Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse is an action-adventure game based on mh:besttvshows:Family Guy, developed by mh:awesomegames:Heavy Iron Studios and published by Activision. It was released on November 20, 2012 for mh:awesomegames:Microsoft Windows, mh:awesomegames:PlayStation 3, and mh:awesomegames:Xbox 360.

In December 2014, Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse was removed from mh:awesomegames:Steam.

Why It Should Stay Out Of The Multiverse

 * 1) The game itself is way too short since it only consists of 10 levels.
 * 2) You can only play as Peter in one level of the story mode (The Chicken Fight).
 * 3) The artificial intelligence can be terrible for some enemies.
 * 4) Repetitive and generic shooter gameplay.
 * 5) Some cutscenes are very long and can't be skipped.
 * 6) Despite the potential of exploring a multiverse, the game doesn't take advantage of that, all the levels and enemies feel the same.
 * 7) Most of the bosses aren't good since they have very simple patterns and are taken down pretty easily. Evil Adam West is a good example since he can be taken down with two or three shots from Brian's sniper rifle. The only ones that aren't are Evil Stewie and Bertram.
 * 8) * Evil Stewie's tank is pretty much a bullet sponge and the blasts from the cannon can do immense damage depending on how he hits you. To make matters worse, Evil Mayor West flies around on a jetpack throwing bombs at you (which take away about a quarter of your health) during the fight.
 * 9) * Bertram and his T-Rex are extremely hard. The T-Rex is much faster than any real life one could have been and can kill you in one hit by stepping on you, while Bertram can inflict massive damage with his ray gun and is risky to try and attack due to this. Even worse, you have to battle them while a never-ending swarm of Bertram's clones come in to attack you. Finally, there is little health in the stage and they regenerate their health when you die.
 * 10) Bowdlerise: Some strong profanity is bleeped or censored out, even though the game is rated M for Mature and that the game is based on an animated series aimed at older teenagers and adults. One example of this is the description on Stewie's rocket launcher, which has the word "Shit" censored out.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Decent cel-shaded visuals that faithfully capture the show's animation style.
 * 2) The idea of a Family Guy game exploring the multiverse is a good idea, just poorly executed.
 * 3) The game does a good job of balancing between Stewie and Brian. Stewie's weapons are usually advance with them being some kind of ray gun that have less accuracy than Brian's but make up for being more powerful. Brian's weapons are more modern with him welding a normal pistol, sniper, and shotgun, but the drawback is that they do less damage than Stewie's but they have better accuracy to compensate.
 * 4) The cast from the show reprise their roles.
 * 5) The soundtrack is passable.
 * 6) Though some of the dialogue was reused from the show, there are some funny moments and jokes.
 * 7) * "HAHAHAHAHAHA, you lose!"

Reception
Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse received mixed to negative reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 42.35% and 39/100, the PlayStation 3 version 35.87% and 40/100 and the PC version 25.00% and 42/100.

Andrew Reiner of Game Informer gave the game a 4.5 out of 10, saying that half of the game is done exceptionally well, while the other half is the polar opposite. He also stated, "The gameplay could fuel any generic shooter, and doesn't feel like it belongs with this property."

IGN gave the game a slightly higher score of 6.0 out of 10, stating, "There's a lot to enjoy, but none of it will knock your socks off."

Official Xbox Magazine UK did not give it a final score, instead its review was a questionnaire in which the reader could score the game themselves, with the final score out of ten being decided by how many boxes they ticked, the final box being "I'm a frothing imbecile who deserves nothing of value in my life." The review concluded that the game was for "no-one. Not even people who like the TV show" and "These writers hate humanity." The only positive mention given of the game was "It certainly looks the part."

Trivia

 * In the Chicken fight level, Peter and Ernie fight in Quahog Airport, which is also a reference to Infinity Ward's No Russian level from mh:awesomegames:Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * People who pre-ordered the game, got a level based on Aliens: Colonial Marines.
 * It spawns a meme, called "FaZe Brian", where a YouTuber named Fyvie did a 360 no-scope trickshot with Brian in a Challenge mode level.

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