Top 10 Video Game CS/Play Movies

05. Family Guy: Back To The Multiverse

While it is a given that this game is an obvious product of the TV show around which it is based, it enjoys another level and measure of meaning due to the fact that as an audience we already have a pretty good idea of just what to expect from it.

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the game offers a measure of entertainment that your girlfriend and your wife probably won't like...

It is guy humor after all...

Bear with us for a moment and you will see.

Very often in the case of video games that are generally perceived as being silly - as in clown silly, jester silly, and not to be taken too seriously silly - Multiverse offers a perfect (if polished) opportunity to explore a side of video games and gaming we don't see all that often.

Let's first dissect the details for this game - because there is far more to it than is immediately apparent to the casual observer.

Back to the Muliverse is actually based upon one of the most popular episodes of the TV show Family Guy -- the episode titled "Road to the Multiverse" -- and in addition to having been crafted as an extension of that episode, it also serves as a continuation of the second most popular episode from the show, "The Big Bang Theory."

Developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by Activision, the Multiverse was released in 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and was classified as an action-adventure title.

The basic theme for the game puts the players in control of the infant protagonist Stewie Griffin and his best friend (and pet dog) Brian Griffin, with the player being able to switch between both as the active character.

Stewie and Brian bring completely different elements to game play, having their own unique abilities and approach to problem solving.

As an action-adventure title, Multiverse has all of the basic conflict and resolution elements that are required to craft a good story - or game for that matter. The plot elements of the game were written (for the most part) by series creator Seth MacFarlane, who is a comic genius and who has a very keen and capable understanding of each character, their strengths, and more important, their weaknesses.

The basic plot pits Brian and Stewie against a long-time rival, Stewie's dangerously evil half-brother Bertram (though it is a Bertram from another universe - they killed him in theirs), who is every bit the sort of enemy you want to have in a good story.

To clarify this, when you are crafting an adversarial action-adventure romp there are certain elements that must be present in order for it to be a success, and the least of these is also the most important: it must have a fearsome opponent or enemy in it. A bogeyman if you will, and one whose threat is not simply believable but convincing!

In Multiverse the boys face a Bertram who is committed to plucking from the limitless universes that make up the Multiverse his own, hand-chosen and well-primed army of foes, who he means to use to utterly destroy not just Stewie, but his entire universe. In short Bertram means to erase the universe that is arguably the one we live in, so yeah, we should be concerned.

Part of the premise is a sort of series of road trips (and we mean that word with the same definition that Seth uses - a twisted take on the Bob Hope / Bing Crosby Road Trip Films) through a number of parallel but very twisted universes.

These alternate worlds contain all of the people we know (and some who we love) but as twisted alternate thems. These include a universe ruled by Greeks (frat boys, not philosophers) in which we find one of the more annoying residents of our Quahog, Mort, and from whom we must obtain assistance or perish.

In another we face the Amish as enemy, and in yet another a world full of violent paraplegic people. Next we find a world of evil people who, for want of a better term, exist with evil being good, and good being evil.

In the next universe we get to explore all of the many and colorful stereotypes of the Pirate with the exception of the real ones who practice their craft on ships today... Hey, there is nothing more amusing than a classic pirate when it comes to looking for funny!

When we land in a universe where there is no need for Santa Claus -- because everyone buys their Christmas gifts online -- we find a world that is legitimately the greatest fear of every child we know. After all without Santa there would be absolutely no chance of getting the skateboard we really want!

Perhaps the best is next - a world in which Earth is invaded by Giant Chickens from outer space. Seriously, how cool is that?

Pretty damn cool! Which makes it all that much more difficult to explain how it is that Multiverse failed to attract either the ratings or the following we would expect.

Its life as a video game did not generate the sort of approval that the studio or publisher anticipated; that said, a movie of the game and its game play found the opposite - because while this one may not be a laugh-out-loud romp to play, it is wicked funny to watch - and that is partly how it made this list.

The other side of the coin - or the other part of how it made the list - has to do with familiarity and contempt. Put it this way (and in the spirit of the chauvinistic voice with which Family Guy ordinarily speaks) - playing Back to the Multiverse is a lot like riding a motor scooter... It is fun as hell but you would not want your mates to see you doing it.

What Multiverse represents is the plethora of similar games that, while very funny and fun to play, are not games you want your mates knowing you play. Games that are either very loosely or very closely related to the TV show / movies from which they spring.

Examples include The Simpsons, Frozen, Digimon, Pokemon, Earthwork Jim, or Mega Man - and while some of those you would not mind if your best mate knew you not only played but were something of a fanboy for, serious gamers like to be taken seriously, and that is sort of the point.

What Multiverse - and games like it - bring to the table is a light-hearted comic romp via an IP that is not only familiar, but one whose characters we have spent lots of time with. So if you are wondering how it is that this particular game made the list, that is how. In spades.

Note: if you actually plan to play this one, it would be an idea not to watch the movie as it most effeminately gives away all of the best lines - and gags - in the game.

Posted: 20th Nov 2014 by CMBF
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