Conker, a cute little orange squirrel, had a few too many drinks while out with the boys last night. But you'll soon get to know him as so much more than a cute squirrel. He's also a hard drinking rodent with a mouth like a sailor who happens to have a bit of a courageous streak. After waking up from a recent bender, he ends up fighting for his life against the weasel legions of a mad panther king.

The story makes as much sense as necessary and not one bit more. Conker's travels consist of jumping puzzles and a fair bit of combat, and all of the conventions are, by now, quite familiar. The game has been remade for the Xbox, so the biggest news for the single player adventure is the massive upgrade in appearance. When it first hit the N64, Conker was widely praised for a well-realized, beautiful fantasy world. The use of color and artistic style in creating the characters was excellent. All of that has been retained, but with a significant upgrade in detail. Other than that, the game plays very much like the original and for a full review of that you can Click Here.

What is completely new is the online mode through Xbox Live. Rare has created almost an entirely new game using Conker's world, and it is as unique as the original adventure. Rather than just being a third person shoot fest every time you play online - because it can certainly be that - there are also maps that involve objectives and make use of different characters and weapons.

The first thing you'll do when jumping into a game is pick a side. You can team up with the cute squirrels or the nazi-esque Tediz (Teddy Bear Nazis). You can also decide on a class, which range from a slow bazooka-carrying demolition machine, to a grunt with a machine gun to a stealthy melee fighter. There are also a few specialty classes, and choosing something that fits your style is important. If you try to run around and be subtle with your use of the rocket launcher you're going to end up wasting opportunities. And If you aren't careful with your melee-only character, you will not last long.

To be fair, you probably won't last long no matter what you do. The online play is a completely different game than the single player. It's faster, more violent and involves much more action and very little, if any, elements from the offline adventure. It creates a completely different experience, except for the use of the artwork and appearance of the original.

You should have no trouble finding your choice of games on any map, even with a full 16 players. The action is as frantic as you'll find online - this is no slow-moving sniper fest. It's run and gun with soft, furry little woodland animals who happen to know how to use swords, grenades and bazookas.

The maps aren't anything experienced capture the flag players haven't seen before, but when you have enough players in a game, the action is intense. It's hard to get used to at first, though, because the display does a good job of telling you who's within sight but a bad job of telling you what's going on in the bigger picture - where to go and what to do. Securing check points and capture the flag are two game options, and until you get used to the map in detail you'll feel a bit like cannon fodder. The learning curve is a little steeper than most online games. But once you get in a game with enough people that know what they're doing, and even with a few that don't, the action is very addictive and inherently competitive.

It's been a few years since the original Bad Fur Day, so there are plenty of people who haven't enjoyed it. But even if you're familiar with Conker the multiplayer in this version is outstanding. The upgrade in graphics - the detail and animations are fantastic - make it an easy recommendation for fans of bathroom humor and solid online action. Live & Reloaded isn't as unique as it was when it first came out years ago, but the upgrades and online play still make it stand out from other choices.