In late 2002, Microsoft purchased the development company Rare for the princely sum of US$375 million, with the intent to convert “global multimillion sellers”  such as ‘GoldenEye 007’, ‘Banjo-Kazooie’ and ‘Donkey Kong’ into Xbox blockbusters. With earlier sales averaging 1.4 million per title, you would expect huge results, yet it is now 3 years on and Rare has hardly made a ripple in the Xbox landscape.

One of the Nintendo-64 titles that has been Microsoftised is the character of Conker, the squirrel from ‘Bad Fur Day’, who now stars in this edition called ‘Live & Reloaded’. The weird thing about the game is that from looking at the cover you would expect a children’s based game; you look at the characters and think it is going to be for toddlers; then when you actually play the game you realise it’s rude, crass, and full of killing! It is basically a fusion of puzzles and deathmatches, while poking fun at famous movies, and it contains its fair share of crude MA-rated humour. It is basically a slightly updated version of the original, with online play of course, but the graphics get a beautiful makeover. Everything looks very swish, showing off the power upgrade the Xbox over the N64, and the landscapes and characters are stunningly smooth.

One big gripe with the game is that you can’t skip the intro scenes. Load the disc. Wait. Watch the cut-scene. Wait. Start the game. Wait. Watch another cut-scene. Wait. Pressing start or A or even a mash of all buttons does nothing to advance the screen! When you finally start the game you are a rather hungover Conker, strolling around a field to find clues and directions, and you have to meet people and solve puzzles to get by. Unfortunately you can wander aimlessly for long amounts of time without seeing or doing anything – so it can become quite frustrating. Multiplayer wise this game is much more fun! It is a 3rd person shooter, with up to 16 people at a time, and you can shoot and bomb your way around trying to destroy the evil Teddy Bears. It is a fair bit like ‘Halo’, but from a slightly different perspective, but of course the lands and characters are much less serious.

If you have very fund memories of the N64 edition of this game you may love it – but otherwise it can be quite a frustrating experience. It is quirky, and fun in parts, but the single player is not the kind of game that holds your attention for long, but the online multiplayer can be good fun, especially with lots of friends online.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5