Conker's Pocket Tales

"Under-par from Rare"

Rare are my favourite game designers. They always have been ever since I first played Donkey Kong Country 2, my favourite game ever. So naturally, when I got my Game Boy Colour with this game, I had high expectations. I knew Rare could do well with hand-held gaming, after completing Donkey Kong Land 3. Sadly, this game didn't live up to my expectations, but it's still quite a fun, enjoyable game.

Story: What story? That's one aspect of this game which is practically non-existent. Basically, you are celebrating your birthday with your sister, Berri. Suddenly your evil Nemesis, The Evil Acorn kidnaps your sister and all your presents. He's basically ruined your birthday, and you have got to save it.
N/A

Graphics: For a game of its era, this has fantastic graphics. The characters are animated well,are clear, and their colours are chosen well. The surroundings are well developed and surprisingly detailed, with very few graphical glitches, which has dogged other Game Boy titles. I was immensely impressed with what Rare achieved in the graphical department of the Game Boy Colour Console. Truly the best aspect of the game.
9/10

Sound: Although naturally I don't expect fantastic sound with the Game Boy, I was slighly disappointed with the quality of sound. The tunes themselves aren't that bad, some are quiet childish and catchy at the same time. It's just that they are implemented badly, and are at poorer quality than what they should be. In saying that however, you could be humming along to some of the tunes afterwards, as I found. The greatest thing about the Game Boy however, is you can turn the sound off, and listen to your favourite CD. (Crank up Siamese Dream!)
7/10

Game-play: This is really where i was truly disappointed. I read reviews previously about how free-roaming the game is. This was proved false. This isn't to say that the areas are small, far from it. The first few levels are quiet large for Game Boy standards, and it is enjoyable roaming around for a while. Then it gets boring. REALLY boring. The game is actually quite linear really-you just keep running from one place to another. Take this for example-collecting one present (basically the main items in the game) involves seeing one of your friends, you tells you to "Find so-and-so". You go and find him, for him only to tell you that "You need this certain item from this guy." You go to this guy, only for him to tell you "That unless you get something else first, you can't have this, blah blah blah." Rare try and spice it up with various mini-games, but some of these are near-impossible, and you need fingers of steel to pass them. Finding the "secret" items usually involves using an item you found previously while trying to find something else. The final levels are confined corridor-jumpers, and they break the formula-using a worser formula. Basically you jump over spikes and what have you, to get to a puzzle. Complete the puzzle to continue. This happens about 6 or 7 times in the level. Rare were clearly rushing finishing the game, and it shows.
5/10

After playing the game for a few months, my initial opinion was that this game was pretty good. Perhaps even great. After finishing it again recently, my old opinion was wrong. This doesn't live up to its expectations in the game play department. This could of been an fantastic game. Sadly, it is just another average plat-former to add to the pile.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/17/05