Before I picked up Furi, I was very sceptical as the game is done entirely in a boss rush style, with a bit of walking between battles, and believed I would get bored far too easily, but boy, was I wrong! The developers over at The Game Bakers have managed to implement a great amount of content with a lot of fun to be had; as a result, this review has taken some time to do, being longer than most partly due to not being able to get past the first battle initially, which frustrated me with a passion; however, that shows this game is all about skill, from which I sadly had none.
The beauty of Furi is one that has been a big part of the video game industry since the first boss fight back in 1975, which was a part of Golden Dragon; a text based game with a small amount of animation – The boss was implemented to stop gamers from finishing the game with ease, initially. Furi uses the ideology of the boss fight as the basis of it’s game, but does this in a rather clever way and is able to deliver gameplay that does not become stagnant, due to the development and delivery of the boss encounters. At least from what I have seen, the battles have been so varied thus far that I have not encountered a single battle that feels like another.
The artistic style is fantastic, with every world being as beautiful as the last – I found it a slight shame I could not just slow down in the game to take in the environments and scenery, that was complimented by a flawless explosive soundtrack composed by electro musicians Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn, Scattle, Waveshaper and Kn1ght, which also complimented the battles down to the final slash and swipe of your sword. For lovers of anime, each of the formidable guardians were designed by Afro Samurai creator Takashi Okazaki, giving that new-age fantasy vibe to them, leading to some wacky designs.
Furi really caught me off guard once I got the hang of the controls, and got in to the rhythm of the whole boss battle experience; it reminded me of games such as Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Vanquish and Metal Gear Rising, which, for fans of theses games, buying Furi is a complete no brainer in my eyes – What really caught me off guard, however, was there was a story, and not some half baked story at that, but one with multiple endings, all possible with the choices you make in game within these battles – I always love a good multiple choice ending, as it gives the game an extended amount of replayabilty.
The developers over at The Game Bakers have said Furi has been inspired by Japanese games, such as the brilliant No More Heroes, Metal Gear Solid and Godhand franchises, and is the result of their desire to capture the combined moment of fright, passion and adrenaline you feel when in a fight. Furi is a skill-based game, down to the core, and is shown in the diversity of opponents and attack patterns; I mean, just look at some of the screenshots below!
I could not agree more with the developer’s own thoughts on Furi; the game is purely skill based, where you just have to get better, and each time you play the mistakes you make will make you a better player all round as you learn what the best tactic is for taking out each boss. The truth is they are right when they said “The diversity of opponents and attack patterns is there to make the player refine his or her skills and get better and better, instead of increasing the character’s stats or his weapons. Ultimately, feeling your skills improve, as a player, is what feels best in a video game“; as I progressed in Furi, I really did feel that I had improved so much during each battle, taking note of how each boss moves, attacks and defends, and to tell the truth, it made me feel epic! There were no stat boosts or more powerful weapons, it was just me and my katana, and that is what i loved about Furi – It’s not an easy game, and it can be brutal at times, but if you persist you will master it.
My final thoughts on this game are quite simple, really; this game will make you angry at the start (Well…it did make me angry as I couldn’t get past the first boss for ages!), but once you start learning your mistakes you will find this game to be highly enjoyable, with it’s very fast paced and responsive gameplay and beautiful scenery; I would highly recommend this game to veterans of the hack’n’slash genre, and even newcomers – Furi is going to get an 8/10 from me.
Reviewed by Craig Bryant
Check out the Trailer below!