![]() It also doesn’t help that the combat system is incredibly imprecise, with attacks that seem not to work unless you hold down the left mouse button constantly until they happen rather than just pressing it when it’s needed.Īnd, let us face it, time has left Lugaru behind. ![]() Whereas a modern game would give the player time to get used to the game’s combat by introducing moves into the player’s repertoire one at a time over the first hour or so of the game, Lugaru offers it’s entire training in a single long tutorial and I had inevitably forgotten many of the initial moves by the time I had reached the end. What’s worse, the buggy, weightless physics often lead to dropped weaponry flying about or crazily rolling around on the ground, bouncing off of walls and apparently gaining even more momentum. It feels less like the brutal, precise experience that it should be, and more like hitting two rag dolls against each other repeatedly. Even the weakest and most basic of attacks can literally send an enemy flying across the level, and yet does practically no damage whatsoever, whilst a killing blow is only distinguished as such by a short period of slow-motion and a bonus score text at the top of the screen. The downfall of the combat’s rather ambitious nature is that nothing feels like it has any weight to it. Under an experienced player, Turner can adopt an impressive mix of stealth, martial arts and floaty Hong Kong cinema wirework inspired motions in the air to efficiently take down his prey. Lugaru’s combat is swift, demanding and, when it works, visually impressive. Whilst at the time most brawlers had used combat systems based upon memorising long sequences of specific button presses in order to perform moves, Lugaru was one of the first games to use a more simplistic style based upon context-specific actions, allowing the player to attack, dodge and counter using only a few basic buttons. The centre, and arguably the entirety of Lugaru is it’s then-innovative combat system. Released in 2004, Lugaru is the brainchild of David Rosen, a San Francisco based programmer who is arguably more well-known as one of the co-founders of the Humble Indie Bundle (and therefore indirectly responsible for the Steam-based deluge I am currently struggling under, so thanks for that, David) and stars a rather impressively acrobatic anthropomorphic bunny called Turner seeking the truth surrounding his family’s deaths. Certainly not many people (outside of perhaps Redwall fans and the Furry community) must have a particular hankering to play as a Kung-Fu rabbit seeking revenge upon the raiders that killed his wife and child and wiped out his entire village, but yet here we are. If games are about wish fulfillment, then Lugaru: The Rabbit’s Foot must fit into a very niche corner of the market.
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