Conker: Live & Reloaded
Added July 2nd, 2005 by Serenity Now
Introduction:
Everyone’s favorite foul-mouth cutie-pie is back. Yep, that’s right, I’m talking about Conker. After a few delays and a name change, Conker: Live & Reloaded has finally arrived. The package includes a pumped up version of Conker’s Bad Fur Day and an impressive online mode thrown in for good measure. Truthfully though, the online portion of this game is the main attraction in this well put together contraption. When Conker was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2001, it almost instantly became a classic. Not just because of its beautiful graphics and context sensitive controls, but because the Nintendo 64 wasn’t home to too many mature titles. Conker raised the bar for gameplay and offensive content. Now THAT is what I’m talking about. Four years later, we’re in a much different era for video games, especially for the Xbox. Almost every game, it seems, is rated M. What am I trying to say? Conker is no longer a misfit on a console made for children, it’s finally where it belongs, on Xbox, and quite frankly, I couldn’t be happier.
Gameplay:
To start, let’s talk about the single-player section of Conker: Live & Reloaded; Conker’s Bad Fur Day. You, obviously, play as Conker. Conker is one naughty little squirrel. He wakes up one morning, bleary eyed, and afflicted with a horrible hangover. He must find his way home, but in the condition he’s in, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get anywhere. That is, until he meets a scarecrow named Birdy, who explains the context sensitive controls to him. After that, Conker will put this knowledge to use and get what appears to be some kind of hangover seltzer. He drinks it, and feeling much better is ready to start his day. What an inspirational start! Man, I feel encouraged already.
Everyone’s favorite foul-mouth cutie-pie is back. Yep, that’s right, I’m talking about Conker. After a few delays and a name change, Conker: Live & Reloaded has finally arrived. The package includes a pumped up version of Conker’s Bad Fur Day and an impressive online mode thrown in for good measure. Truthfully though, the online portion of this game is the main attraction in this well put together contraption. When Conker was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2001, it almost instantly became a classic. Not just because of its beautiful graphics and context sensitive controls, but because the Nintendo 64 wasn’t home to too many mature titles. Conker raised the bar for gameplay and offensive content. Now THAT is what I’m talking about. Four years later, we’re in a much different era for video games, especially for the Xbox. Almost every game, it seems, is rated M. What am I trying to say? Conker is no longer a misfit on a console made for children, it’s finally where it belongs, on Xbox, and quite frankly, I couldn’t be happier.
Gameplay:
To start, let’s talk about the single-player section of Conker: Live & Reloaded; Conker’s Bad Fur Day. You, obviously, play as Conker. Conker is one naughty little squirrel. He wakes up one morning, bleary eyed, and afflicted with a horrible hangover. He must find his way home, but in the condition he’s in, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get anywhere. That is, until he meets a scarecrow named Birdy, who explains the context sensitive controls to him. After that, Conker will put this knowledge to use and get what appears to be some kind of hangover seltzer. He drinks it, and feeling much better is ready to start his day. What an inspirational start! Man, I feel encouraged already.
Played the Nintendo 64 version? If so, you should pretty much know what to expect. Everything is basically the same, with a few gameplay and control tweaks here and there. Don’t be fooled by the cover, this is solely a platformer. Conker can jump, double jump, and do all that good stuff that makes platformers what they are. In fact, this is such a platformer that only one weapon at a time can be carried. There are quite a few weapons though. The first weapon you’ll obtain will be a bat with nails sticking out the side. It’s a nice little weapon, but if it’s not used correctly, you’ll just get clobbered yourself instead of clobbering someone else. What I mean is that you have to be in a near perfect position when swinging. You’ll usually make contact, but being so close to your enemy, you’ll take in some damage. As usual, as you progress, more weapons will become available.
I encountered slight camera issues while playing through the single-player campaign. When I say slight, I mean issues most people will not be bothered by. Sometimes, I would get blindsided, but it can be fixed in a flash so it’s not exactly a real problem. For some, the Nintendo 64 version felt a bit clunky. Well, as far I could tell, this has been fixed. Who knows though, maybe I was just mesmerized by the beautiful graphics to notice any problems. Nah, there just weren’t any. If you haven’t completed the Nintendo 64 version, you’re in for a real treat here.
Finally, onto the multiplayer aspect of Conker: Live & Reloaded. First off, you should be warned, there is a learning curve to the multiplayer. Not because it’s hard, but because there’s just so many actions to be carried out that it can get a little confusing for some. Between changing your bullet type, trying to reload, and screaming at your stupid teammate it can get pretty hectic. What’s a squirrel to do?
It’s the Squirrel High Command army (or SHC, which is Conker’s breed) versus the Tediz. Before playing a match, you’ll first have to select what class you want to play as. First and foremost, there are the Grunts. Grunts are your basic soldier: the gun carrying, trash talking, behind kicking soldier. Then there’s the Sneekers. Sneekers, well, sneak. I’m not completely positive why they spelled it ‘’ee’’ instead of ''ea.'' The Sneekers’ main weapon is the Sabre. Choose the Sneeker class if you are fond of slicing and dicing people, err, squirrels. Now, onto the Demolishers. If you like to blow things up, this is your class. Your primary weapon is a Bazooka. Use it wisely, even though you have unlimited ammo, it takes a good amount of time to reload. You have to reload each and every time you fire it. If you want to be a sniper, choose the Long Ranger class. If you want to be a pilot, choose the Sky Jockey class. And last, but certainly not least, there’s the Thermophile class. Thermophiles are basically just maniacs with flamethrowers. The Thermophile class seems to be the fan-favorite online. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses. I personally found the Grunts to be the most well-rounded class -- they’re fast, have nice weapons, and are just fun to control. I really like how Conker: Live & Reloaded gives you a choice of who you want to be. You no longer have to settle for being the generic soldier; you can be whoever you want via this class system.
The multiplayer in Conker: Live & Reloaded is fantastic. However, there are a few problems. The maps are pretty boring. There are only eight maps. Out of the eight, the only one I immensely enjoyed was Castle Von Tedistein. Well, Beach Dead is pretty fun too. What really disappointed me though is this game doesn’t support downloadable content. I can see why though. This generation is approaching its end and Rare doesn’t want to focus on releasing more maps, they’re too busy developing Xbox 360 games. It’s a shame Conker: Live & Reloaded wasn’t released earlier in the Xbox’s lifespan. Another thing I was disappointed by was the lack of multiplayer modes. Each game is essentially just different variations of deathmatch. The ranking system could have been a bit more detailed as well. It’s all about how many CPs (Career Points) you can acquire, which is perfectly fine, it’s just I would have liked to have seen a more rewarding ranking system incorporated. You can level up, but it really doesn’t make a difference either way. Plus, instead of leveling up using numbers, they used names. The thing is, because they’re using names instead of a number system it makes it so you have no idea what level you’re at. But overall, the gameplay in Conker: Live & Reloaded, single-player and multiplayer included, is simply incredible, but it’s definitely not without its flaws.
Graphics:
Rare promised stunning visuals, and they delivered. The graphics in Conker’s Bad Fur Day are hands down some of the best graphics I have ever seen. Everything from the fur-shading, to the beautiful water effects, it all looks first-rate. Some may not like the cartoon style graphics, but believe me, you’ll fall in love with the deep and vibrant colors. The animations are literally as smooth as silk. The unique character design is also a sight to see. The level design is absolutely amazing as well. The environments are so gorgeous that you’ll get sucked into the game and won’t be able to put it down. If you’re a graphics whore, this is your game.
I encountered slight camera issues while playing through the single-player campaign. When I say slight, I mean issues most people will not be bothered by. Sometimes, I would get blindsided, but it can be fixed in a flash so it’s not exactly a real problem. For some, the Nintendo 64 version felt a bit clunky. Well, as far I could tell, this has been fixed. Who knows though, maybe I was just mesmerized by the beautiful graphics to notice any problems. Nah, there just weren’t any. If you haven’t completed the Nintendo 64 version, you’re in for a real treat here.
Finally, onto the multiplayer aspect of Conker: Live & Reloaded. First off, you should be warned, there is a learning curve to the multiplayer. Not because it’s hard, but because there’s just so many actions to be carried out that it can get a little confusing for some. Between changing your bullet type, trying to reload, and screaming at your stupid teammate it can get pretty hectic. What’s a squirrel to do?
It’s the Squirrel High Command army (or SHC, which is Conker’s breed) versus the Tediz. Before playing a match, you’ll first have to select what class you want to play as. First and foremost, there are the Grunts. Grunts are your basic soldier: the gun carrying, trash talking, behind kicking soldier. Then there’s the Sneekers. Sneekers, well, sneak. I’m not completely positive why they spelled it ‘’ee’’ instead of ''ea.'' The Sneekers’ main weapon is the Sabre. Choose the Sneeker class if you are fond of slicing and dicing people, err, squirrels. Now, onto the Demolishers. If you like to blow things up, this is your class. Your primary weapon is a Bazooka. Use it wisely, even though you have unlimited ammo, it takes a good amount of time to reload. You have to reload each and every time you fire it. If you want to be a sniper, choose the Long Ranger class. If you want to be a pilot, choose the Sky Jockey class. And last, but certainly not least, there’s the Thermophile class. Thermophiles are basically just maniacs with flamethrowers. The Thermophile class seems to be the fan-favorite online. Each class has their strengths and weaknesses. I personally found the Grunts to be the most well-rounded class -- they’re fast, have nice weapons, and are just fun to control. I really like how Conker: Live & Reloaded gives you a choice of who you want to be. You no longer have to settle for being the generic soldier; you can be whoever you want via this class system.
The multiplayer in Conker: Live & Reloaded is fantastic. However, there are a few problems. The maps are pretty boring. There are only eight maps. Out of the eight, the only one I immensely enjoyed was Castle Von Tedistein. Well, Beach Dead is pretty fun too. What really disappointed me though is this game doesn’t support downloadable content. I can see why though. This generation is approaching its end and Rare doesn’t want to focus on releasing more maps, they’re too busy developing Xbox 360 games. It’s a shame Conker: Live & Reloaded wasn’t released earlier in the Xbox’s lifespan. Another thing I was disappointed by was the lack of multiplayer modes. Each game is essentially just different variations of deathmatch. The ranking system could have been a bit more detailed as well. It’s all about how many CPs (Career Points) you can acquire, which is perfectly fine, it’s just I would have liked to have seen a more rewarding ranking system incorporated. You can level up, but it really doesn’t make a difference either way. Plus, instead of leveling up using numbers, they used names. The thing is, because they’re using names instead of a number system it makes it so you have no idea what level you’re at. But overall, the gameplay in Conker: Live & Reloaded, single-player and multiplayer included, is simply incredible, but it’s definitely not without its flaws.
Graphics:
Rare promised stunning visuals, and they delivered. The graphics in Conker’s Bad Fur Day are hands down some of the best graphics I have ever seen. Everything from the fur-shading, to the beautiful water effects, it all looks first-rate. Some may not like the cartoon style graphics, but believe me, you’ll fall in love with the deep and vibrant colors. The animations are literally as smooth as silk. The unique character design is also a sight to see. The level design is absolutely amazing as well. The environments are so gorgeous that you’ll get sucked into the game and won’t be able to put it down. If you’re a graphics whore, this is your game.
The multiplayer facet of Conker: Live & Reloaded is a slightly different story. The graphics pretty much look the same as Conker’s Bad Fur Day, but the level design on the multiplayer maps isn’t exactly top-notch (with the map Castle Von Tedistein being an exception). The maps, visually, look great, it’s just they’re not all that suited to have a war in. That’s my opinion though, some people might enjoy every one of them. All and all, Conker: Live & Reloaded is one of, if not, the best looking titles on Xbox, both technically and art direction wise.
Audio:
If there’s one thing I’m not too fond of in Conker: Live & Reloaded, it’s the audio. Well, the voice-overs to be more exact; the music is just fine. You’ll probably think I’m crazy, but I don’t find this game very funny, at all. Conker’s voice can become quite annoying. I just don’t find bleeped out obscenities very funny. Maybe if they would have actually tried to tell some good jokes instead of just relying on the shock factor, my opinion would be different. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amusing and funny at first, but after a few hours it gets repetitive and quite annoying. The music in this game however is great. Not Advent Rising type good, but quality stuff nonetheless. The music score is much better than most platformers. When you factor in the good and bad when it comes to this game’s audio, guess what you get? An average sounding game.
Controls:
Conker’s Bad Fur Day’s controls are very well played out. It’s essentially your basic 3D platformer setup, so there’s really not much to talk about, so let’s get straight to the multiplayer controls.
I can’t help but feel that this game’s multiplayer portion would have controlled better on the PC platform. Hey, don’t look at me like that, it’s not my fault. There are just way too many things on-screen when playing the multiplayer. This affects the controls because it’s hard to think of what button to press when there’s so much capturing your attention. The amount of actions you have control of can be overwhelming at times. It’s mostly just weapon and bullet type that are hard to maneuver though. It’s a real chore if you want to change. You could use the quick way, which would be pressing X and Y to toggle between different weapons and gadgets, but it might get a little confusing for some because you have to know what the pictures depict or you’ll be trying to shoot someone with your grenades. This could be a huge problem considering you only have one grenade per each life. This results in using the manual way of changing, which is holding down Y and using the left analog stick to choose. This usually results in death because it takes a few seconds to accomplish, and in that time, you’ll be getting slaughtered by an enemy. Changing your bullet type is done almost the same way except you have to hold the left trigger instead of Y. Once again, this results in death because it takes way too much time. Couldn’t they have used the Black and White buttons for this? Guess not, and because of that this game controls dreadfully. It’s bearable though, and you’ll probably be having so much fun you won’t mind the horrible control layout.
Replay:
The single-player campaign is of decent size, and there’s lots to explore and tons of missions to complete, however, it’s the multiplayer you’ll stay for. It was extremely hard to stop playing so I could write this review. I found myself being late for work, ignoring other articles I have to finish, and basically having no life whatsoever. Call me a madcap, call me addicted, but I just can’t get enough of this game’s online components. The amount of variety with the class system is really the reason why this game has so much replay value. In Halo 2, there’s just your generic all-in-one soldier, in Conker: Live & Reloaded, there are six unique playable soldiers, each with different characteristics and abilities. With Conker’s Bad Fur Day, combined with the amazing online play, this game has some serious replay value.
Audio:
If there’s one thing I’m not too fond of in Conker: Live & Reloaded, it’s the audio. Well, the voice-overs to be more exact; the music is just fine. You’ll probably think I’m crazy, but I don’t find this game very funny, at all. Conker’s voice can become quite annoying. I just don’t find bleeped out obscenities very funny. Maybe if they would have actually tried to tell some good jokes instead of just relying on the shock factor, my opinion would be different. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amusing and funny at first, but after a few hours it gets repetitive and quite annoying. The music in this game however is great. Not Advent Rising type good, but quality stuff nonetheless. The music score is much better than most platformers. When you factor in the good and bad when it comes to this game’s audio, guess what you get? An average sounding game.
Controls:
Conker’s Bad Fur Day’s controls are very well played out. It’s essentially your basic 3D platformer setup, so there’s really not much to talk about, so let’s get straight to the multiplayer controls.
I can’t help but feel that this game’s multiplayer portion would have controlled better on the PC platform. Hey, don’t look at me like that, it’s not my fault. There are just way too many things on-screen when playing the multiplayer. This affects the controls because it’s hard to think of what button to press when there’s so much capturing your attention. The amount of actions you have control of can be overwhelming at times. It’s mostly just weapon and bullet type that are hard to maneuver though. It’s a real chore if you want to change. You could use the quick way, which would be pressing X and Y to toggle between different weapons and gadgets, but it might get a little confusing for some because you have to know what the pictures depict or you’ll be trying to shoot someone with your grenades. This could be a huge problem considering you only have one grenade per each life. This results in using the manual way of changing, which is holding down Y and using the left analog stick to choose. This usually results in death because it takes a few seconds to accomplish, and in that time, you’ll be getting slaughtered by an enemy. Changing your bullet type is done almost the same way except you have to hold the left trigger instead of Y. Once again, this results in death because it takes way too much time. Couldn’t they have used the Black and White buttons for this? Guess not, and because of that this game controls dreadfully. It’s bearable though, and you’ll probably be having so much fun you won’t mind the horrible control layout.
Replay:
The single-player campaign is of decent size, and there’s lots to explore and tons of missions to complete, however, it’s the multiplayer you’ll stay for. It was extremely hard to stop playing so I could write this review. I found myself being late for work, ignoring other articles I have to finish, and basically having no life whatsoever. Call me a madcap, call me addicted, but I just can’t get enough of this game’s online components. The amount of variety with the class system is really the reason why this game has so much replay value. In Halo 2, there’s just your generic all-in-one soldier, in Conker: Live & Reloaded, there are six unique playable soldiers, each with different characteristics and abilities. With Conker’s Bad Fur Day, combined with the amazing online play, this game has some serious replay value.
Summary:
Conker: Live & Reloaded delivers in almost every aspect -- the visuals being this game’s strongest element. The graphics are really a sight to see. However, the gameplay is certainly no slouch. Both single-player and multiplayer sections of this game play great. The control layout could have been a bit better in the multiplayer portion though. But once you get used to the setup, you should be just fine. In Conker: Live & Reloaded you get one of the best Nintendo 64 games, plus, one of the best Xbox Live games, all snuggled together in one attractive bundle. What are you waiting for? Get off your lazy arse and pick this one up!
Conker: Live & Reloaded delivers in almost every aspect -- the visuals being this game’s strongest element. The graphics are really a sight to see. However, the gameplay is certainly no slouch. Both single-player and multiplayer sections of this game play great. The control layout could have been a bit better in the multiplayer portion though. But once you get used to the setup, you should be just fine. In Conker: Live & Reloaded you get one of the best Nintendo 64 games, plus, one of the best Xbox Live games, all snuggled together in one attractive bundle. What are you waiting for? Get off your lazy arse and pick this one up!
