Disguise Brian by putting a lampshade on his head
Brian the dogs’ missions perfectly demonstrate the linear nature of Family Guy. He has limited controls; in fact you’ll only be able to move the talking dog and make him crawl. Most of his missions involve collecting documents by navigating around a level and trying to stay out of sight. For example, one mission involves having to move around a police station office whilst guards patrol in patterns around the desks and others sit at their desks habitually looking up and down. You need to time your movements in order to reach the other side of the office unseen, whilst collecting these documents along the way. Once again, the missions are simple and occasionally a frustrating game of trial and error in order to find the correct path. Despite these missions being so easy to complete, I actually really enjoyed playing them. Whether I was putting a lampshade on our head to disguise ourselves from the guards, or sneaking through a prison shower room while two naked gay inmates are chasing each other, it’s the visual comedy and the witty one-liners that distract you from the linear gameplay and simple objectives and actually motivates you to carry out to the end of the game.
The third character that you’ll play is Peter, the bumbling but well-intentioned head of the family. His missions generally involve fighting with his fists in a side scrolling beat ‘em fashion as you collect items to unlock further moves allowing you pull off combos, spin manoeuvres and even a head butt that destroys vehicles blocking your path. Beating up grannies, kicking over hot dog stands and punching the living daylights out of children is part and parcel of Peters’ missions. It’s amusing for a while and once again it’s the subject matter and dialogue that make it a worthwhile venture, but ultimately we’ve seen it all before.
The mini-games are amusing, such as having to open a tin of tuna by bashing on two buttons and having to dodge out of the way of the President while he lunges at you. There’s no challenge in the mini-games though and we hate to say it again, but it’s the subject matter that makes you smile not the actual fun of playing the game; this is where the main problem lies.
The simplicity of the missions and the controls of the characters actually feel as though you’re playing a kid’s game. Personally we’re surprised that the controls and challenges weren’t stepped up a notch in terms of difficulty to accommodate a more mature audience.
It’s the humour of Family Guy that motivates you to play through some of the dull and simple missions and such is the power of great comedy that you’ll often continue just to see what other madcap antics are around the corner; and of course to listen to the hilarious one-liners. ‘This looks like an Iraqi trailer park’ says Stewie as the Satellite dish comes crashing in the Griffin house living room.