Family Guy
This is like that one time when I had to play a really average licensed game.
Published: October 25, 2006
Dammit, High Voltage Software, you're better than this. You made me like The Simpsons video games, and I didn't think any developer could make a good one after the track record the games had. And it's not like Family Guy is a horrible game, it's just... well, rather blah -- not just in terms of the gameplay, which I understand is supposed to be a play on the classic kinds of games out there, but in the writing and jokes as a whole. I wanted to love this game, I really did, but there's a lot of frustration tucked in between those good, hearty laughs -- and even more light snickers rather than serious gut-busters.
For those that haven't been following the series, it's fairly easy to sum up; the folks behind the TV show got together with 2K games and basically set out to lampoon videogame clichés while integrating three vaguely interconnected storylines involving Peter, Stewie and Brian. There are ample in-jokes for series fans, tons of non-sequitur mini-games and gameplay that tries to switch between Peter's quest to kick the crap out of everyone between him and Mr. Belvedere (who he believes kidnapped his family even after he sees Meg at home), Stewie shrinking down and Fantastically Voyaging into Peter's testicles to stop Bertram, his sperm brother and Brian trying to clear his name after being accused of knocking up Seabreeze, Lois' father's price dog.
Of the three, the Belvedere description is probably the one that got a chuckle out of most, and that's about the batting average of the game's writing: .333. Sure, the game as a whole is funny -- about as funny as a bad episode of the series -- but we're talking about a game that lasts a good dozen or so hours if you really stretch it out. That much ha-ha stretched out over that much time means you're going to be sitting through some boring parts, and at times, they swing right over to frustrating.
Usually this is in Brian's segments, which are trial-and-error "stealth" levels that mainly just having you attempting a certain route until you figure out what the developers are trying to get you to do. It wouldn't be a huge deal (the levels aren't terribly difficulty once you know where to go) if not for the fact that every time you fail, the same damned voice clips from the main characters and enemies alike are repeated. Sometimes, such as in the case of Stewie playing Marco Polo with Helen Keller, it takes what was a really funny joke (it's a mini-game where you just stay still because she can't see or hear you, get it?!) and kills it with needless repetition.
Stewie's sections suffer from too much tedium and repetition; once you've slid down a corridor on your belly, blown through some chunks of cholesterol and slipped into a sphincter, you really don't need to do it again -- much less more than half a dozen more times. Likewise, the sections where lasers have to be bounced around a room were fairly neat at first, but they quickly become annoyances. Stewie's sections are, for the most part, the funniest in the game, however, and though his levels are prone to the most cheap deaths, at least hearing his little quips are fairly tolerable... for a while.
Peter's beat-'em-up bits are, like Peter himself, rather brainless exercises in button mashing and simple combo strings. You'll quickly learn which enemies respond to kicks and punches, and then it's just a matter of hammering on those buttons to punt them before they punt you. The whole idea that Peter is just on a rage-induced maelstrom where small children and old people become punching bags is pretty amusing, but it's also rather one-dimensional.
For those that haven't been following the series, it's fairly easy to sum up; the folks behind the TV show got together with 2K games and basically set out to lampoon videogame clichés while integrating three vaguely interconnected storylines involving Peter, Stewie and Brian. There are ample in-jokes for series fans, tons of non-sequitur mini-games and gameplay that tries to switch between Peter's quest to kick the crap out of everyone between him and Mr. Belvedere (who he believes kidnapped his family even after he sees Meg at home), Stewie shrinking down and Fantastically Voyaging into Peter's testicles to stop Bertram, his sperm brother and Brian trying to clear his name after being accused of knocking up Seabreeze, Lois' father's price dog.
Of the three, the Belvedere description is probably the one that got a chuckle out of most, and that's about the batting average of the game's writing: .333. Sure, the game as a whole is funny -- about as funny as a bad episode of the series -- but we're talking about a game that lasts a good dozen or so hours if you really stretch it out. That much ha-ha stretched out over that much time means you're going to be sitting through some boring parts, and at times, they swing right over to frustrating.
Usually this is in Brian's segments, which are trial-and-error "stealth" levels that mainly just having you attempting a certain route until you figure out what the developers are trying to get you to do. It wouldn't be a huge deal (the levels aren't terribly difficulty once you know where to go) if not for the fact that every time you fail, the same damned voice clips from the main characters and enemies alike are repeated. Sometimes, such as in the case of Stewie playing Marco Polo with Helen Keller, it takes what was a really funny joke (it's a mini-game where you just stay still because she can't see or hear you, get it?!) and kills it with needless repetition.
Stewie's sections suffer from too much tedium and repetition; once you've slid down a corridor on your belly, blown through some chunks of cholesterol and slipped into a sphincter, you really don't need to do it again -- much less more than half a dozen more times. Likewise, the sections where lasers have to be bounced around a room were fairly neat at first, but they quickly become annoyances. Stewie's sections are, for the most part, the funniest in the game, however, and though his levels are prone to the most cheap deaths, at least hearing his little quips are fairly tolerable... for a while.
Peter's beat-'em-up bits are, like Peter himself, rather brainless exercises in button mashing and simple combo strings. You'll quickly learn which enemies respond to kicks and punches, and then it's just a matter of hammering on those buttons to punt them before they punt you. The whole idea that Peter is just on a rage-induced maelstrom where small children and old people become punching bags is pretty amusing, but it's also rather one-dimensional.
