Fur Fighters

I think the title says it all: you're a furry animal with a gun, a Fur Fighter. But that doesn't mean one should be tempted to dismiss the title as a child's game. After all, where would we be if we did that? Surely the beautiful toon-shaded graphics of Jet Grind Radio wouldn't appeal to us, because that's for kids too.

The most obvious comparison to Bizarre Creation's Fur Fighters, is the Nintendo 64 game, Conker's Bad Fur Day, which is really a compliment more than anything. Like Conker this may look and feel like a kid's game, but there are hidden jokes and puzzles that were definitely aimed at a more grown-up demographic.

The first thing I discovered is the unusual controls, but this may have been because I compared it so much to Conker. The face buttons operate as your direction pad for moving your character around, and the analog stick controls the direction your character faces. "L" jumps, "R" shoots, and the direction pad is switching guns.

So on the whole, the controls feel more like a First Person Shooter, and are more akin to the Quake 3 Arena controls for the Dreamcast than to a 3rd Person Shooter. While most first person shooter control problems can be easily resolved by with the acquisition of the Dreamcast keyboard and mouse, Fur Fighters is only compatible with a standard controller.

But once the control issue is overcome (quickly for the more seasoned, adaptive gamers), we find our selves in a very entertaining world in which General Viggo has kidnapped all the children. So you choose one of six different characters: Roofus the dog, Chang the raccoon, Juliette the cat, Rico the Penguin, Bungalow the kangaroo, and Tweek the baby dragon. Each character has a different special attribute, like high jumping or wall climbing, and all throughout the game you'll switch characters at special spots, and use their special abilities to solve puzzles.

The game is fun, and quite addictive, actually. I do recommend the game, especially to anyone who enjoyed the multi-player modes in Conker's Bad Fur Day. As for the Multiplayer in Fur Fighters, or Fluff Matches as their known here, since the controls are a bit rough to get used to, its often hard to find any of your friends who are good enough gamers to adapt quick enough to the controls before you blow them away and they don't want to play anymore. But if you give them a fighting chance, chances are everybody will have a good time.

It's another damn fine Dreamcast title that every owner should add to their collection, but by no means a reason to buy a the system. If you have a Nintendo 64, and aren't afraid of fart jokes, I'd recommend Conker instead.