements in focus) are used frequently to reinforce the cinematic quality of the story. Background and level design are done very well, often calling up film references like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Matrix, Jurassic Park, Dracula, Van Helsing, Evil Dead, Alien, Jaws and a slew of others.
Sound is done equally well, providing excellent digital sound seperation. Bees buzz in the surround speakers whilst inside the giant hive and the very walls of Shite Summit ooze and fart all around you. Voice acting is top drawer with plenty of attitude. What we noticed right off though was that the cussing hadn't been removed, but much of it was bleeped out. Even the captions were replaced with %$#@ symbols where appropriate. We can't figure out why. The Nintendo 64 version had not been this way and we wanted to relive that experience. Still, you get the idea of what is said enough to keep anyone with a sick sense of humor and a sailor's mouth laughing.
We would have liked to see more added. Though a few things were moved and changed to seperate it from it's predecessor, it is largely identical. Even down to the unforgiveable camera problems. Camera adjusting is sluggish and gets caught behind walls or in corners way too often. So much so that if it hadn't have taken 3 years to release, I would say it wasn't finished.
What really makes this a new game, and it's primary selling point, is the Live part of the title. Playing online presents gamers with 6 classes of either Evil Tediz or the SHC squirrel forces. Like Halo or Battlefield, the idea is to work with your team to capture points, a flag or simply kill everyone not on your team. Vehicles and turrets are available to each team, depending on the map you play, and each map spoofs a movie. One of the most impressive is the D-Day beach landing from Saving Private Ryan. The two teams take turns (rounds) making their way up the beach in order to reach capture points and eventually kill the commander of the opposite team inside the fortress.
Mutiplayer, complete with voice communication, has immense potential to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it's unbalanced and presents a gaping opportunity for unfair play. Spawn camping becomes extremely problematic since ammunition is unlimited and less-than-noble players can quickly jump into airborne vehicles to hover over a spawn area, continually blanketing it with bombs. This is especially frustrating when you take into account that your stats in battle are persistant. You can gain rank and unlock additional weaponse by racking up kills as one particular class or another. Unless you know who you're playing with, theres a good chance of unfair gameplay. I can't place full blame on developers, since this is the players decision, but the same type of problems isn't found in other shooters like Halo 2 or UT2004.
If it not for the camera problems and a distinct censoring of language despite the HUGE warning on the back cover, I could have forgiven the multiplayer problems to give Conker: Live and Reloaded a perfect score. I feel that Rare had ample opportunity to fix the problems that plagued the original game and plenty of time to add a few things. It is refreshing to see that multiplayer was not a simple afterthought like other games of it's ilk. Still, if you're not an online game, the single player game is completely worth a rental if not a permanent place on your game shelf.
