Conker: Live and Reloaded Review

Platform: Xbox

Conker: Live & Reloaded

Conker: Live & Reloaded is a project by Rare, attempting to bring the highly acclaimed Conker’s Bad Fur Day to an audience that may not have had the opportunity to experience it, as the original version was released towards the end of the N64’s lifespan. Conker: Live & Reloaded isn’t a direct port from the N64 to the Xbox, but very little was changed other than enhanced graphics and an updated multiplayer mode. Despite the cover, parents be warned: while we are dealing with fluffy woodland creatures with cartoon-esque graphic stylings and chipmunk voices, the ESRB rating of mature was no mistake. In fact, within the first ten minutes of gameplay, you’ll discover why this game was an instant classic five years ago. The shock value this game brought to the table was phenomenal in its day, especially for a Nintendo console, which to this day maintains the most family gaming dignity any system has to offer.

Backstory

The game starts with our hero, Conker the squirrel, binge drinking with his buddies at the bar. Alcoholism hasn’t been so adorable since that time I blacked out at a party and woke up in an Easter Bunny costume somewhere in the ghetto, which actually defines the feeling you get from playing this game quite well. After Conker has finished his bar business, he’s really only got one thing on his mind: Berri, his overwhelmingly physically engaging girlfriend. Of course, anybody who’s actually tried to stumble home from the bar at one in the morning to break off a piece of squirrel tail knows that getting from point A to point B is never that easy. Through a series of events, Conker meets a slew of memorable characters; the most infamous is the operatic Mightypoo. I would love to go into detail as to just how ingenious this character is, but The Poo is really something you have to experience first hand. (shudders at the ambiguity of that last statement)

The Remake

Conker: Live & Reloaded is nothing spectacularly different than the original, aside from an uncomfortable multiplayer mode that begs to have the phrase “the more the merrier” tacked on to it. Playing with a couple people in your own home is not where it’s at with this one; instead, they geared it towards online play that can actually be a blast if you manage to overcome the janky control setup they rigged you with.

It seems as though Rare applied the popular Hollywood remake mentality to a video game that really didn’t cry to be redone. This is a fitting analogy for a game that hinges itself on movie spoofs ranging from Saving Private Ryan to The Matrix. At the very least it lends an opportunity for a new generation of gamers to experience a portion of the joy this game brought upon its release five or so years ago.

Gameplay

With that said, as in the previous version, the game tends to focus less on the playability and more on the wild humor of the amazingly ridiculous world that Lead Designer and Voice Actor for the game, Christopher Seavor has dropped us into. As a platform game, it is relatively uninspired. You spend the first three-fourths of the game running, jumping, collecting items and solving puzzles and then find yourself being thrust into a frantic third person shooter which picks up the pace dramatically, almost so much that it feels like a separate game in itself. The controls are a little funky, but definitely learnable. You spend most of your time avoiding enemies, but when you do engage an opponent in combat it’s more awkward than watching dirty movies with the grandparents.

The Humor Needed a Remake, Too…

The sad part is that Conker’s jokes rely heavily on popular culture, which means that five years ago I would have laughed heartily at a reference to The Matrix, but now I’m more likely to slap the person sitting next to me out of sheer irritation. However, they do throw in enough fecal-follies and public urination to balance the scales of humor.

If you didn’t play the N64 version, I recommend picking up the Xbox version of Conker: Live & Reloaded immediately, if only so you can be included in classic video game moment conversations. If you did play the original, you already know just how much you enjoy watching Conker overcome these “adult” situations and are well equipped to decide for yourself if it’s worth owning an updated copy.