Originally, this was meant to be a cutesy kid's game, but the designers at Rare felt that would be too similar to Banjo Kazooie. So, it was redesigned into a shockingly raunchy adult game chock full of profanity, blood, alcohol, and sexual themes, albeit with a deceptively cartoonish and colorful environment.
After suffering a nasty hangover from a night of drinking, you'll guide Conker the Red Squirrel on a long, arduous journey home while avoiding the minions of the Fairy Panther King who seeks to use Conker as a makeshift table leg. But don't let the game's cutesy appearance and humor fool you; the ending was a devastating gut-punch that teaches Conker (and the player) a harsh lesson.
The gameplay was fairly simple, consisting mostly of 3D platforming and puzzle solving and Conker only had a handful of moves. The only collectibles in the game are wads of cash that are necessary to progress further. But combat picked up in the third act and involves fighting a wide variety of enemies like the evil Tediz, Zombies, and Weasel soldiers with an assortment of weapons, like a shotgun, duel submachine guns, and a bazooka.
The game has a strong cinematic feel to it, thanks to the fantastic cutscenes. There are film references everywhere: the intro takes after "A Clockwork Orange", "It's War" was a gritty and bloody take on Saving Private Ryan, and "Heist" parodied the slow-motion action of "The Matrix". The final boss was even a Xenomorph from "Alien". The British humor was brilliant and side-splittingly funny; very few games made me laugh as hard as this one did.
The music was great and dynamic. The oldies style music of the hub world Windy was very catchy and spritely, then there was ancient tribal theme of Uga Buga, the low and eerie theme of Spooky, and the (in)famous Sloprano opera accompanied by the Great Mighty Poo's surprisingly beautiful singing voice provided by Chris Marlow. The sounds and voice acting were excellent, considering director Chris Seavor performed 90% of it.
The game pushed the N64 to its absolute limits, and it shows because the graphics and sounds were gorgeous for the system. The levels had beautiful coloring and strong textures like the glowing lava pits in Uga Buga, and the blood-dyed water on the shores of Tediz Island. Other visual effects like sparks from bullet impacts, explosions and smoke clouds, and water dripping off Conker after swimming looked great too. Conker even conveyed full facial emotions and eye movement, and he had full lips sync, as did most of the characters.
Downer ending aside and the disappointing fact that no true sequel will be made, Conker's Bad Fur Day was a marvelous game created late in N64's life and one of the funniest I've ever played. Even today, it remains a cult classic that's still enjoyable.
