Looney Tunes: Back in Action – PS2 – Review

Toon swapping and good voice over talents provide a fun experience for kids
of all ages, as you must learn to rely on Bugs and Daffy’s unique talents in
order to solve the various puzzles scattered all over the world. Bugs is a good
jumper and an even better digger, unearthing money wherever he goes. In fact,
his bunny sense is so attuned to money and treasures that his feet twitch (and
the controller vibrates) whenever you are near hidden wealth. Just dive down
under the ground and burrow around until you find it.

Daffy is at home on the water, diving below to scoop up sunken treasures and
powerups. Daffy, as always, has the best lines in the show, as he trashes Bugs,
the other toons, and even the programmers of the game.  Kudos to the
developers for capturing the spirit of the characters as you play.

Back in Action is pretty much a straight-forward platform adventure game with
plenty of puzzles and video cuts to keep the gameplay interesting. You will
travel the globe solving mysteries and collecting coins to pay for your taxi
rides and costumes that can get you out of a jam. This leads into a very unique
gameplay element. At various points in the game, a door to wardrobe will appear
and you can buy a costume that will help you beat a particular challenge. These
costumes take their cue from famous Bugs moments, such as the Hula dancing
skirt, and Danger Duck’s superhero suit. This approach to beating these
challenges makes the game very funny for young and old.

Like most games based on a franchise that we already know and love, 
Back in Action has to meet a pretty high bar in order to be acceptable. We all
know what Bugs and Daffy look like running, digging, jumping and most of all,
what they sound like. The game pulls this off very well. The major flaw in the
game is the control of the camera. It swings around like a drunken sailor doing
a jig. Precise jumping skills are called for on many levels of the game, from
platform to platform, and you often have to do it nearly blind, because the
camera wants to swing around behind the pillar and hide. There also may be a
problem with the frame rate here, because I had more problems with motion
sickness on this game than anything since the original Castle Wolfenstein.
However, this was mostly in the scenes where you really have to concentrate on
jumping because you can’t see where you are going.

Looney Toons: Back in Action was a fun, action-filled romp that stays true to
the spirit of the characters as Mel Blanc envisioned them. Improvements on the
camera system would be nice, but other than that, the game looks and plays
great.