2K - Family Guy The Video Game Review

Despite the cheap, used pricetag, I was nervous about giving the Family Guy video game for PS2 a shot.  After all, cutout bins everywhere are littered with bad games based on TV and movies.  I think most places have a cutout bin strictly for bad Simpsons video games alone!  What I got though, was a fun, somewhat challenging, and thoroughly engaging video game that has given me hours of entertainment.

With over 20 levels, Family Guy will take some time for you to beat.  While the beginning levels are fairly easy, I was happy to see each level's difficulty increase.  Right now I'm only about halfway through the game, but I can safely say this game does present a challenge.  Granted, I might not be as swift with a controller as I was 10 years ago in my teenage years, but I'm not terrible either.

You play as three different members of the Griffin family: Peter, Baby Stewie, and Brian, the dog.  Each of them is attempting to accomplish a different task.  Peter is convinced that Mr Belvedere has kidnapped his family, and he will stop at nothing to get them back.  Stewie, meanwhile, is out to stop his enemy Bertram.  And then there's Brian.  Brian has been framed and arrested for knocking up Peter's father in law's dog.  As Brian, you must sneak through different levels of the police station and jail, collecting evidence files to help you break the case.

The three stories are played all at the same time.  For example, you might have a couple of Stewie screens before all of a sudden starting a new screen with Peter or Brian.  There is no way to play one character's adventure straight through.  Each character also has various playable "non-sequitors," which is only appropriate, given the show this game is based on.  Most of the non-sequitors result in you gaining an advantage for the next screen, as long as you complete the challenge.

Like I said, this game isn't horribly challenging, but it is fun and does present a decent challenge.  Fans of the show will get the most out of it, but even non-fans would probably enjoy the simple, throwback console gameplay.

4 stars.