Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

As someone who appreciated and intently followed the first two seasons of Family Guy when they originally aired from 1999–2001, the astonishing resurrection of the Griffin clan has been nothing but a horrible mistake I blame squarely on you. Don’t look so innocent—like The Simpsons, the show was good when it had a chip on its shoulder, and a writing staff of young, sharp minds who recklessly abandoned the traditional forms of comedy, even if it meant alienating the unintelligent drones it was often making fun of.

Now that Family Guy the show has risen from the dead, the humour is merely a tribute to its old self, and lacks an acid tongue. Family Guy the game (Xbox, PS2/2K, High Voltage) borrows from previous cartoon show conversions of the past, The Simpsons, Futurama, Beavis & Butthead and Ren & Stimpy, with equally debatable success, but is an adequate greatest hits package of the show with some gaming interspersed.

Family Guy was never going to be Splinter Cell, and understandably the gameplay is as trite as the aforementioned brands of the past. Save for the original arcade game, the best Simpsons game was Hit and Run, loosely based on Grand Theft Auto. Really it was a vehicle to revisit some famous characters and quotes from the series, which is all anyone in my age group wants. Developer High Voltage had this in mind, and the most fun you’ll have playing this game is meeting all of the familiar faces of Spooner St. (in 3D) and the locales of Quahog. The entire voiceover cast is on board as well, so there are famous catchphrases from the likes of Quagmire and Stewie that we all expect, and new dialogue for the game’s original storyline. The Mr. Belvedere angle feels like a TV script reject, but it’s the memorable one-liners that count.

It has the look and feel of a Family Guy episode, but the gameplay very nearly drags this title down. The levels alternate between Stewie’s platforming levels, Peter’s Final Fight beat down levels and Brian’s strategy stealth missions. All three are crude variations of the real deal, but the controls are rarely bad enough that it becomes unplayable, and your motivation to keep playing with the hope of hearing more great quotes is worth the frustration. The Peter levels are especially boring, as he’s incapable of blocking and combos require you to input slowly, so too often you’ll find yourself getting hit and Peter’s too slow to dodge or fight back.

I will commend High Voltage for figuring out how to include the show’s famous non-sequiturs in the game. Characters will find themselves relating to pop culture references during the levels, and quickly you’ll be transported into rapid fire mini-games directly inspired by the show. The mini-games aren’t always fun, but capture the nonsensical cutaways that pepper every episode. Seth McFarlane also includes some funny video game references in the game, such as Peter as E. Honda from Street Fighter or enemies moving Galaga-style.

Hoop dreams

The world still waits for the first truly transcendent basketball sim, as NBA Live 07’s (Multi/EA, EA Canada) recent changes feel less intuitive and the games feel more awkward. The total freestyle controls are anything but: they are pre-arranged keys you press in succession to pull off cool dunks, but don’t enhance an actual contest. Using three face buttons for shooting is excessive, since shot types are context-specific. The extra buttons should be used for icon passing, which basketball games desperately need.

Also, not even Isiah would rate the Knicks 90.