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Fur Fighters Page 2/2 Fast, fur-ious fun - Review By Mr. Domino
The fun doesn't stop with the main game, though! No sir (or ma'am)!
There are lots of little neat bonus games to enjoy, both during the main
adventure and elsewhere. Most notably is the game's Fluff Match, a four
player deathmatch set in any of six arenas of plush death. Although
these arenas won't exactly make anyone forget about Perfect Dark's
multiplayer environments, they are a nice bonus and enjoyable just the
same. FPS fanatics will be happy to know that you can switch to a
first-person view in this mode, a welcome addition since your character
tends to eat up most of the view when your screen is cut in half (or fourths).
Surprisingly, the framerate is consistent in this mode as well, although
I wonder how much the smallish size of the arenas has to do with that. Don't
expect too much strategy or sniping -- fluff match is out and out war, and
good fun.
The Bad
Finally, a DC game with impressive water effects. |
Bad... hmm... Well, the game does start off to a roaring snore. An
action gamer buys an action game to get some action gaming fun, and Fur
Fighters taunts and bores such people with a mandatory training
level. Even worse is that there is not a single enemy in this training
stage; all of the time is spent introducing the player to the individual
characters' specialty skills, and learning the rather obvious controls. Wee.
The puzzles are very well done, but there is one thing which nearly
kills all of the work which went into creating them -- General Bristol.
The ghost of the former Fur Fighters leader is always on hand just a few
feet away from a puzzle, ready to supply a blatant hint. Talk to him
again, and he more or less gives the answer away. Sometimes it's almost
impossible not to talk to him in close quarters, and triggering his many
far too obvious help screens can get annoying quick. It is best to avoid
him altogether for maximum enjoyment. His too-frequent appearances make
me wonder if Bizarre Creations had any idea who the target audience for
this game was to be. Bristol and the cuddly look suggests a child's
game, but the challenge and controls would prove too complex for a
youngun. Not to mention the over-the-top violence...
While it's great that the environments are as enormous as they are, it's very annoying to get lost. In particular, I think the first level is a poor choice for a starting level. The theme -- a city in a
snowy night -- is far too dark and repetitive to make a good
introductory stage. Since enemies stay dead after being killed, getting
lost can mean many lonely, boring walks across great distances until you
find out what it is exactly you need to do. Thankfully, the level design
really picks up soon afterward, but this lackluster first level is an annoyance I could have
lived without.
Ah, slippery ice. The old standby of platform games. |
In the miscellaneous department, I do wish the game looked just a bit nicer. Sometimes what looks
like a button isn't a button, what appears to be a tunnel is just a
wall, and so on. The music is also pretty nondescript, although it is neat
how it changes depending on the character selected. I could also cite
the story for being hokey, but I didn't have a problem with that since
it gave me a good enough excuse to do what I was required to do. Still,
I have to commend Bizarre Creations for changing all of the dialogue to
suit the individual characters. They really do bring their personality
across, and I enjoy that kind of attention to detail. It's a shame I have to
talk to Bristol to see it, though.
Finally, while not everyone will have this problem, I actually got physically sick many times from having to run through
the game's long, twisting passages. Seriously... I was nauseous. While
I've never had this problem with any other 3D game, the near constant
radical perspective shifts the game occasionally forced me to endure
became quite nauseating. The game also has some weird texture-ripple
effect (sometimes textures seem to jump a pixel high or low from its
position as you move closer) which hurt my eyes a bit. I suppose it's
not healthy to play games for several hours at a time, but I found
myself having to leave Fur Fighters more from stomach aches than
anything else. Kinda annoying when the game is as fun and involved as
Fur Fighters is, but c'est la vie.
The Final Word
Bizarre Creations have given Dreamcast gamers a treat with Fur Fighters,
a great game whose worst flaw is that it's dumbed down just a bit too much for its own good. Even though
you can check your brain at the door, Fur Fighters just does too many things right, so don't pass this one up.
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Publisher: Acclaim
Genre: Action
Highs: Huge quest, massive environments, lots of action, amazing detail.
Lows: Slow to start, too many hints ruin puzzles, lack of difficulty.
Other: 1-4 players, VMU Compatible (Save takes 51 blocks), VGA Box Compatible, Jump Pack Compatible.
Media:
Intro (MPEG) - The intro is fairly cheesy. [Big (13.1M)] - [Med (7.1M)] - [Small (1.5M)]
Gameplay 1 (MPEG) - Storming through a snowy park to the World Quack Centre. [Big (13.2M)] - [Med (6.5M)] - [Small (1.4M)]
Gameplay 2 (MPEG) - These bears are no match for a shotgun. [Big (14.6M)] - [Med (7.9M)] - [Small (1.7M)]
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Final Score:
(out of a possible 10)
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