The Family Guy animated television series, created by Seth MacFarlane (who has also been responsible for American Dad! and The Cleveland Show) has been one of the longest-running animated shows, with its off-beat humour and cult status providing many laughs since 1999. Animated shows usually don’t get the videogame treatment, and when they do, they tend to be more on the light-hearted side of the gaming spectrum. The latest Family Guy video game, Back to the Multiverse, is no different, and while it’s prefect for a lazy Sunday afternoon, it won’t stretch the imagination or raise the intellect in the room.
This isn’t the first video game to bear the name of the show, as 2006 saw the release of Family Guy Video Game!, which centred around characters Peter, Stewie and Brian. In Back to the Multiverse, players take control of either the psychotic Stewie or the talking dog Brian, as they try to stop Stewie’s evil half-brother Bertram from causing chaos. The game follows on from the episodes Road to the Multiverse and The Big Bang Theory, and Bertram has concocted another evil plan. Bertram created a multiverse remote, and skips through all the multiple universes in order to build up his army to destroy Stewie (Stewie killed
Bertram in a different universe, which is why he is seeking revenge).
While the game features only two characters, players will be able to switch between Stewie and Brian at will during the ten levels. Each level takes place in a different universe, and players will typically have to complete a number of missions before taking on the Boss in the final battle.
Unfortunately that is all there is to the game – it’s not terribly thought-provoking and players won’t have to execute tricky manoeuvres. It’s pretty much kill the spawning hordes of bad guys to get to the objective and kill the final boss – rinse and repeat. Granted, each level has its own kind of political incorrectness which makes the levels humorous, but it does start to become a bit repetitive after a while. The first level is a universe which is ruled by jocks, while doing tasks for a nerd, players will have to pick up saucy pictures, collect jock jerseys and destroy party balloons. The second universe or level, the Amish community has taken over, and complete with political incorrect quips from the NPC characters will have to burn down trees and plantations.
Attacking enemies is done by shooting at with various weapons (which can be upgraded), but as standard fare Stewie uses a ray pistol while Brian opts to use a modern pistol. Players will get different weapons throughout the levels, so they won’t have to worry about taking on the final boss with only a small handgun. In terms of graphics, not much can be said about Back to the Multiverse as it uses the same animation style as the series. In the television show it works well, but for a game it seems a bit dated and lacks detail.
Back to the Multiverse is by no means horrible, but should only be approached by Family Guy fans and gamers looking for an easy game to take their mind off of a hard day’s work. The controls are super easy, and while the voice acting is good, it won’t pose a challenge for serious games. It also has a multiplayer and challenges element to it, but sadly they’re also forgettable and inconsistent.
Charlie Fripp
Developer: Heavy Iron Studios
Publisher: Activision
Distributer: Megarom
