Even by today's standards, the absolute lack of anything proper or humane makes Conker's adventure a memorable one.
The Bad: Not enough in-game explanation for what you should be doing; melee combat relies too heavily on one combo; health is taken away too quickly from falling; ends too quickly.
Language and over-the-top gore used to be pretty touchy topics in the video game market. Games like Mortal Kombat really made parents pay more attention to what their children were buying for their console of choice. Of course, it's still somewhat of an issue today (for parents and lawyers looking for a scapegoat for their children's behavior) but elaborate killing animations and non-stop swearing continue to permeate some of the more popular games like Gears of War and Grand Theft Auto. It was rare for a game to slip the occasional "F" bomb or to showcase someone getting brutally killed back in 2001…and it was Rare that decided to challenge the status quo with Conker's Bad Fur Day.
After a late night of nonstop drinking with his buddies, Conker finds himself in the middle of nowhere, incredibly hungover and desperately wanting to return home to get some shuteye. Unfortunately, a handful of quirky, foul-mouthed characters have problems of their own, and continuously bait the naïve squirrel into doing their bidding by offering him their cash…which Conker simply can't get enough of. On the other side of the kingdom, the evil Panther King sends his royal guard to capture a red squirrel, which his lead scientist deems a perfect fit to his favorite table's broken leg.
The story is absolutely ridiculous…but that just makes it all the more hilarious, and to be honest, Conker's Bad Fur Day is all about adult humor. As if the language isn't enough, the sheer amount of disgusting and downright outrageous situations that Conker gets mixed up in will have you holding your sides and gasping for air. The game also spoofs movies like Saving Private Ryan and The Matrix for good measure. The fact that all of this is happening in a cute and cuddly world filled with vibrant colors, fun music and talking animals makes it all the more hilarious. Conker's Bad Fur Day is no doubt a must-play if you're looking for some laughs.
But even without its humor, Conker's Bad Fur Day is a solid platformer with a ton of variety. When you're not platforming, you'll be shooting down enemies with a turret, racing on a hover-board through dinosaur infested lava pits or using context sensitive plates to acquire specific items. Context sensitive plates are spread throughout Conker's world, and give Conker exactly what he needs at that point in time. Though it seems pretty outrageous (and it definitely is), these plates are an absolute blast to use, because you never know what Conker's going to pull out of his back pocket. What's even more entertaining is the fact that these plates actually add something to the gameplay.
One place where I found the gameplay lacked a bit was in its melee combat. Conker obtains a melee weapon fairly early in the game. This weapon relies on one three hit combo. However, the first two hits do hardly any damage while the last hit in the combo kills most enemies immediately. Not only that, a small amount of timing is required in order to pull off the last hit in this combo. This makes it a bit awkward when you hit your enemy twice and then somehow fail to hit them with the finishing blow. Not only is it awkward, the game's main enemy usually responds to this incompetence by taking a chunk out of Conker's fragile life bar (represented by chocolate…)
Conker can take quite a few hits until he kicks the bucket. However, you'll find that you're biggest enemy isn't one that will allow you to fight back: heights. Platformers tend to have main characters who can usually handle a long fall while taking a small bit of damage. Conker is an entirely different story, and you'll have to adapt to his style of platforming. Falling from a height that Mario would find rather tame takes a huge amount of health away from the fragile squirrel. The fact that Conker takes quite a leap backwards after taking damage from most enemies makes higher cliffs a death trap, and can lead to quite a few cheap deaths. Sometimes you'll have to catapult Conker up to higher areas, and even at these times it's rather hard to walk away with all of Conker's health intact. Though the platforming controls work great, it's certainly a challenging game. There's no doubt about that.
Most games now-a-days have a helpful hint system that gives you…well…a hint if you're not exactly sure what you should be doing. I usually shy away from hints like these, but I definitely would've enjoyed having them for Conker's Bad Fur Day. Too often did I find myself not knowing what I should be doing in a given situation. I don't know if anyone else had this problem with the game, but it happened to me quite a bit.
Back on the original Xbox, this game looked simply gorgeous. The fur detail may look rather contrived today, but in 2005, just as the original Xbox was reaching the end of its rope, everything in Conker: Live and Reloaded looked absolutely fantastic. The timeless soundtrack also succeeds at invoking the adorable nature that Conker hilariously fails to represent. It's a throwback to the Nintendo 64 era, when soundtracks didn't involve a gigantic orchestra, offering instead just enough instruments to get the overall feeling across. This is nowhere more evident than in a fight against a gigantic pile of opera singing scat...one of the more memorable moments in the game for obvious reasons.
The game is fairly short, and with no multiplayer (ever since the original Xbox Live was shut down) you'd be best to get this game ONLY if you cannot find a copy of the original N64 version AND have yet to play the game (as in my case…You can't really blame me considering I was around seven years old when the original came out). Though I haven't played the original, I believe Conker: Live and Reloaded to be quite a fun experience. I await this brave squirrel's return on the Xbox 360.