Conker: Live and Reloaded, once known as Conker Online, then Conker: Live and Uncut, is essentially the same game you know and love from the late '90s, when Rare freaked out Nintendo and created a lame-ass cute squirrel character copied from Mr. Nuts, the less-than-seminal platforming romp. One marketing disaster later, you had one of the best ever mature-rated action platformers with juvenile humor aplenty, classic movie references, giant mountains of poo singing opera, and little in the way of sales. What to do? Get Bill Gates to write a blank check and reformat the game, flummox Microsoft's marketing muscle into changing the game name more times than Englebert Humperdink, and completely pump up the online component. The result is the newly re-christened Conker: Live and Reloaded. We're expecting the game name to change to Conker: Revolutions just in time for the game's projected end-of-2004 release.

On the show floor, Microsoft was hawking the multiplayer mode only. We'll run through that momentarily, but sneaky footage of the single-player game was also seen. This was the part of the game where Conker takes on a giant bull, and fans will be pleased to learn that the graphics have been significantly pumped up. Grass is wavy, steam from the bull's snorting nose is dissipates with beautifully precise misting, and we'll throw out phrases like "bump-mapping" like they were going out of style. So it seems there's just a graphical overhaul, more swears, and a couple of cutscenes to renew your interest. If you haven't played the original, this is still going to be an impressive and damn funny single-player jaunt. But for Conker's legions of fans, Rare's still figuring out the multiplay. It's plan? Steal elements from Unreal Tournament.

To this end there's much larger environments than you're expecting. Different types of squirrels or Tedi soldiers are available, varying from ninja-fast katana-wielders to Arnie-style bulky bears with mini-guns strapped to their back fur. The camera -- behind the third-person characters last year making aiming furiously annoying -- has been panned back a little, over the head of your player. So that's much better. There's vehicles to zoom around this time around, and if you're into sitting on giant sentry guns and shredding fur, the game's got you covered, too. The only real potential for crappage? The levels are sometimes too big, and the characters' legs too stumpy, making it take a little too long to reach your intended target; usually a facility to take over, and other regular deathmatch and capture-the-flag style plans of action.

Those with the humor level of a 15-year old Mad TV watcher will be ecstatic to learn that many of the characters have pun-based names, such as Hugh Jass. Guffaw! Those with Xbox Live accounts will be pleased to learn this is going to be a major part of your gaming time in-between bouts of Halo 2. Those with unhinged fascination with gore are likely to flip with delight at the sheer brutality of the headshots on show (you want your rodent's head exploded horizontally or vertically?). The rest of you? Give this rodent a chance. And let the fur fly.