Conker: Live and Reloaded Preview

In the late 90s Rare was to Nintendo what Pixar is to Disney.  Nintendo needed Rare to take them to first place on the SNES/Genesis console war.  Rare succeeded with the Donkey Kong Country series.  Perfect Dark was another huge hit for the developer.  And for a brief time Killer Instinct held long lines at arcades.  Each of these games maximized the technology that was available to them, combining some of the best gameplay in the genre(s) with the best graphics on the planet.

Long story short, after Perfect Dark Rare stopped pumping out the classics.  Banjo-Tooie was fun, but the original was better.  Donkey Kong 64 left a lot to be desired.  Nintendo lost faith in the developer, selling its stock in the company.  Microsoft bought the developer the following day for around $350,000,000.  Several years have passed and the Big M has yet to make a single dollar off the investment.  Long-term, they told us.  They're in it for the long term.  Come Spring 2005 you'll see what they mean.

Rare has never been quick with game releases (the exception being Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3), but when you get your paws on Conker: Live and Reloaded for the first time you'll understand why.  This game looks cool, sounds cool, and best of all it plays like Halo's satirical brother.  Terminator 2, Saving Private Ryan, various horror flicks and countless others will be mocked in this game.  You'll even get a glimpse of Master Chief while Conker skims through a magazine.  He peruses the magazine as his comrade gets electrocuted, acting very nonchalant.  Conker pretends to be oblivious since he's the one responsible for the shock treatment (it was an accident – he pulled the wrong switch).

This kind of senseless humor sounds senseless and stupid on paper, but it's roll-on-the-floor hilarious in action.  There's a computer-generated sequence that parodies Terminator 2 perfectly.  Fans of Saving Private Ryan and Medal of Honor will love the game's introduction.  I'll say no more about that though.  These surprises should not be spoiled.

Conker's gameplay is vastly different from his original adventure.  Live and Reloaded is a third-person shooter with lots of fireworks (beautiful graphics) and intense battles.  I was amazed at how fast the game moved.  Most third-person shooters can't compare to first-person games like Halo, but Conker most certainly will.  The camera zooms in close behind Conker, adding to the intensity as violent Tediz (pronounced "teddy's") try to stab him.

Enemies can come out of nowhere.  They'll hide behind boxes, staying completely concealed until they reveal themselves.  Tediz can wait inside the ceiling vents and jump down for a surprise attack.  One enemy I encountered could not be killed, only avoided.  He used a giant flamethrower to attack, and let me just say that it looked absolutely gorgeous.  The texture and animation; the way that it brightened the area; the glow that wrapped around Conker's body...it was unreal.  Demo or not, this is the best-looking Xbox game I've played all year.

The explosions, environments and lighting effects are unbelievable.  You'll likely see more realism from Halo 2, but that won't undermine what Rare has done with the Conker series.  All of the characters – every last one – is fully-rendered.  No slightly jagged edges or jerky movements.  No poor mouth animation when the character's talk.  Xbox was promised to be the most advanced game console available.  Conker is one of the few games that justifies that claim.

Controlling Conker through the game's cleverly designed levels is not a breeze, but it sure is fun.  The setup is like any other third-person shooter (left analog stick controls movement; right analog stick controls your crosshairs).  It's the way the controls feel that make them special.  Seamless is one word I'd use to describe them.  Precise is another.  Conker may be more violent than Rare's past titles, but when you play it you'll know where this title has come from.  You'll see Rare's charm and you'll smile at every humorous element.

Conker's subtitle, Live and Reloaded, tells us two things.  One: the final version will be Live-enabled, a feature that's going to make everyone want Xbox Live (as if Halo 2 isn't already doing that).  Two: the final version will be reloaded with extra goodies.  What will the goodies be?  Your guess is as good as mine, though I'm willing to bet that one of these goodies will include a parody of The Matrix.  Here's hoping for some Kill Bill references.

Due next year, Conker: Live and Reloaded is one of the top games on my "I can't wait till next year to play it" list.  There's still a lot of excitement left for 2004, but with NFL Street Vol. 2, Resident Evil 4 and now Conker: Live and Reloaded, 2005 can't come soon enough.