Comic-Con 2012: Family Guy Back to the Multiverse preview

Back to the Multiverse is a third person action adventure, with Stewie and Brian teaming up for co-op gameplay, looking to defeat Stewie’s eternal nemesis Bertram. Though we weren’t given a hands-on chance with the game ourselves, there didn’t look to be anything too special going on. Stewie blasts the baddies with ray guns and other science gadgets, while Brian bludgeons them with broken whiskey bottles and whatever else. Some fun laughs are had by the appearance of some special weapons drawn from the show, for instance the wacky waving inflatable flailing arm flailing tube man is used as a decoy to draw fire, while the memorable giant chicken can be summoned to kick some ass.

Players will also enjoy having dialogue delivered by the game’s cast, with plenty of cameos scattered about (we spotted greased up naked deaf guy, Seamus and a few others…). Again though, the core gameplay seems to be not much more than a standard action adventure romp, which with the promise of drop-in co-op could provide for some good times.

I’ll be honest. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse is not that pretty of a game. To be fair, cel-shading isn’t easy, but the fact remains that the character models look like cheap Korean knockoffs of the Family Guy cast you love, and I guess it’s a blessing that the game’s camera mostly stays behind their heads. The show’s simplistic art style just doesn’t lend itself well to this gaming world, and though a flat poorly drawn brick wall is forgivable in a cartoon, seeing that same poor lack of detail used as a common game texture is not a pretty sight.

The one thing that did have me intrigued however was the promise of four multiplayer modes, one of which is confirmed as Deathmatch. There will be ten playable characters, and though I couldn’t wrestle the exact names out of the reps, they did hint that most were adorning the bus where the game was being demoed (Peter, Meg, Quagmire, Lois, Chris, Stewie, Brian and Cleveland were all spotted). Though the game won’t have online multiplayer, it could prove to be a decent party experience, especially if your friends are Family Guy fans. We’ll be looking to see if there’s anything more to this action game, or whether its just another decent licensed title.