Ha Haaaa.... Easy!
Harvey Birdman tries valiantly to ape the goodness of Phoenix Wright while keeping the spirit of the TV show alive.
Published: January 19, 2008
If ever you needed an example of how creative the minds behind Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block are, or how surprisingly flexible the folks at Turner are with their classic Hanna-Barbara characters, look no further than Harvey Birdman. Though the series only lasted four seasons (stretched out over the course of seven years), it was a perfect example of Adult Swim's approach to updating Cartoon Network properties for an older audience.
C-List character Harvey Birdman has turned in his superhero wings to defend the probably-innocent as a bumbling attorney. A near-constant cavalcade of resuscitated Hanna-Barbara personalities provides fodder for "I knew they did that" modern-day updates: The Flintstones were part of the Mob, The Jetsons came from a future driven by sprockets and Secret Squirrel is obsessed with showing what's under that trench coat. Though it all, a relentless, jumpy pace, tons of non-sequiturs that would make Family Guy green with envy and the rapid-fire cadence to the banter that would tire a Gatling gun kept everything going.
It was -- and thanks to reruns, still is -- one of the best cartoons ever created, spinning familiar characters in hilariously inventive new ways. It's also arguably the best cartoon-to-videogame translation I've ever played, mainly because the pacing and to a lesser degree the writing are right in line with the source material. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a good game, but then Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law isn't really much of a game so much as it's an interactive series of episodes that at their best hit the low points of the TV show, and at their worst end up falling entirely flat, but believe me, a worst-of episode of Harvey Birdman stands up there with some of the best from any other cartoon.
I'll give credit where it's due: Capcom and High Voltage Studios were smart enough to realize they already had a great core game with Capcom's Phoenix Wright games and really just tried to wrap a semi-coherent set of five cases around the basic parts of the Wright games. This means you'll listen to witness testimony, present evidence collected while outside of court in an extremely simple pixel hunting segment and (hopefully) win the case before a limited number of tries (represented by Harvey's Birdman Crests) ends the case for you.
At no point does Harvey Birdman approach the level of difficulty, mental exercise or deductive reasoning required by the Phoenix Wright games, but that doesn't really matter because the game's true goal is to just deliver a barely-interactive version of the TV show, and does so handily. Nearly all of the show's cast returns to reprise their roles, minus Stephen Colbert, who voiced Harvey's utterly insane boss Phil Ken Sebben and the ass-obsessed Marvin Reducto. Colbert's absence is minimized somewhat by keeping Sebben and Reducto appearances to a minimum -- often enough that you don't miss them, but not so often that the fill-in voices start to grate against the rest of the authentic cast.
And so, the "game" plays out just like five episodes of the TV show; an intro movie shows a crime going down, you meet the client and then a series of testimony, investigation and very simple conversations all build to the final courtroom scene. Again, all of these moments are really just there to link the various bits of pre-assembled footage, and at no point does the game actually seem difficult if you've been paying attention, but it is worthy of more than a few chuckles. Hell, if the game were trying to be difficult, would they really allow you to blast the prosecuting attorney or shove the correct answer down your throat right at the start of a case?
Part of the charm of the game is that it adheres almost religiously to the look and feel of the TV show; High Voltage animators did a great job in replicating the art style of everything, and though it's not quite dead on (made even more obvious when the game cuts to original footage from the show, which not only animates better, but looks a little lower-res and softer than the rest of the game), it is more than close enough to satisfy.
With nearly all of the original voice cast around to deliver the lines, it really falls to the writing to make it all work, and for the most part it does so ably. Again, the dialogue can't quite match the quality of the TV show save for when it really hits its stride, but the stand-out moments will get plenty of laughs from fans, and the deliveries for everything are spot-on. With little in the way of music or effects to bog things, down, it really does feel like an interactive version of the show, which obviously was the intended effect.
There are two ways to look at Harvey Birdman: the first is a barely-there game that completely misses the point of the Phoenix Wright games it tries to emulate, while the other is a remarkably accurate depiction of the cartoon that refuses to take itself seriously. So long as you approach the game from the latter, you're going to have a great time with it, and even as a quasi-game, it's a million times better than the elaborate joke played on Aqua Teen fans with Zombie Ninja Pro-Am.
If you're even a remote fan of the cartoon, the $30 required to enjoy a few more hours of Birdman is a pittance, and should be dropped post-haste.
C-List character Harvey Birdman has turned in his superhero wings to defend the probably-innocent as a bumbling attorney. A near-constant cavalcade of resuscitated Hanna-Barbara personalities provides fodder for "I knew they did that" modern-day updates: The Flintstones were part of the Mob, The Jetsons came from a future driven by sprockets and Secret Squirrel is obsessed with showing what's under that trench coat. Though it all, a relentless, jumpy pace, tons of non-sequiturs that would make Family Guy green with envy and the rapid-fire cadence to the banter that would tire a Gatling gun kept everything going.
It was -- and thanks to reruns, still is -- one of the best cartoons ever created, spinning familiar characters in hilariously inventive new ways. It's also arguably the best cartoon-to-videogame translation I've ever played, mainly because the pacing and to a lesser degree the writing are right in line with the source material. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a good game, but then Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law isn't really much of a game so much as it's an interactive series of episodes that at their best hit the low points of the TV show, and at their worst end up falling entirely flat, but believe me, a worst-of episode of Harvey Birdman stands up there with some of the best from any other cartoon.
I'll give credit where it's due: Capcom and High Voltage Studios were smart enough to realize they already had a great core game with Capcom's Phoenix Wright games and really just tried to wrap a semi-coherent set of five cases around the basic parts of the Wright games. This means you'll listen to witness testimony, present evidence collected while outside of court in an extremely simple pixel hunting segment and (hopefully) win the case before a limited number of tries (represented by Harvey's Birdman Crests) ends the case for you.
At no point does Harvey Birdman approach the level of difficulty, mental exercise or deductive reasoning required by the Phoenix Wright games, but that doesn't really matter because the game's true goal is to just deliver a barely-interactive version of the TV show, and does so handily. Nearly all of the show's cast returns to reprise their roles, minus Stephen Colbert, who voiced Harvey's utterly insane boss Phil Ken Sebben and the ass-obsessed Marvin Reducto. Colbert's absence is minimized somewhat by keeping Sebben and Reducto appearances to a minimum -- often enough that you don't miss them, but not so often that the fill-in voices start to grate against the rest of the authentic cast.
And so, the "game" plays out just like five episodes of the TV show; an intro movie shows a crime going down, you meet the client and then a series of testimony, investigation and very simple conversations all build to the final courtroom scene. Again, all of these moments are really just there to link the various bits of pre-assembled footage, and at no point does the game actually seem difficult if you've been paying attention, but it is worthy of more than a few chuckles. Hell, if the game were trying to be difficult, would they really allow you to blast the prosecuting attorney or shove the correct answer down your throat right at the start of a case?
Part of the charm of the game is that it adheres almost religiously to the look and feel of the TV show; High Voltage animators did a great job in replicating the art style of everything, and though it's not quite dead on (made even more obvious when the game cuts to original footage from the show, which not only animates better, but looks a little lower-res and softer than the rest of the game), it is more than close enough to satisfy.
With nearly all of the original voice cast around to deliver the lines, it really falls to the writing to make it all work, and for the most part it does so ably. Again, the dialogue can't quite match the quality of the TV show save for when it really hits its stride, but the stand-out moments will get plenty of laughs from fans, and the deliveries for everything are spot-on. With little in the way of music or effects to bog things, down, it really does feel like an interactive version of the show, which obviously was the intended effect.
There are two ways to look at Harvey Birdman: the first is a barely-there game that completely misses the point of the Phoenix Wright games it tries to emulate, while the other is a remarkably accurate depiction of the cartoon that refuses to take itself seriously. So long as you approach the game from the latter, you're going to have a great time with it, and even as a quasi-game, it's a million times better than the elaborate joke played on Aqua Teen fans with Zombie Ninja Pro-Am.
If you're even a remote fan of the cartoon, the $30 required to enjoy a few more hours of Birdman is a pittance, and should be dropped post-haste.