Modern marketing loves cross-promotion, especially when it comes to movie stars as action figures, Internet celebrities as TV shows (sigh) and even Christian novels as videogames (bigger sigh). Tila Tequila and Left Behind references aside, the most challenging of these crossovers seem to be those properties that go from TV shows to videogames. Just look at the evidence presented by games taking their ideas from The Simpsons, Family Guy and now Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Most TV-based games have been junk, but despite the god-awful history of show-based gaming, the new Birdman game is light-years ahead of its genre.
The game sails under Capcom’s flag and is out on Wii, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2. It has all the hallmarks of a show-based game, laden with inside jokes for devout fans and game-play centered mostly on preset choices. The game progresses similar to a point-and-click adventure, moving along as a series of short films tell the story and reveal hints about what comes next.
The success of this game over its peers is rooted in how basic it is. Capcom knew better than to try and create a highly technical gaming engine, focusing instead on letting the show’s characters and humor do the work. And that’s perfect! Most show-based games try to expand on the show’s ideas, only to result in a slog of unfamiliar material that is neither funny nor fun to play.
The Birdman game doesn’t shit on players with slog, but rather treats them to top-notch voice acting, visuals on par with the show and simple controls that don’t leave the player out, but don’t over-complicate things either. After some dialogue or evidence discovery, players decide where to go or what to inspect next, eventually heading to court where they must decide, based on multiple-choice menus, what to say in order to progress the courtroom proceedings.
The short scope of interaction and emphasis on the episodic plot videos is a double-edged sword, however. The game isn’t very engaging, and it’s tragically short: Five cases comprise the game, meaning there is about three hours of game play. The only challenge to speak of is action selection in court, as you can only be wrong a handful of times before you forfeit the case and have to start over.
Winning some of the cases comes down to trial-and-error, just restarting after losing and trying every available option for cross-examination or evidence presentation. There are only so many choices available, and the “toughest” cases call for a dull system of going through every choice before eventually hitting pay dirt.
Gratefully, the humor breaks the tedium, though it’s very wry and catch phrase-y, meaning some jokes get told over and over to the point of feeling like a cheese grater on the nipple of the funny breast.
In the instance of this game, you’re going to hear Birdman exclaim “I’ll take the case!” about every 20 minutes. Moreover, the transition video for travel–a car and funk guitar riff–gets annoying fast. Also, hearing for the seven-millionth time the one of five quotes that follow a fuck-up in court is too much to handle. It’ll seem logical to stick a bobby pin in your ear to nullify the noise after that.
Now, I need to interject a key point of this review: Until I played the game, I’d never once seen the show. I had no idea that an anthropomorphic hippo screeching, “Did you get that thing I sent you?” was supposed to be funny. The hilarity of a lobster flying across the screen during scenes of commotion escaped me. The way you enjoy the game depends on your Birdman savvy.
Personally, I enjoyed hearing the jokes for the first time as I played, because I got the feeling that knowing the jokes beforehand would rob a player of any reason to play on. However, if you already know and love the show, the best reason to get this game will be your ambition to hear every response to the options posed during every scene. Seems rote and boring to me, but superfans will be superfans.
All in all, this game rules the show-based gaming roost, but that ain’t saying much. This game is a perfect rental, given its brevity and how rapidly the novelty fades. In the span of five hours, you can see every video response to Birdman’s actions, unlock the five gag reels and become well-versed enough to hold your own in a Birdman-themed chat room.
If that doesn’t justify the $5 rental, then rest assured you won’t be missing out. This game comes close to bulls-eyeing the show-based game target, but still “Missed it…by an inch!”