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Family Guy: Air Griffin Review
Written by Robert Falcon on Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Familiar Family Guy cast members.
Dull gameplay; irritatingly repeated voice samples; no Quagmire mini game.
Lo and behold the return of Family Guy! OK, OK, so it's actually been back for awhile now. But still, it's nice to see the program still getting new episodes all the time, even if some fans think that it's run its course. The only problem is, you figure inevitably that someone is going to try and make a video game out of the Family Guy license, and it might not be up to snuff with the show's ridiculousness. Well, sadly, that day has arrived as well, and Airborne's first take on the series in mobile game form falls limper more quickly than the chicken that Peter's been fighting through a series of episodes.
In the game Family Guy: Air Griffin, Peter decides to spend all of his daughter's college tuition on something cool he's always wanted- a medieval catapult. Hey, I admit, one of these things would probably look cool in your yard parked next to the Chevy. Lois, Peter's wife, wants him to return it, but first Peter finds himself compelled to set the longest launch record on the planet with the only projectile worthy for the catapult- himself.
So the game is basically made up of a launch contest to see how far you can fire off Peter down the street. As he goes flying through the air, he is able to bounce off family members to keep his free-flight going, while also getting a little help from God- yes, God- with some well-placed lightning bolts. There's also a little jackpot-like meter spinning with various characters from the show, and if you hit one of the characters while their profile is in the jackpot, you're launched even further.
Yeah, that sounds right up Family Guy's alley, don't it? The sad truth is, this game's been done before. And in some cases, it's been done far better. There's a Merit Industries-powered video game touch-screen thing at the local bar that features a similar game where you hit a monkey across trampolines and ramps to keep him going- and that one's more fun than this. The game's control scheme is a bit slippery, which may result in a few mislaunches. And even when you launch, you can't really control anything but the placement of God's lightning bolts. From there, it's just a game of chance. Stupid chance.
It's good that the graphics are so truthful to the Family Guy theme, but they're not really that well animated. While it's good to see the likes of Brian and Quagmire (giggity!) show up, they're just resorted to the background. It would've been nice to see more mini-game action included, like Quag fixing up some drug-laced cocktails or something. Audio is limited to repetitive voice samples, including enough Stewie clips to put you into nausea. If you hated him during the show, you'll DESPISE him here,
Family Guy: Air Griffin reminded me of another complete dud of a game, an Aqua Teen Hunger Force-licensed affair with the same play tactics. And, like that game, this one fails, just because there's really not that much bang for your buck. The gameplay is unoriginal and not really that interactive, plus it gets dull after just a few plays. Hardcore fans may want to check it out, but the rest of us can easily suffice from watching the DVD box sets. Or some porn, like Quagmire. Giggity giggity goo!
