Review: Family Guy (PS2)

First of all, Gamestyle wishes to thank Fox for allowing a Family Guy game to appear just in time to coincide with the DVD release of season 5 of one of the funniest pieces of animation to come out of America since series eight of The Simpsons. The only way to get money out of your audience's pockets faster is to rig up some sort of giant magnet on your roof to extract the loose change from their sofas and the fillings from their teeth.

However, as is the case with most licensed games, a large portion of Family Guy's gameplay is severely broken, strung together with frustration and repetition. In their attempts to help fans enjoy an interactive version of their favoured animated show, Fox have assumed that allowing 2K Games and High Voltage to produce a sub-par game and slapping the Family Guy name on it will lead to both critical and financial success. Most likely, it will only only lead to the latter.

Family Guy features the adventures of three of the titular family: head of the household, Peter Griffin, a loveable but mentally challenged lummox; Stewie Griffin, a Machiavellian villain in the form of a one-year-old infant with a rugby ball for a head; and last but not least, the martini-loving dog, Brian Griffin. Each character plays in a specific fashion, aping popular video game genres. Stewie's levels take the form of jump and gun platforming, while Peter is shoehorned into a side scrolling beat-em-up which seems little more than a direct copy of the Double Dragon formula; lastly, Brain's levels are a direct descendant of the Metal Gear Solid stealth gameplay. Each character's section is somewhat enjoyable, but all feature game-breaking problems which are only lessened by the enjoyable script.

Stewie's levels are the least frustrating of the trio, as the terrible toddler battles against his similarly evil half-brother Bertram, hoping to thwart his plans for domination so his own can progress unhindered. Using an upgradeable blaster (that can also be used to hypnotise characters in certain sections), Stewie navigates various platform levels ranging from hospital wards to the inside of Peter's testicles - yes, Family Guy's subtle humour is still prevalent throughout the game. The levels are varied decently arranged, but are ultimately crippled by clumsy control. It is very easy to make Stewie accidentally fall off a platform, making it rather difficult to do any pinpoint jumping and battling. Gamestyle has to wonder if Stewie's motor skills have suffered to balance out his huge intellect.

Peter, meanwhile, is on a quest to save his family from 80s sitcom character Mr. Belvedere. Unfortunately for him, this hasn't actually happened; his actions have been initiated by nothing other than trauma to the head caused by a huge blunt object (still, any excuse to go on a rampage and kick small children!). Peter fights through side-scrolling stages, beating up Quahog residents and boss characters, eventually leading to the game's climactic and incredibly enjoyable battle. Unfortunately the road to this climax is filled with very frustrating fighting, as someone at High Voltage thought it would be a good idea to make certain characters invulnerable from everything but certain attacks (be it children being immune to punches, or casino-working Indians being unbeatable by mere kicks alone). This is at its most tedious when facing multiple enemies; while one takes damage, others are busy taking down your health bar, meaning you will have to watch Peter's death animation (notice lack of plural) dozens of time in a single section. However, powerful moves can be unlocked as progress is made, fuelled by Peter's "snack bar" and filled by various savoury treats dropped by enemies. These attacks usually take out large groups of enemies in one fell swoop, but can only be used a limited number of times before the snack bar is depleted.

However, compared to Brian's levels the beat-em-up sections are a walk in the park. Brian must flee from the police after being accused by Carter Pewterschimdt (Lois's rich aristocratic father) of violating and impregnating his prize racing dog Seabreeze (yes, again), and must escape custody and avoid being spotted to prove his innocence. Right from the first level, these sections are tedious and broken, featuring guards who can, at random intervals, see Brian standing behind them, or not see him while he's directly in their line of sight. This leads to much frustration; sometimes Brian can literally run through these stealth sections, but other times he is spotted by an off-screen character on the other side of the room, causing repetition of each section until they are completed by sheer luck.

Repetition is the game's other main problem and features heavily in all of the characters' sections, mainly due to the rather slipshod save structure - if a character dies attempting a section, they are forced right back to the beginning of it. This is most often seen in Brian's levels, where a save is created in every room the dry-witted dog must traverse. If he is spotted (a frequent occurrence), he is dumped right at the beginning of the room, some of which can take ten minutes to fully complete.

The game's saving grace is its humour, which can actually save certain sections simply because of the script's absurdity and mirth. Most of Peter's levels, for example, have him turning into one of his alternate egos for their duration. One level has Peter take on the form of his cousin, Rufus Griffin, complete with Shaft-like kung fu moves, while in the next he dons the attire of a street walking hooker. The TV show's trademark non-sequiturs also make an appearance in the form of interactive mini-games, featuring such greats as Stewie's sexy parties and Brian burying a film starring perverted neighbour Quagmire, titled "The Blair Fist Project".

However, the humour does little more than raise the game's entertainment value from below average to average. Without a script written by the Family Guy writers, it would definitely not be worth the £15-£20 most shops demand for the title. Of course, if you don't enjoy Family Guy in any way shape or form, don't even bother renting it; however, for fans of the show, it's at least worth a couple of days of your time.

Rating: 5 / 10

Words by Garry Webber