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Hardware | Features | Reviews | Previews | Media+Files | Hints | Columns
All About...
Fur Fighters
Preview

Furballs Become Fur Fighters in this cutesy 3D action adventure
Acclaim has coughed up Furballs. That was the name given to its cutesy animal-based, third-person perspective, 3D action adventure for the Sega Dreamcast, but trademark issues with Warner Bros. forced a name change. Now dubbed Fur Fighters, this game should see release in spring of 2000 -- and will bring barnyard antics to great heights on the Sega Dreamcast.

Six highly adorable, playable animal characters are available, each with its own particular special ability: Roofus the hound dog can dig into the ground, Rico the penguin can swim, Chang the red panda can use his small frame to squeeze into places the other fighters can't go. All the characters hop and gambol through the game's levels in cartoonish fashion, and the bright colors and rich textures seem to add a feeling of great shininess and/or happiness. Do not misconstrue, however, these cute critters pack a mean punch. Each animal has an attack tailored to its unique nature and can collect all sorts of powerful guns, grenades, lasers, blasters and atmospheric-based weaponry (freeze 'em or burn 'em) to smite the various enemies.

All these Fur Fighters set out on the task of battling the Evil General Viggo; meant to parody the James Bond villain Blofeld, Viggo is a giant cat who totes around a small bald man. This no-goodnik fiend kidnapped the fighters' parents and spouses as well as all the local children. If anyone in videogames ever wanted a severe drubbing, it is indeed Viggo.

Each level contains approximately one-and-a-half to two hours of gameplay. Fur Fighters will battle on a construction site, a space station, in the snow-covered New Quack City and, eventually, in their own personal (read: there will be six of them) Hell. On each level, the enemies will sport appropriate gear -- they'll wear hardhats and baggy pants on the construction stage and gangster style suits in the New York-esque level. Puzzles will require players to test their cerebrums; on one level, a night watchman prevents entry into a building and will only depart after a certain task is performed. In addition, each level will contain a minigame to break things up a bit. The space station, for example, features a Star Wars style asteroid shoot.

As is standard with games of this type, players will need to undergo a training level to acclimate themselves to the characters and the Turok-style control layout. There will also be gold tokens to collect (Players must collect 50-60 percent of the tokens on a level to move to the next stage, and there will be a bonus for those who -- forgive us, please -- catch 'em all.), and animal babies to rescue. The babies, cute as buttons, have learned never to follow strangers; this means that Bungalow the kangaroo can only rescue kangaroo babies, and only Juliette can provide salvation for kittens. Each rescue triggers a cute little cut-scene where the baby is fitted with a jet rocket, then blasted off to the safety of the creatures' village. It's a sappy touch, indeed, but only a heartless few will think this wasted time.

Levels will be littered with 10 different animal enemies from bears to huge-jawed crocs -- and even a fox who carries two pistols in fine John Woo fashion. Players will need to blast these mo-moes into oblivion, but to keep the light and airy feel, no blood will ever be shown. Instead, when enemies are dispatched, they'll spew tiny bits of white stuffing into the air. When Acclaim and Bizarre Creations came by the Daily Radar offices to show the game off, Fur Fighters associate producer Nick Wiswell demonstrated how players could get off a headshot which will divest an enemy of its noggin. Then, in perhaps the game's silliest feature, the head can then be batted and blasted around.

A nifty two-player deathmatch mode allows for the Fur Fighters to claw away at each other. Teleporters allow a player to swap a wounded Fur Fighter with a fresh one, and the standard blasting rules apply. Wiswell said Bizarre was looking into the possibility of instituting four-player action, but added the third-person perspective coupled with a reduced screen size makes this problematic.


- Greg Orlando

 
Preview: 5/12/00
Will those furry little freaks ever learn?
 


7/10/00
Bungalow
Roofus
Tweek
Juliette
Rico
Chang
5/12/00
Image 1
5/11/00
Multiplayer Fur Fighter Screens
More Multiplayer Shots
Subtle Drug Reference
Image 5
1/19/00
Roofus Xavier Sasparilla
Meow!
Resident Weevil?
Vidi, Vini, Vigo
Fur Fighting!
Bungalow Bill?
Rico Suave
Triangulated Crossfire



"Levels will be littered with 10 different animal enemies from bears to huge-jawed crocs -- and even a fox who carries two pistols in fine John Woo fashion. "

Screens

Who could forget Rufus X. Sasparilla, who taught us about pronouns? This Rufus, however, doesn't teach us about anything but killing.

Juliette the cat can use her claws to climb.

"It's a game of bad puns." -- Associate producer Nick Wiswell on Furballs.

Stats
Est. Release Date 3/28/01
Developer Bizarre Creations
Publisher Acclaim
Genre Action
Players 1-2

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