by norm stovall norm@904skate.com
Not every Superman game can be terrible, right? Surprisingly, yes, every superman video game is bad, and this one is no exception. Once you get past the graphical weirdness and choppy frame rate in the gameplay, you can start appreciating the game for what it really is. A turd. I love the character Superman, and I even enjoyed the movie Superman Returns quite a bit, so I was a little disappointed when going through the motions of the game. For the first hour or so, you fight robots. Also, you put out fires. Then you fight some more robots. After you get further into the game, you will come across more and more characters from the Superman universe, which is actually a little cool. And, you will get to make use of many of Superman’s powers, which in a way is also cool, and fun for a little bit. However, even in light of all of the potential awesomeness, Superman Returns is plagued with boring gameplay and jerky cut scenes. If you don’t know the enemies, you may be wondering why you are fighting them, what their motivations may be, or why they are even considered a bad guy, because the game gives them no introduction—they are the bad guys, and you must defeat them. I do give EA credit for the most interesting final battle in a video game, however. YOU FIGHT A TORNADO.
The Family Guy game is designed for a very specific audience—That audience being fans of the show bearing the same name. Luckily, this audience is huge, and it just so happens that I am a part of it. In regards to the translation from TV show to video game, the developers did a good job, although the game does get a little frustrating at times. The Family Guy provides a good bit of variety in regards to gameplay, though you may end up wishing you could play as Stewie just a little bit longer. Through the course of the game, you will control a variety of characters in different situations, including a Double Dragon-styled mission with Peter, and a Metal Gear-inspired sneaking mission with Brian. A surprisingly large number of cameos appear from the show, so if you are a fan of the series, you should give this game a try, as all the trademarked humor is intact.
For starters, I have to say that this game is not the same as ‘the Family Guy Game’. No, no, this one is much different indeed, although I apparently couldn’t tell the difference between the two when renting online via Gamefly. The Guy Game is pretty much a collection of bar trivia games (without the touch screen) in which you compete to see girls on spring break revealing their proverbial ‘goods’ a la Girls Gone Wild. The presentation is loaded with raunchy commentary and ‘college’ humor, just for authenticity. The better you do in the game, the more breasts you see. But in days of the Internet and all of its glory, I’m not sure why you would make a game of this, but I guess you can’t really criticize the developers for doing so. I mean, considering that the creator of the Girls Gone Wild series has become a millionaire and all. What you can criticize however, is this game, so here I go: this game totally sucks.
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