Family Guy – XB – Review

It
surprises me that there hasn’t been a Family Guy game sooner. Ever since the
show’s inception and cancellation, it’s been a huge hit. Fans were so outspoken
about it, that Fox even brought the show back on the air, where it currently
resides. So with the show back on TV and some DVDs released, the next logical
step seems to be a video game, but is the game any good or just your typical
crummy, licensed game?

Family
Guy offers three different gameplay perspectives as gamers can take on the roles
of Stewie, Peter and Brian. Unique to each character is their own story made up
from elements in different episodes; Stewie is out to foil his sperm-brother;
Brian has to find out who is the father of Seabreeze’s puppies; and Peter thinks
that Mr. Belvedere is out to get him and must defeat everyone in his way. Stewie
plays as a platform game and will have you jumping from platform to platform,
collecting various items and shooting enemies. Brian offers stealth-based
gameplay, where you must hide from view and evade detection, while collecting a
few items and making your way to the exit. Peter plays as a side-scrolling beat
’em up, where you beat on anyone in your way with punches, kicks, head butts,
uppercuts and more. The gameplay really doesn’t offer anything new, innovative
or entertaining, as the characters play out in the most basic of ways. Family
Guy is definitely a simplistic game, almost too simplistic.

When you
first start the game, Stewie is the first character that you play, which was a
good decision on High Voltage’s part, because Stewie’s gameplay is the least
crappy of all. Brian’s “gameplay” involving hiding is hardly challenging or fun,
due to the tedium and boring, repetitive nature of it. Being simplistic is
definitely referenced here, as Brian has no real interactions other than walking
over clues to pick them up, while staying out of view of everyone, because if
you’re caught, you have to start over. Playing as Brian just isn’t any fun and
Peter doesn’t fare too much better thanks to its slow, stiff gameplay. While
beating up children and the elderly sounds fun on paper, in the game it’s not
very much fun thanks to the same few moves you’re given. While Peter is fat,
making him run so slow wasn’t exactly the best idea in the game, since it just
drags things on.

Minigames
will ocassionally pop up, including a Galaga-esque shooting game with Stewie,
look-away with Brian and a pooping game with Peter, in which you have to push
buttons to match fart sounds. The minigames are a nice diversion and add some
variety to an otherwise relatively stale game. However, it’s unfortunate that
the minigames themselves aren’t exactly the most fun things in the world,
specifically Peter’s farting one, which requires memorization of more than 10
button presses and easily becomes more annoying than anything, especially since
retrying it is mandatory.

The
graphics in Family Guy are cel-shaded in order to resemble the animated style of
the show. Like the TV show, the game offers a relatively simplistic aesthetic
and it looks like a cartoon. Environments and characters are easily recognizable
to fans of the show and stylized cartoon effects are present. While the cel-shaded
graphics are acceptable, they aren’t anywhere near as impressive as a game like
JSRF or Okami. Easily the most impressive and appealing aspect of the game is
the voice acting, which uses the show’s voice actors for the game. Having the
actors voice their characters was a no brainer and without it, an already
unimpressive game would’ve been rendered completely useless. There are some
funny lines strewn throughout, but the TV show offers that and you don’t have to
deal with a crummy game to get them.

One thing
to note is that while the game is rated M for ages 17+, there’s not really
anything present in the game that goes beyond what is shown on the TV show, and
that’s saying a lot. The basic gameplay definitely appeals to younger audiences
(since older gamers will probably be bored quickly), while the humor is aimed at
an older audience. As odd as it may seem, this is probably one of the only
Mature rated games that could be acceptable for younger gamers, although of
course, it’s up to the parents’ discretion.

In the
end however, Family Guy disappoints, which is a shame because there’s a lot of
potential in this license, but hey, how many good Simpsons games are there? The
simplistic, mundane gameplay gets boring very quickly and attempts at diversity
fall flat most of the time. Passable graphics, pretty good audio and
professional voice acting do their part, with the latter being the only real
reason for playing the game in the first place. Playing as Stewie is best part,
but when that part’s merely average and when playing as the other two characters
feels like a chore, you know your game’s got issues.

Gameplay: 6.2
Simplistic, boring, and mundane are just a
few of the words that perfectly describe Family Guy’s generic gameplay. There’s
nothing here that’s innovative, let alone fun.

Graphics: 6.9
The cel-shaded graphics in Family Guy are
adequate, but they’re still pretty plain and unimpressive.

Sound:
8.6
Voice acting done by the actors on the TV
show definitely makes the game. Simplistic, “cartoony” sound effects complement
the game as well.

Difficulty: Medium
Despite being simplistic, Family Guy isn’t
overly easy, but due to the trial and error nature of the game, things become
more tedious than difficult.

Concept: 5.8
A wasted license used on uninspired
gameplay, this game could’ve easily been so much more, but it comes off as the
bare minimum.

Overall: 6.3
It’s disappointing to see such a popular
license be used in such a generic game. There’s nothing here that makes the game
worth owning, with the voice work sadly being the game’s most impressive
feature. This game offers nothing new or innovative and worst of all, it’s just
not very fun to play and in the end, it really is just another crummy licensed
game in a sea of crummy licensed games.