Game Reviews

Fuhrer in LA

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Fuhrer in LA
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| Fuhrer in LA

Now I'm about as prepared to call myself an expert in twentieth century history as a toddler is to defuse a thermonuclear device, but I'm fairly sure that Hitler died in 1945. Fairly.

Fuhrer in LA, however, has other ideas. It's 1945, yes, but as the allied forces close in on Hitler's Berlin bunker an ingenious escape plan is hatched.

Thanks to some top-secret Nazi technology, Hitler sinks into a blissful sleep as an unfortunate look-a-like steps into his shoes and takes a bullet to the brain.

The allies find his body, a rousing chorus of "Ding dong, dictator's dead" ensues and everything goes to plan. Well, sort of.

Due to a transitional mix-up the Fuhrer doesn't wake up in Brazil, but in uptown LA. And he's surrounded by an infestation of pesky, democracy-loving Americans.

Time to find ze tank

This is where you come in. And a tank. And a lot of German expletives. You must now help Hitler escape the streets of LA and link up with ODESSA - a task easier said than done when an entire army of American soldiers stands in your way.

It's a ridiculous premise, but it's actually pretty fun. Fuhrer in LA plays out as a grindhouse top-down action-adventure, and it's certainly full of enough blood and guts to supply a small intensive care unit.

The mix of grindhouse styling and 16-bit graphics combine to create grungy environments that are bursting with personality. For a game built around one joke it's genuinely compelling, and with nine levels up for completion there's plenty to get your teeth in to.

The strange thing is that all those levels are unlocked from the very beginning of Fuhrer in LA. If you're just not quite master-race material, and get stuck on one particular stage, you can just skip it and hop to the next level. But the lack of reward for completing an area does suck out the fun somewhat.

Back to the Fuhrer

Then there are the controls. Hitler waddles around in a sort of South Park-esque shuffle, waving his tiny walking stick that inexplicably makes anything within a two metre radius spontaneously combust. Now, he's evil incarnate, so we can roll with the explodeyness but not the lack-of-controllyness.

A joystick at the bottom left of the screen allows you to move Hitler around, but his inability to face more than one direction can make it difficult to aim properly when confronting an enemy.

This is particularly frustrating when surrounded by a gaggle of gun wielding police officers, or when you're trying to line up a shot from across the room. Or when you just want to see how Hitler's moustache looks from the side.

Still, for pure comedic value Fuhrer in LA is worth seventy-nine of your finest pennies. Watching a pixelated version of Hitler commandeer a tank and blast his way across downtown Los Angeles - spouting epithets in staccato German at random intervals - is a unique experience to say the least.

Fuhrer in LA

Fuhrer in LA entertains with an outlandish premise, but a lack of polish prevents it from achieving master race status
Score
Alysia Judge
Alysia Judge
After spending months persuading her parents that it's a valuable career path, Alysia is still not bored with writing about games. That's a good thing really, since skills like spaceship navigation and zombie slaying are pretty much non-transferable.