Lugaru

Lugaru: The Rabbit's Foot (pronounced Loo-GAH-roo) is the first commercial video game created by "Wolfire Games". It is a cross-platform, 3d action/adventure game, featuring Turner, an anthropomorphic rabbit with curiously well-developed combat skills.

Lugaru was made almost completely by David Rosen - including the game engine, models, animations, storyline and so forth. It was one of the first independently-produced video games to employ ragdoll physics. It uses a new and fairly intuitive combat system, basing attacks and counters on timing and context rather than different key combinations. It tended to be well-reviewed and was fairly well-received among the shareware community.

The name "Lugaru" is a phonetic spelling of "loup-garou", which is French for werewolf. [ [http://www.idevgames.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-2551.html Post on iDevGames forum by David Rosen, Lugaru's developer] ]

Story

After his family and friends are murdered by rabbit raiders, Turner embarks on a quest of revenge, only to uncover a deeper plot that threatens the entire Lugaru island. Using a wide variety of combat techniques, Turner battles wolves and hostile rabbits across grassland, snow, and desert landscapes.

To bring peace to the island of Lugaru as well as to avenge his loved ones, Turner must eventually confront the rabbit king Hickory, as well as Ash, the Alpha Wolf.

Gameplay

Hand-to-hand combat comprises most of Lugaru's gameplay, although the game rewards stealthy approaches. The fighting system is based largely around close combat, and in many cases incorporates knives, swords, and Bo staves. The player can also perform disarms, reversals, and counter-reversals.

With no HUD, the player must rely on visual cues to determine Turner's health; most notably the character's posture and the darkness and blurriness of your vision.

The combat control is original as well, since there are only three context-sensitive action buttons, which puts emphasis on fast-paced action rather than complicated button combos: one "attack button", a "jump button", and a more general "crouch-reverse" button.

Weapons

Weapons are essential to fighting in this game and all have their pros and cons

:Knife::Pros: can be thrown and can carry two.::Cons: weakest weapon of the three. Easiest to find and use, can be thrown, slashed, or jabbed at opponent can kill a rabbit in one throw or five slashes, but a wolf catches or dodges the knife most of the time so do not throw it at a wolf.

:Staff::Pros: very powerful and fast.::Cons: Breaks after a while and easy to reverse the attack. Easy to come across in the middle to end of campaign, and is very lethal if opponent is on the ground, can kill a rabbit in two blows, (three with armor) and a wolf in five to six blows (depending on the type of wolf and type of attack).

:Sword::Pros: strongest of the three.::Cons: hard to find. Medium rarity in last part of campaign and most lethal of all three weapons and can kill a rabbit in one slash and a wolf in three to four slashes.

Sequel

David Rosen has announced that Overgrowth is the sequel to Lugaru.

References

External links

* [http://wolfire.com/lugaru Lugaru website] at [http://www.wolfire.com Wolfire Games]
* [http://wiki.wolfire.com/ Lugaru wiki]
* [http://blog.wolfire.com/ Wolfire blog] , used to post status updates on Overgrowth
* [http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=555 Review at Inside Mac Games]