LUGARU
Original Release: Wolfire Games, 2010, PC/Mac/Linux
While everyone was obsessing over pirates and ninjas, Wolfire explored the question of karate rabbits vs wolves in this 3D brawler
Lugaru (PC, Wolfire, 2010)
Where to Buy: Steam
Review by: C. M0use
Don't be fooled by the fluffy bunny appearance, Lugaru is pretty grim. Lots of blood, throat slitting, kicking of enemy corpses around after they are dead. I dunno if the Wolfire people are furries, but the anthropomorphic models are kinda creepy in that special way too.
I'm still not certain what the story is, but the game just kinda dumps you off in levels and presents you with arrays of other rabbits and anthro wolves to beat the hell out of. Or at least attempt to beat the hell out of. Lugaru's primary touted quality is a sophisticated and complex combat engine, but hell if you'll ever get to appreciate it because from the first enemy you're getting circle-strafed and spammed at lightning speed. The main idea is to hold the left mouse button constantly so that your character auto-attacks when approached, which makes the whole thing feel button-mashy and very random, which is the antithesis of what it is advertised to be. And if you think fighting one guy is bad, wait until there's a group of two or three surrounding you and frantically spamming you with instant knockdown moves. Good times.
I don't mind a large game world without specific direction, but levels seem to be mostly empty, you're only given a vague idea of what to do and where to go (often no directional pointers whatsoever), and the game will merrily let you run through epic stretches of complete emptiness and get totally lost. Worlds and levels only exist as giant, empty arenas for Rabbit Kombat.
Maybe I'm just completely missing something here but the game seems totally inaccessible. I've watched Youtube videos of the game being played, including some by the creator, and it doesn't look like I'm really doing anything wrong - it seems floaty, random, janky, frustrating, spammy and imprecise by design, yet more than a handful of game journalists go ga-ga over it. All I can say is if you don't get or care for the combat engine, there's almost nothing else here on offer. Just seems to require way too much practice, patience and fiddling to become enjoyable even at the most basic level.
Comments
Post a Comment