Fur Fighters was a video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Acclaim for the Sega Dreamcast video game console in 2000, then later for the PC.

The game was designed very much as a standard third person shooter, but used a world populated by cute little animals as its setting. As a result, the game's depiction of violence could be very cartoon-like without losing any of its intensity.

Gameplay summary

In Fur Fighters, the player's job was to rescue the tiny animals babies that had been stolen from their parents by the central villain, Viggo. Viggo scattered these babies all over the world, requiring the animal parents to explore, confront Viggo's henchmen, and rescue all of them. The gameplay featured many unique aspects for a third-person shooter of the time, most notably making each game level an extremely large, expansive area that require sometimes hours of involved exploration to locate the babies and get rid of the enemies. (Examples include a giant construction site and an entire section of a large city, complete with explorable buildings including a complete museum of modern art.) Maneuvering through these levels often required careful observation of the environment so as not to get lost, as well as solving puzzles to figure out where some babies might be hidden or how to gain access to more of the level. Unlike most action games of this type, Fur Fighters distinguished itself by featuring a system where the player could, at many intervals on a level, switch between one of many animal parents. Each parent had their own advantages and disadvantages, with many having special abilities allowing them to do certain things easier. This switching-out system also made it easier for players who were low on hit points or ammunition to switch to more playable character.

Critical reaction

While Fur Fighters was not a tremendous financial success and went almost unnoticed by the majority of gamers at the time, critically the game was almost universally praised for its size, scope, sense of humor, and attention to detail. The fact that mindless violence was not the sole gameplay element impressed many, and the game went on to become a sort of cult classic. In an attempt to take the franchise further with a larger audience, a new version of the game entitled Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge was released in 2001 on the Sony PlayStation 2 console system. It met with mixed success as it was simply a remake of the original game with a few minor features included.