For a TV show that's been cancelled a thousand times, Family Guy is still going remarkably well. Blending twisted humour, great characters, and a Dad that 'out Homers' Homer Simpson, it's a shame we've not seen a Family Guy game on Xbox before now.
Developed by High Voltage (Leisure Suit Larry, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory), we've still got a good feeling that the game will turn out to be another winner, especially as we get to play both Brian the martini-swigging dog, and Stewie the homicidal baby - that can talk.
Chugging through the lives and locations from Family Guy (the Quahog mall, Chris' school, Peter's work-place), Stewie will pursue his quest for world domination, while Brian will be out to end his capers (he's a police dog by the way). But we've also learned a third character will be playable in the guise of Peter Griffin from the show who's always out to cause havoc...
Although little in the way of solid gameplay details have been released (we know it's a third-person adventure game though, we can tell that from the screens), Stewie will be the main focus, and will come equipped with several nasty homemade inventions. At one point he storms a hospital with a laser gun to kill several patients. The Grim Reaper is also in the game, and will stalk about after Stewie once Quahog residents have been dealt with. We're not even going to try to fathom why we've seen pictures of gay sailors and prostitues in the infirmary either.
2K Games tells us that it sees Family Guy leading the way in opening up untapped possibilities in game development, which is a pretty bold claim. The game promises to be 'irreverent and satirical' says Chris Hartmann, managing director of 2K. "We're looking forward to bringing the characters to life in a one-of-a-kind action/ adventure game." And with one screen showing Stewie standing in front of a blown-up photo of Chris' talking zit Doug, we're inclined to believe him. Could a baby really take over the world with help from his big brother's zit?
Although all the screens we have show the action taking place in and around the hospital (orderlies beating up a baby, a corpse in a tank, the CAT Scan machine being used to microwave someone's head), we hear Brian's missions will be slightly more stealthy than Stewie's.
At one point poor Brian will have to break out of jail to help Peter. And Peter's role in the game? Well, with his son taking over the world (with Chris' zit), and Brian snooping around jails, you'd think Peter's job would be easy. No, he'll have to try and stop his boss from taking over the world too. Apparently we'll be able to switch between the three characters at will, indulging in a little doggy Shawshank Redemption one minute (probably with a little soap shower action too), then zapping nurses with a laser the next. Frankly, we've got no idea what Family Guy has in store for us, but it sounds nothing short of bonkers.
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