Conker's Pocket Tales

"An honest look on what a child would think about this game. (Revised, reworked and more detailed.)"

Conker has a fairly detailed history for such an unimportant "player" in the industry that is "video games." Before the poo-humored, violent, and extremely well done game (I'm being honest here!), Conker's Bad Fur Day (I will refer to Conker's Bad Fur Day as BFD in this review), there was this. This game wasn't very popular, and was often under looked and stereotyped as a kiddy game by Sony and Sega fans, so therefore sales were very low. I can recall back quite a few years ago when I was a younger kid and I asked my grandfather for this game, so I can honestly tell you what this game is like for a younger child.

Story: 6/10

Just like BFD, this game has a pretty lame story. Conker is having a party, and you are invited! But as Conker is just about to open his BIG gift, The Evil Acorn (The bad guy of course) jumps out of the box and steals Conker's girlfriend, Berry, his presents, and his invitations. Now Conker must take on an epic quest, if he dares to accept it, to save his girlfriend, presents, and invitations. Most kids probably aren't expecting an epic anyway, so I'm going to give what probably deserves a 2 a 6.

Gameplay: 5/10

This is where the game really falls down. I'm going to be short and quick about this section. This game involves searching for Conker's lost presents (which unlock new worlds) and invitations (which raises Conker's "rank," which is a nifty little feature that gives players a little title.) This game is like most other platformers (go from point A to B, collect this, beat this mini-game, fight this boss, ext.), however, the puzzles start out really easy yet somewhat fun, then quickly go to being boring, redundant tasks. It's easy to tell that the developers were running out of innovative ideas to entertain the player. For the targeted audience (probably around 6-12), things like this can't entertain the audience for very long before they get bored and want to play something else.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics are pretty good, especially for a Game Boy Color game, but since Rareware (an expert in graphic development) made this game, it could be much better. In general though, not speaking of Rare or any other company, the graphics are very good. The graphics are bright, colorful, and fun to look at.

Controls: 9/10

The controls are very responsive, and don't cause much of a problem. The D-pad controls Conker, double tapping the D-pad allows Conker to run, the A button let's you jump, double tapping the A button ground pound, the B button, when you get it, lets you shoot Conkers' (which are your ammo) out of your slingshot, the Start button pauses the game, and pressing Select, while paused, will allow you save your “quest”. For a younger kid, these controls should be easy enough to remember.

Amount of Gameplay/Replay Value: 5/10

This game is pretty short. If you tried, you could probably beat it in about 3-5 hours. As replay value goes, you could probably replay it to get the highest rank (through ).

Amount of Gameplay: 5/10
Replay Value: 4/10
(Not an average)

Rent, buy, borrow from a friend, or burn: Borrow from a friend

I would highly recommend borrowing it from a friend before you buy it for you or one of your younger relatives,/friends. Conker's Pocket Tales doesn't have too much to hold its own ground, other than it was made by the legendary game company Rare. True you could probably find this game dirt cheap at a garage sale for dirt cheap, but unless you can find it for less than $5, I probably wouldn't even touch it. Besides, it's a pretty short game anyway and you'll probably beat it before your friend wants it back.

Breakdown:
Story: 6/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Controls: 9/10
Amount of Gameplay/Replay value: 5/10 (Amount of Gameplay: 5/10. Replay Value: 4/10
Rent, buy, or burn: Buy

Overall (Not an average): 5/10

Final words:

This game was made for younger children in mind. The game succeeds to a certain degree by aiming at that. However, just because you liked BFD defiantly doesn't mean you'll like this game; this game is the perfect epitome of opposites. I highly recommend you get to know the child you're purchasing this game for and the kind of video games he or she likes before you purchase this game at a garage sale or such.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/04, Updated 09/13/06