Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)

Our titular antihero is a cute li'l squirrel with big blue eyes, a lustrous tail and a hangover; the game starts the morning after his 21st birthday you see and all Conker wants to do is get home to bed. Until he realises there's cold hard cash to be made from fleecing the critters he meets along the way.

Almost every scene's gameplay is different and generally simple--run, jump, hover, whack with frying pan--though context-sensitive pads give Conker new abilities for specific tasks. There are ace shoot-'em-up bits, wave racing bits and dino-riding bits. Refreshingly, there's nothing to collect (apart from cash and that ends up being irrelevant)--each part of the story is a stand-alone task and you can move right on to the next one once you're done. And if you die, you go right back to the bit you just left, rather than having to do all the previous sections again too. There are several parts which are stupidly tricky and needlessly irritating but once you're past them the glory of the rest of the game will quickly make you forget all about earlier teeth-gnashing.

The game looks fantastic--possibly the N64's finest moment graphically--and the sound is great but it's in the quality of the voice acting and the scripting that Conker's BFD really shines. Every single voice is believable, from the Liverpudlian twang of the dung beetles to the subsonic grate of the evil Panther King and the dialogue is remarkably funny throughout. The aforementioned film pastiches--including The Terminator, The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan and a final, fantastic Aliens takeoff--are incredibly well done and make what might otherwise have been a good game into a great one. Anyone with an appreciation for innovative gameplay and pop culture shouldn't miss this. --Rikki Price

The game begins with Conker, a big-eyed, bushy-tailed squirrel sitting serenely on a throne sipping a glass of milk. His ascension to this throne is the foundation of the story, and the game centers on getting Conker out of one mess after another. While this overreaching storyline gives the game consistency, there's still no real purpose behind most of Conker's actions. There's plenty of cutscenes that detail events and situations outside of Conker's immediate control, but it's not until well into the game that Conker actually gets involved with what players see from the start (namely, a broken table next to a feline king and the attempts of his gadget guru to fix it, which is to shove a red squirrel underneath the broken leg).

Regardless, once the initial opening cinematic ends, players control a heavily-hungover Conker around a corn field until he speaks to an equally drunk scarecrow and learns the first of many lessons -- how to use context sensitive pads. This is pretty much sums up much of the game -- players wander around until something happens, and then learn how to perform some new feat, which then opens up a path to a new area.

That's not to say the repetitive gameplay isn't fun -- quite frankly, it's a total blast. Conker's helicopter tail gets him over huge gaps, and the fact that he can pull just about anything under the sun out of his pants pocket to defeat a chosen enemy makes the game incredibly flexible and filled with unending surprises. But the lack of direction makes players feel, at least initially, that there's no purpose to wandering around making rats explode and tossing toilet paper into the mouth of a singing pile of crap.

Once you get past the aimless feeling, though, there's some very challenging gameplay to be had. Almost too challenging. We'll freely admit that several times while playing the game we nearly tossed our controller against the wall in frustration as Conker was yet again cut down mercilessly. In some cases, it's because it's a nastily vicious part of the game, but in other cases it's due to some horrible game design, especially when it comes to certain tasks that require depth perception. The biggest offender is Conker's shadow -- it acts like a real shadow cast from a light shining from the side. That means that when Conker jumps, his shadow "jumps" with him, springing off to the side. However, in many cases, Conker must land precisely in order to move on, and in most games of this type, players can use the character's shadow to determine where the character will land. No so with Conker -- players must eyeball it, and because of the layout of many of the platform jumping areas, it's nearly impossible to tell exactly where Conker is in relation to where he's trying to land -- which usually ends up with Conker flattened and players having to start a task over.

Those are, however, the biggest problems with the game, and the rest of this review will concentrate only on the positive aspects, because there's a lot you can say in favor of the game. The humor, which is decidedly mature, really isn't as bad as we initially thought it would be. Oh, sure, there are scenes of immense gore and violence, not to mention a ton of fart and poo jokes, but for the most part, the events that earn a Mature rating are really no worse than an episode of South Park. Most of the worst of the foul language is bleeped out, and there's not nearly as much blood as we thought there would be (although there's plenty). What's really great about the whole situation is the humor of the game -- and some of the funniest bits are quite subtle. Players definitely get a sense of Rare's underlying irreverent humor, as the game makes fun of itself as much as anything else.

The graphic splendor of the game is unsurpassed, except perhaps by Banjo-Tooie. Textures are rich and colorful, and the level design of most of the areas usually fits perfectly. The sound is phenomenal, especially if you hook it up to a surround sound system -- the Dolby Surround places things perfectly, and the sound effects put in the game by Rare are fantastic, with even little touches adding to the game, like Conker's squelching footsteps in mud or the host of bees adding their buzzing melody to the background music when Conker goes near a bee-hive.

The game is also a treasure-horde for multiplayer fans. Four players can compete in a vast variety of games, from a capture-the-flag type of ordeal to racing to deathmatch to a sort of tag. Each of the mini-games has an intro beforehand, and solo players can compete against computer-controlled opponents. Just like in Perfect Dark, it looks as if Rare went the extra mile to make sure the multiplayer aspect of the game lived up to expectations, and it certainly does.

We're mystified and disappointed by the game's lacks, which are substantial enough to warrant the game getting a Hit rather than Direct Hit. But even with its problems, it's an amazingly fun game for those who can see past the toilet humor and appreciate the irreverent attitude and challenging platform action the game offers.

The Bottom Line: It's not for everyone, and it'll certainly frustrate you at times, but it's still worth picking up. --From DailyRadar.com