Welcome to the 72nd issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This is a weekly feature where we share our favourite games. Some may be well known, others we feel have been ignored but all are fantastic and deserve at least a play.
Fury of the Furries
Why this game isn't more known and ported all over the place is an absolute mystery to me and it actually does sadden me somewhat.
In Fury of the Furries you play this piece of fluff with arms, legs & a face called Tiny. Tiny and his other furry friends come back from a holiday only to find that some evil bastard called "The Wicked One" has ruined their home planet and also corrupted the minds of the other tiny creatures on their planet into these monsters. As Tiny you have to defeat "The Wicked One" to restore the planet and its inhabitants to the way they were.
There are eight different types of levels and they are the usual platform fare of Desert, Forest, Water, Pyramids, Lagoon, Village & Castle. The eighth I wont tell you as it'll spoil the ending. These levels are of quite good length, not too short and not too long. They are filled with the corrupted furry creatures, traps, acid pools & spikes. This isn't no simple run & jump platformer, this is one that requires a little brain power in order to get through these levels. These levels are also timed so to to rush the player a little to make mistakes, this really adds to the difficulty though I do like to use cheats so I can stop the time and just mess about swinging about the place.
Tiny is a resourceful little critter, he can bounce like a little bugger & hadouken a ton of fire out of his hands to kill baddies but that aint all! There is land, water as well as obstacles & high places to try and get over. Luckily Tiny can change forms! Turn him red and he can eat the earth and dig his way through various pieces of scenery that get in his way. Turn green and you can shoot out rope which will help you swing and climb around the place (I have too much fun in this form, seriously) and also you can use the rope to pull big boulders but these three forms can't swim well in water...well turn blue and you can swim and blow bubbles to defend yourself against the seas dirty little monsters. Sometimes you have to go through coloured fields in the game and these said fields sometimes take away the ability to change into certain forms away from you, especially when you have to solve certain puzzles but the forms you can choose are just right for the task at hand and allow the game to have the right challenge needed in a game.
Graphically this game is a treat for me. Well detailed levels & nicely animated sprites that are brimming over with character. These screens and the video don't really give the game much justice. The level design is well thought out, there is no filler here folks. The sounds are great. The little tuneful ditties end up being hummed when you go about your "real life" business but they are essentially naff muzak tunes. The sound effects are exactly what you want in a game of this type and are cute but not too cute.
The game has a number of pop culture references to the likes of Batman, The Prisoner, Ninja Turtles, Cool Spot (kinda obscure reference nowadays but Cool Spot was well known back then), Indiana Jones and even Pac-Man (this was also made into a Pac-Man game...more on that later). As well as that you can play the game in Fremen which most Frank Herbert fans know is a language from the Dune universe.
The game is a very good length with eighty or so levels to get through. The learning curve is just right and it has the right difficulty. It controls exactly how it should and the mistakes are purely down to the player and not down to the games design. Each of the puzzles in the levels never really feel like a chore to get through and are not always the same ones over and over. Overall this is a game that should be bigger than it is, it would still be as good if released today as it was back then, hell I reckon it would be more appreciated in fact as it does feel like a modern day indie title. Though my fondest memories of this game are on the Amiga it'll probably be easier for you to play the DOS version via DosBox.
There was never a sequel to this game however the developers did go on to turn this into a Pac-Man title called Pac-In-Time a year later. The PC, Mac & Gameboy versions were pretty much the same as FotF only with you playing as Pac-Man, however the Super Nintendo version is an entirely different game with a different engine and levels, only it uses the same kind of gameplay mechanics.
Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
Released: 1993
Developer: Kalisto
Published by: Mindscape
Designed by: Cyrille Fontaine
Released For: Amiga 500/CD32/PC/Mac
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