From December's Next-Generation, a preview of Furballs. (Forgive any typos I might have missed after the OCR):
DREAMCAST, PC, PLAYSTATION2
Publisher: Acclaim
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Release Date: April 2000
Origin: England
Cute and cuddly, but oddly dangerous
When Next Generation previewed Bizarre Creations' Dreamcast exclusive Metropolis Street Racer, the developer was kind enough to give a quick glimpse of its second project, Furballs. The title has come a long way since then. After two years of development, the "third-person-cartoon-action-puzzle-shooter-adventure-explore-'em-up," as company boss Martyn Chudley calls it, is shaping up to be a potential hit, mingling different genres with humor wacky characters, and a bit of disturbing violence on top. At this year's ECTS, Acclaim announced that it will publish the title worldwide, bringing it to PC and Dreamcast first and to "other next-generation platforms" in late 2000. Although the other versions are kept a tight secret, the platform (cough, PlayStation2, cough) shouldn't be too hard to guess ...
"Furballs Dreamcast is the current main development version and is aimed to push the hardware, with the PC version being taken from this," Wiswell says. Not surprisingly, both versions look very much alike, but future versions may differ significantly. "You can be sure that we'll be making the most of any increased capabilities," the producer comments.
The game will put the player in control of the six Furballs, an "elite squad of highly trained special-forces cuddly animals." In what seems like a standard-fare videogame plot, the player will have to defeat General Viggo, who made his army of bears kidnap the Furballs' families (he's also - surprise, surprise - planning to take over the world). The six heroes go out to rescue their babies as well as save their spouses and parents, who have been mutated into evil end-of-level bosses (sounds a lot like a paranoid high-school-age fantasy).
What makes this game rather special is that all six characters need to be used in order to finish the game. Each character has a unique skill which enables it to reach areas to which others don?t have access. The kangaroo, Bungalow, can leap extra high, while Roofus, the dog, can burrow through soft ground. Imagine Sonic Adventure with the difference being that all characters must be used to see the final credits. The innovative multi-character gameplay should also make for good replay value, with many different ways to complete the game.
Wiswell insists that puzzle elements will be as important as frantic shooting, "and many of the puzzles are spread across large sections of the levels. We have tried to integrate the puzzles into the environments - we didn't want any floating platforms or bits of scenery that just didn't fit." In actual gameplay, gamers will put huge cranes in motion or even step into the New York subway - all adding to the game's immersive and movie-like quality.
The very fluid animation doesn't fail to impress, either. The characters move in a very distinct and often hilarious cartoon style and the game is full of surprises, like flying bear heads for instance (but hey, they're just stuffed animals!).
With Bizarre's dedication to the project and an attention to detail that may make Furballs the first truly interactive cartoon (gulp!), it looks as if Acclaim may have a very successful franchise on its hands. |
