Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge
Score: 78% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Acclaim Developer: Bizarre Creations Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: Miscellaneous/ Shooter
Graphics & Sound: The graphics in Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge are both a step up and a step down from the original Dreamcast version; unfortunately, they end up being more negative than positive. The first thing that you'll notice when you start to play is the switch from 'normal' to cel-shaded character designs; while I happen to like the look, I can understand why some people don't, especially for this sort of game. Take it or leave it, though, it's still a very nice effect. However, the game starts to falter when it comes to other graphical elements. The textures in the game are muddied and low-resolution; while this was a problem with the Dreamcast version as well, it's especially prevalent here on the PS2. Some of the rooms I thought were painted purposefully bad, until I looked at the walls from far enough away to realize it's just a result of the texture compression. Ugh. And the framerate . . . what once was a steady clip degenerates into a usually steady clip that unfortunately falters more often than not and drops into 'annoyingly choppy'. Urgh. Stuff like this is proof that the Dreamcast 'died' way before its time, I'm afraid. The sound in the game is solid, if taken directly from the Dreamcast version. The main exception to this is the voice acting; the Klonoa-style nonsense babble has been replaced with genuine voice acting. While I got a kick out of said voices, many of them are frighteningly stereotypical--and some of them, like Chang's, are bad at being stereotypical. Ugh. The music is take-it-or-leave-it; I've heard it enough times now to have grown accustomed to it, but I'm sure it's not everyone's bag of tea.
Gameplay: And while a number of nice little tweaks have been done to the gameplay in Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge, the result is still a slightly-different version of a middling-to-good Dreamcast game with a few issues of its own. The Dreamcast game was buggy, and the PS2 game is buggy in different ways, unfortunately; in the end, the bad outweighs the good, and the DC version ends up on top. For those of you who didn't play the first one (or read my review), the Fur Fighters were a group of crimefighters who, after defeating the Big Bad Guy, decided to set up a little village by the shore and live the rest of their lives peacefully. Unfortunately, Viggo wasn't quite defeated, and he steals the spouses and parents and children of the Fur Fighters in an attempt to incapacitate them while he quests for world domination. Of course, they'll have none of that, and it's up to you to control them as they try to save the world (or at least their relatives) and defeat General Viggo. The game plays like a mix of a first-person shooter and a platform-adventure; while there's quite a bit of combat in the game, and circle strafing is an excellent strategy, there are also a billion nooks and crannies to explore and the inevitable 'tokens' to collect in each level. Indeed, the PS2 version has a number of added events that can power up your characters and in general make the game more interesting for you. One of the core conceits of the game is the differences between the various characters. Each of the Fur Fighters has a strong suit, or an ability that no one else can do: Roofus the dog can burrow in certain locations, Juliette the cat can climb certain walls, Tweek the dragon can fly short distances, Chang the firefox can fit in small locations, Bungalow the kangaroo can jump higher than anyone else, and Rico the penguin can swim underwater. You'll have to use each of the Fur Fighters' abilities to get through each level; the game has teleportation points that contain a particular Fur Fighter, and you can switch between them by running into one of the globes. Thus there's a sort of game-inside-the-game: find the right Fighters for the job. Complementing this, the kids only allow themselves to be rescued by their own parents, requiring even more strategy as you play. When you get tired of the massive single-player game, you can play against your friends in a Fluffmatch, which is entertaining but in the end not as fulfilling as, say, Unreal Tournament or TimeSplitters.
Difficulty: Some of the jumps and levels you have to manage in Viggo's Revenge are quite difficult, but none of them are impossible. Some of the sequences require you to figure out a trick as well: finding a switch, getting the right timing, landing the jumps. Fortunately you effectively have infinite lives, making your job easier [if not less frustrating]. The controls also have a learning curve, especially if you attempt the dual stick configuration.
Game Mechanics: At first, I was boggled as I played Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge. I was having problems doing simple things like walking around, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. I didn't remember having problems like this on the Dreamcast. So I broke out my copy of Fur Fighters for the DC and played it for a few minutes, and realized the problem immediately: whereas on the PS2 you have two sticks to use, the DC required you to use the one stick for aiming and the buttons on the face for moving around. When I went back to the PS2 and started using the face buttons for movement instead, the game became instantly more bearable. The game itself controls fairly nicely, although the camera is utter crap. It tends to either show too much or nowhere near enough, and rarely does it find a happy medium. The engine is relatively solid, although the framerate jumps way more than I'd like, and a few of the scripted events are a little buggy in the game. Fortunately, you can always 'exit to hub' if necessary in a sub-level; while not a fix for the bug, you can at least attempt it again. Usually. It's usually strange things, like not being able to walk up a slope you usually can. Eh. Irritatingly, the game seems to have longer load times than the Dreamcast version as well. This is especially noticeable when you step into a teleportation orb; the game actually pauses for a second while it switches characters. Ugh. The disc also sounds like it's doing the lambada while it plays in your PS2, which is sort of scary. While the PS2 version of Fur Fighters arguably looks nicer and definitely has more features than the Dreamcast version, Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge is unfortunately the weaker of the two. The new additions to the game don't quite make up for the drop in framerate, irritating load times and glitchy game experience. If you don't have a Dreamcast and enjoy either first-person shooters or platform adventure games, you'd do well to check Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge out: it may appeal to you. If you have a Dreamy, though, you should definitely pick up the original.
-Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon
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