Name: Conker's Bad Fur Day
Platform: Nintendo 64, Xbox (Conker Live and Reloaded).
A game coming from the cutting room floor of the once popular British developer Rareware is a game like no other. Originally created to be a cute family friendly sequel to the Gameboy Colour original entitled Conker's Pocket Tales, the final product was indeed anything but. Originally revealed as Twelve Tales: Conker 64, the game quickly transformed into the offensive and disgusting title we now know as Conker's Bad Fur Day
Rareware made this game, just in case you didn't know.
Conker's Bad Fur Day begins after a 21 year old Conker has a night out with the boys before they go off to fight in a war. After quite a number of rounds, Conker decides to stumble on home. However, on his jolly way he takes a few wrong turns and wakes up the next morning lost and hung over. He stumbles on over to a vegetable patch where he meets a drunk scarecrow named Beardy.... err Birdy. Birdy teaches Conker about Context Sensitive, which is the term used for when you push a button and Conker reacts to it. Once Conker sobers up, he begins his quest to get back home. But in some strange attempt to add some kind of plot to this game, a creature known as the fabled Panther King has a bit of a problem and he needs to catch a "red squirrel" in order to fix. Obviously, the story telling in this game is no where as important as the experience.
Graphics
Conker's Bad Fur Day uses a more powerful version of Rare's Banjo Kazooie engine, and this shows. For a Nintendo 64 game, this game really was and still is a treat to the eye. Characters and detailed very well, more so than others, and worlds are bright and colourful. Conker is the most detailed of course, seeing as how he's the main character. But the detail itself begins with his lip syncing. Every word Conker says matches his lip movements exactly. This can't be said for all characters though, where some just have their lips move at a set speed while they talk and the weasel characters look like the bottom of their lip was been ripped off.
Context Sensitive? Gameplay
Well by chance, I assume most of you think this game is a platform game don't you? Well yes, but you could say that this game is a range of genres all centered around a platform game. The story mode and multiplayer modes allow for a wide range of game play options, ranging from 3rd person shooter to racing to stealth. You can go to war, you can play as a refugee trying to sneak into France (and likewise, play as the Tediz trying to stop them from reaching France), you can use hover boards to race against cave men, you can play as raptors who hunt down cave men who are trying to steal their eggs.... put simply this game offers a lot of different game play styles.
Locked and Loaded!
If that doesn't get you, story mode will. The story itself is hilariously gross and offensive, although the content is what will win your interest, not the plot itself. You will come across plenty of foul mouthed critters ranging from dung beetles to an angry talking pitch fork. There are plenty of fun and creative boss battles against the likes of the Great Mighty Poo and the Haybot, both of which have very creative weak points. Another surprise is the game featured near uncensored swearing which is constant throughout the game, something that it's hard to picture appearing on a Nintendo platform nowadays. It's a damn shame to.
Guess where his weak point is? Sound
The game manages to excel in the sound department as well. Conker's Bad Fur Day has a perfectly suitable soundtrack to every event and stage in the game. You will not find yourself getting sick of the music, but you will probably find yourself humming along to them. One of my favourite music tracks would have to be the one for Poo Mountain, but only if you have heard the music yourself will you understand why. In addition, Conker's Bad Fur Day is staffed with impeccable voice acting. Surprisingly, the entire game is voiced by only three people, but in some areas this is strikingly obvious. But it won't lose any points for that.
Frying tonight. Conclusion
The fact that Conker's Bad Fur Day has so many game play options is enough to shoot it to the top of the Nintendo 64's Best Games List. Above the fact it has good visuals, there’s plenty of stuff to do and it's laugh out loud funny, it presented a game play experience that not many games of it's time could offer. If you can find this game second hand on the Nintendo 64 or if through some massive stroke of chance it appeared on the Virtual Console at one stage, you'd be stupid not to buy it. That's why I believe Conker's Bad Fur Day deserves the highest honor I can give with a perfect 10/10.
Gregg's his name. He doesn't like cats. Graphics: 5/5 - The enhanced Banjo-Kazooie engine in all it's glory. It's the Nintendo 64 at it's best.
Game play: 5/5 - The game play offers a wide range of styles of play and is most importantly, just plain fun.
Sound: 5/5 - Catchy and humorous tunes mixed well with top notch voice acting.
Lifespan: 5/5 - Even after you beat the game and you've played all the stories, you will find yourself wanting to go back for more.
Overall: 20/20 A+