Family Guy
Family Guy comes to the videogame world? VICTORY IS MINE!
Tags: Family Guy Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Nov 13th, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Guy (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Platformer | No | ||
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It’s the little cartoon that did the impossible: rise from the dead over two years after its cancellation. Creator Seth MacFarlane was given every advantage when the deliciously nasty and politically incorrect cartoon first launched around the start of the decade. The show debuted after a Fox-aired SuperBowl, starring Stewie, the toddler with matricidal intentions and a football-shaped head. The cartoon enjoyed three partial seasons before getting flushed by Fox, but was rarely given a chance to succeed. Yet it is the new definition of what is meant by the phrase, “A show ahead of it’s time.”
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It took America a few years to catch up with Family Guy’s sense of humor. But once it did, the show caught fire … after it’s cancellation. After rip-roaring good ratings on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, hot word-of-mouth on Web .torrent download sites, and record-setting DVD sales when the complete season collections were released, Fox execs went from saying, “Not a chance in hell” in terms of the possibility of bringing Family Guy back one month, to signing a long-term deal with MacFarlane to not only resurrect Family Guy, but given life to his newest creation, American Dad, only a month later.
With Family Guy drawing stronger positive reviews than The Simpsons these days, as well as great Sunday night ratings numbers, it was inevitable that Family Guy finally find its way onto videogame consoles. This freshman effort, courtesy developer High Voltage and publisher 2K Games, shows a lot of promise, and a fair amount of unrealized potential.
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Let this much be beyond doubt: High Voltage knows its source material. The game perfectly captures the tone and humor of the show that inspired it. Of course, part of this is because many of the story segments are lifted directly from episodes of the TV show. The game storyline, such as it is, is also somewhat inspired by TV episodes; unfortunately, the story has virtually no cohesion.
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Family Guy is split into three main storylines with three playable characters. In one thread, Stewie’s quest to control the world is frustrated by his “half-brother” Bertram; Brian is running from the law for allegedly getting a show-dog preggers; and “family guy” Peter becomes weirdly obsessed with the idea that TV’s Mr. Belvedere wants to kill him. There is virtually nothing that ultimately connects these plot threads into an overall story arc, and so about the only thing that does connect them is the platforming style of game play.
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Yup, in the tradition of Mario, Sonic and Crash, Family Guy is the latest game to offer players a chance to jump, pounce and shoot their way through a maze-like world full of collectables. That would be fine and dandy, of course, if the game offered a well-designed example of such game play. But it doesn’t. Instead, the game offers up a mishmash of bland jumping and shooting that is too generic and underdeveloped to really become fascinating.
And it is platforming of the worst breed. Much like Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, one must be in exactly at the right spot, jumping exactly at the right moment, at exactly the right angle, or you’ll plunge down from your perch and have to start over again. And again. And again and again and again. You get the idea.
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At least the game looks decent – at least on PS2 and Xbox. Cell-shaded and smooth, the game captures the right sort of look and feel to a game inspired by a 2D cartoon in a 2.5D game world.
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In the end, the game play matters more than capturing the humor of the show. Family Guy is a great license that could really deliver the fun, in a Conker’s Bad Fur Day sort of way. But in this first time out of the gate, the game simply comes up short. Hopefully, the next Family Guy game will show a bit more effort in delivering a game that plays well, in addition to being funny.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ The TV show’s humor is captured perfectly throughout. + On PS2 and Xbox, the look of the game is great. |
6.1 |
| What Doesn't | |
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– The game mechanics are Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness-level bad. – The story is more like three plot threads connected only by the fact that they appear in the same game. |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Family Guy feels divorced from the quality of its TV show inspiration; although funny, the game play is shallow and poorly realized. Next! | |
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Tags: Family Guy
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Nov 13th, 2006 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
