Lugaru HD is surprisingly good for the first professional shareware game from Wolfire. It's worth a play.
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1) Story
2) Gameplay
2.1 Combat
3) Graphics
4) Sound
5) Modding the game
6) Overall
1 STORY
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Rating: 4/10 (original campaign)
- The story of Lugaru starts off with a rabbit named Turner who goes to avenge his family from the band of raiders that killed them. Along the way, he uncovers a plot that is more complicated than he originally suspected, circling all the way to the alpha wolf and even to the king of rabbits.
The plot itself is a bit thin, with the original campaign being extremely short. Still, there are unofficial Lugaru mods that expand and change the gameplay, incorporating new campaigns and textures. It's a bit hard to keep the characters straight, mainly because there are only two types of characters: rabbits and wolves. Some mods change the colors of the wolves/rabbits, but don't add any more characters.
2 GAMEPLAY
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Rating: 7/10
The gameplay itself is that of any other basic third-person games: a few combat moves and weapons. Still, I personally find it just fun to mess around and kill stuff. I don't usually strictly follow the campaign mode.
To move, use the standard WASD keys. The left mouse button is used to attack, spacebar is jump, shift is crouch/dodge roll, and the Q button is used to throw/drop/pick up weapons. These are the basic commands, but there are a number of other commands in combat (section 2.1) and in modding the game (section 5).
The levels are based on a score achieved for each hit you make on an enemy. The more damage a move causes or more skill required to execute the move, the more points you get.
You can jump higher the longer you hold spacebar. You can also achieve an even higher jump by jumping from a crouching position.
2.1 Combat
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There are three weapons: a knife, sword, and stick. The knife can be thrown. The stick will break after a while.
There are also a number of basic combat moves you can execute. They are as follows:
- Punch: Fairly straightforward. Just a basic punch that offers very little points.
- Rabbit-running: By holding the [SHIFT] key and running, then releasing [SHIFT] in the middle of running, you will start to "rabbit-run". This allows you to run much faster and tackle fleeing enemies by clicking the left mouse button when near them.
- Throw a knife: Get close to an enemy and press Q with your knife equipped. The knife will lodge either in the back or chest of the enemy. If the blow wasn't lethal, the enemy will either: draw their weapon or pull the knife out and use it as a weapon. The knife throw is fairly damaging, so it won't take much to kill them after that.
- "Death From Above": Basically, jump on an enemy.
- "Leg Cannon": Hold the left mouse button and run towards your enemy. When you're fairly close, press space. This will cause your character to go horizontal and kick the enemy with both feet. It's one of the most devastating attacks, but requires perfect timing. Without perfect timing, it will just knock the enemy down.
There are more, but these are some of the basics.
Then there are the stealth kills. Sneak up behind your enemy with [SHIFT] and take them down like this (I stole this from the Wolfire wiki. Hope you don't mind):
- Spinecrusher: "Sneak up behind an enemy (crouch-walk or run-and-roll), stand up, and attack. Alternately, leap to land directly behind enemy. This will flip the enemy over and slam them into the ground."
- Tracheotomy: "Sneak up behind an enemy and attack with a knife. This will slice the enemy's throat."
- Backstabber: "Sneak up behind an enemy and attack while wielding a sword. This will stab through an enemy."
3 GRAPHICS
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Rating: 5/10
The graphics are extremely basic. From their previous free games, it appears the developers from Wolfire haven't had much experience creating high-detail models. Still, in the upcoming Lugaru sequel, Overgrowth, the graphics have improved immensely.
The textures aren't high-quality, the models are a bit blocky, and there can be occasional glitches. Still, the poor graphics don't detract from the gameplay if you can learn to ignore them and immerse yourself in the game.
4 SOUND
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Rating: 8/10 (just because there isn't much to argue with)
There isn't much to talk about with the sound. There are a few wonderful music tracks that are very basic, but fit the gameplay well. Aside from that, there's the occasional hawk screech, rabbit squeak/chirp, and wolf growl, none of which are too bad.
5 MODDING THE GAME
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Here we come to the fun (and final) section. Modifying the game maps is almost too simple, but it takes some hotkey and console command memorizing. You can view a full console command guide here: http://wiki.wolfire.com/index.php/Console_Guide
Other than that, editing maps is fairly straightforward. While playing the game on any level, press [SHIFT]+M to switch to map edit mode.
Hotkeys:
- J: Change terrain: grass, snow, sand
- [SHIFT]+Left Arrow & [SHIFT]+Right Arrow: Change object to place in environment
- M: Place object
- Left & Right Arrows: Rotation of next object
- Up & Down Arrows: Size of next object
- [CTRL]+Up & [CTRL]+Down: Tilt of next object
- Delete: Delete last object placed
- P: Add character
- [SHIFT]+P: Add patrol path waypoint for last placed character (current position)
- [CTRL]+P: Pathfinding (helps characters find their way around difficult objects)
- [SHIFT]+X: Cycles the weapon of the nearest enemy
- X: Cycles your weapon (you must be holding a weapon -- arm the nearest enemy and then disarm him
You can download Lugaru mods by installing the Lugaru Downloader (http://forums.wolfire.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5196).
6 OVERALL
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I would say the entire package is a solid 7/10. There are many things that can be improved, which will hopefully rear their heads in the sequel, Overgrowth. Nothing is too horrible, but it all can be improved upon.
The game is just some decent fun, and while I wouldn't pay $20+ for it, I would gladly pay $10-$15. Even with all its flaws, it's just fun to mess around and experiment. If you don't enjoy the original game, just download some of the mods, and hopefully you'll find something you like.