family guy:
back to the multiverse
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Release Date: 23/11/12
Format: PS3/XBOX360
It’s stonking to think what the Family Guy marketing department are up to when this is on the shelves. It’s difficult to put into words how hard it is to find anything redeemable about this hackneyed third person shooter. It’s just a dreadful, lazy and flavourless game based on the accomplished TV show.
If you want context in Back to the Multiverse, all you really need to know is that Bertram (Stewie’s evil half brother) has a universe spanning plot to destroy earth. Stewie and Brian are on a mission to put a stop to it. What follows is a shallow, tepid effort to bring this Family Guy world to life. Cutscenes are meagre and are spread across ten levels. Bertram has travelled these universes and has made them all bend to his will. That’s obviously bad news and it’s your job to kill all of these evil doppelgangers and find and destroy Bertram and save the world. The story wouldn’t be so awful if it actually felt original. For example the majority of the worlds are themed based on notable episodes from the TV series. For example Handicapable is a level where you fight the Crippletron- instances of predictable are so common that they ruin any decent tidings the game could’ve had if it didn’t feel like it was strung together in such a docile manner. The signature humour isn’t to be found peppered through the story either, most of what you hear are lines which have originated in various TV episodes. All this adds up to create a story and a world that feels like a series of nondescript components bundled together and released on a console of choice. Lazy, dull and completely incoherent Family Guy fails to bring the charm of the TV series into the hands of savvy gamers.
As a fairly mindless third person shooter, Family Guy Back to the Multiverse has the clear objective to be throwaway fun, but it even fails in this regard. At least the shooting is functional, but most of the time it’s very cradled with awful design. Chief amongst the complaints is the constantly respawning enemy AI. BttM has taken a derelict time machine back to the last generation, and has decided enough with being conventional, we are Family Guy, we do things differently. Unfortunately what you get is the most cumbersome arcade shooter, somewhere in between Space Invaders and waiting for your grandmother to stop chatting to the shop assistant, so you can get some shopping done. After experiencing this train wreck, you might want to consider space invaders. The AI is vanilla, dumb and will just charge at you be damned what is in their way. They get stuck in the environment like they were sprinting on a treadmill and the enemy variety is so typical that you’d wonder why the developers bothered at all with it.
There is no cover in the game either; you basically shoot, then when on low health you dart around looking for health packs and mmo boxes. Rather old school some would say, but arbitrary and needless say the rest. On this note, boss fights are a breeze, and there always enough supplies to beat them mindlessly first time out. Hell even if you do bottle it, you respawn right where you died. In every mission, you play as both Stewie and Brian, where a quick select on the D-pad will allow you to swap on the fly. The problem is they both share the same life bar, which makes no sense what so ever.
Objectives are also totally and completely tedious. You will spend most of your time adhering to the tropes and typicality of the worst third person shooters. You are an errand guinea pig early on. The errands you run are very laborious, and they are all part of the story. You will receive objectives from that annoying gay fellow, and they all include finding entrances and getting into places and shooting insurgents endlessly. Variety does exist in Family Guy in some heroic stroke of luck. For example you get to use a varied arsenal, which are split between Brian and Stewie. Brian gets serious weaponry like shotguns and Molotov’s, whilst Stewie gets the fun weapons like the flamethrowers and freeze guns. There are also enhanced abilities by consuming items. From a gameplay standpoint variety is as rare as finding a budgie getting herpes. You better like shooting plenty and plenty. You can’t take 5 minutes away from shooting. As much as it wants to be fun, it’s ultimately a huge slog.
Boss battles are tedious as well, some of them are insultingly easy. It’s a matter of using the tools you have and depleting a health bar once. No creativity has seeped its way into the cracks of Family Guy’s wretched gameplay, so in the end they boil down to oversized cannon fodder.
There is some life in Family Guy after the short single player campaign. Challenge mode gives you six challenges, each of which earns you a set amount of stars which varies dependant on the difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the more work you have to do in order to gain the top prize. One such challenge has you roam the streets as Quagmire taking pictures of scantily clad women through windows. What could’ve been extremely enjoyable is in fact a tedious, horribly straight laced challenge, where you have to hold a button and wait for a circular bar to fill. The fact that many acne teens rush in to attack doesn’t help one jot. There’s also multiplayer of the local co-op variety, and this is best suited as a sedative for the swelling lobes of anger when a challenge you attempt on single player gets aggravating. You can also collect level specific items for bonus rewards including costumes and weapons to use in single player. Finally there are video reels of the story mode cutscenes and a collection of concept art to ogle at.
Family Guy’s presentation may look and seem decent enough upon looking at it outwardly. It does look like a Family Guy production, with a slobbery lick of PS2 sheen for good measure. Cutscenes are static and uninteresting, though elements of the show have had more than a fair share of nonsensical nods. You will hear your fair share of catchphrases and familiar dialogue, but what hurts most is that none of it is injected with and humour or satirical merriment. Sound design is also bare bones, remixed versions of the family guy theme tune is apparently acceptable. Luckily the cast managed to show up, but considering the genuine lack of effort, it’s hard to think what else the crew would’ve done instead that would be less interesting.
Back to the Multiverse could have very well been a corking videogame that fans would happily snap up. Instead it’s found itself deep within the bowels of haphazardness and laziness. No effort has been made to make this a game for the fans and there is nothing here you won’t find by simply watching the TV show. If you’d kill yourself for not playing it then please do go ahead, but honestly it may provoke such actions. Everything BttM attempts is underwhelming and beyond monotonous, but hey anything to shift more sales and make Family Guy popular is a good thing right......right?
By James Davie 2/10
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Release Date: 23/11/12
Format: PS3/XBOX360
It’s stonking to think what the Family Guy marketing department are up to when this is on the shelves. It’s difficult to put into words how hard it is to find anything redeemable about this hackneyed third person shooter. It’s just a dreadful, lazy and flavourless game based on the accomplished TV show.
If you want context in Back to the Multiverse, all you really need to know is that Bertram (Stewie’s evil half brother) has a universe spanning plot to destroy earth. Stewie and Brian are on a mission to put a stop to it. What follows is a shallow, tepid effort to bring this Family Guy world to life. Cutscenes are meagre and are spread across ten levels. Bertram has travelled these universes and has made them all bend to his will. That’s obviously bad news and it’s your job to kill all of these evil doppelgangers and find and destroy Bertram and save the world. The story wouldn’t be so awful if it actually felt original. For example the majority of the worlds are themed based on notable episodes from the TV series. For example Handicapable is a level where you fight the Crippletron- instances of predictable are so common that they ruin any decent tidings the game could’ve had if it didn’t feel like it was strung together in such a docile manner. The signature humour isn’t to be found peppered through the story either, most of what you hear are lines which have originated in various TV episodes. All this adds up to create a story and a world that feels like a series of nondescript components bundled together and released on a console of choice. Lazy, dull and completely incoherent Family Guy fails to bring the charm of the TV series into the hands of savvy gamers.
As a fairly mindless third person shooter, Family Guy Back to the Multiverse has the clear objective to be throwaway fun, but it even fails in this regard. At least the shooting is functional, but most of the time it’s very cradled with awful design. Chief amongst the complaints is the constantly respawning enemy AI. BttM has taken a derelict time machine back to the last generation, and has decided enough with being conventional, we are Family Guy, we do things differently. Unfortunately what you get is the most cumbersome arcade shooter, somewhere in between Space Invaders and waiting for your grandmother to stop chatting to the shop assistant, so you can get some shopping done. After experiencing this train wreck, you might want to consider space invaders. The AI is vanilla, dumb and will just charge at you be damned what is in their way. They get stuck in the environment like they were sprinting on a treadmill and the enemy variety is so typical that you’d wonder why the developers bothered at all with it.
There is no cover in the game either; you basically shoot, then when on low health you dart around looking for health packs and mmo boxes. Rather old school some would say, but arbitrary and needless say the rest. On this note, boss fights are a breeze, and there always enough supplies to beat them mindlessly first time out. Hell even if you do bottle it, you respawn right where you died. In every mission, you play as both Stewie and Brian, where a quick select on the D-pad will allow you to swap on the fly. The problem is they both share the same life bar, which makes no sense what so ever.
Objectives are also totally and completely tedious. You will spend most of your time adhering to the tropes and typicality of the worst third person shooters. You are an errand guinea pig early on. The errands you run are very laborious, and they are all part of the story. You will receive objectives from that annoying gay fellow, and they all include finding entrances and getting into places and shooting insurgents endlessly. Variety does exist in Family Guy in some heroic stroke of luck. For example you get to use a varied arsenal, which are split between Brian and Stewie. Brian gets serious weaponry like shotguns and Molotov’s, whilst Stewie gets the fun weapons like the flamethrowers and freeze guns. There are also enhanced abilities by consuming items. From a gameplay standpoint variety is as rare as finding a budgie getting herpes. You better like shooting plenty and plenty. You can’t take 5 minutes away from shooting. As much as it wants to be fun, it’s ultimately a huge slog.
Boss battles are tedious as well, some of them are insultingly easy. It’s a matter of using the tools you have and depleting a health bar once. No creativity has seeped its way into the cracks of Family Guy’s wretched gameplay, so in the end they boil down to oversized cannon fodder.
There is some life in Family Guy after the short single player campaign. Challenge mode gives you six challenges, each of which earns you a set amount of stars which varies dependant on the difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the more work you have to do in order to gain the top prize. One such challenge has you roam the streets as Quagmire taking pictures of scantily clad women through windows. What could’ve been extremely enjoyable is in fact a tedious, horribly straight laced challenge, where you have to hold a button and wait for a circular bar to fill. The fact that many acne teens rush in to attack doesn’t help one jot. There’s also multiplayer of the local co-op variety, and this is best suited as a sedative for the swelling lobes of anger when a challenge you attempt on single player gets aggravating. You can also collect level specific items for bonus rewards including costumes and weapons to use in single player. Finally there are video reels of the story mode cutscenes and a collection of concept art to ogle at.
Family Guy’s presentation may look and seem decent enough upon looking at it outwardly. It does look like a Family Guy production, with a slobbery lick of PS2 sheen for good measure. Cutscenes are static and uninteresting, though elements of the show have had more than a fair share of nonsensical nods. You will hear your fair share of catchphrases and familiar dialogue, but what hurts most is that none of it is injected with and humour or satirical merriment. Sound design is also bare bones, remixed versions of the family guy theme tune is apparently acceptable. Luckily the cast managed to show up, but considering the genuine lack of effort, it’s hard to think what else the crew would’ve done instead that would be less interesting.
Back to the Multiverse could have very well been a corking videogame that fans would happily snap up. Instead it’s found itself deep within the bowels of haphazardness and laziness. No effort has been made to make this a game for the fans and there is nothing here you won’t find by simply watching the TV show. If you’d kill yourself for not playing it then please do go ahead, but honestly it may provoke such actions. Everything BttM attempts is underwhelming and beyond monotonous, but hey anything to shift more sales and make Family Guy popular is a good thing right......right?
By James Davie 2/10
