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The Family Guy Video Game is certainly not the first cartoon series from Fox to spawn its own video game. Of course The Simpsons have had more than their fair share of video games in recent years so its only fair that Family Guy fans finally get to take control of some of their favorite characters in this game for the Xbox console.

In the game you have the ability to play as three different characters, either Stewie Griffin (you know, the baby with the football head), Peter Griffin (that fat idiot) and Brian Griffin (the talking dog, wait a talking dog, SHOOT IT). If you’re a fan of Family Guy and the outrageous things that go on in the show than you’ll no doubt get more than one laugh from playing this game.

The game jumps from character to character on a pretty regular basis. Beat a few levels with Brian then you are quickly switched to playing with Peter. The game play for each character is totally different as well, making the game a bit more interesting to say the least.

You start off the game as playing as Stewie. Stewie, of course, is out for world domination, but this time he's been foiled by his half brother Bertram. You need to stop Bertram from taking over the world, before Stewie can that is. As Stewie you carry with you a powerful little ray gun/mind control device. That ray gun will kill pretty much any enemy you face in one shot, which is helpful considering many times in the game you get swamped with enemies.

As Stewie you partake on the most interesting of the journeys in the game. In order for you to figure out exactly what your half brother Bertram’s plan is you have to infiltrate Peter’s body and find Bertram’s plans for world domination. So, for much of the game you are swimming around inside of Peter trying to make your way to, well, you get the idea.

Next up is Peter. Somehow or another Peter has been injured in a freak accident and has received a nasty blow to the head. This has lead Peter to believe that a 1980’s sitcom star, Mr. Belvedere, has kidnapped his family and taken the town hostage. Sounds like something Peter would dream up doesn’t it?

In any case, as Peter your weapons are your hands and feet! No, I’m not kidding either. You basically get to smash your way through the town of Quahog by kicking, punching and head butting your way through anyone that gets in your way. This can be loads of fun or very annoying because once again you are often hit with dozens of enemies attacking you at once, which can become really annoying, not to mention hard to deal with.

Peter has the ability to perform some special attacks, such as a spinning attack that will usually kill or injure any enemy within distance of the attack. In order to do these attacks though you’ve got to EAT! Yes, even in a video game Peter is stuffing his face. Every character you kill is going to drop a certain amount of food. Cookies, hot dogs and even corn on the cob are dropped by enemies. These food items fill up your snack meter and will allow you to do some nasty little attacks.

Lastly of course is that talking dog, Brian (why hasn’t anyone shot him yet, it’s a TALKING DOG!) Anyway, Brian stands accused of once again violating Cater Pewterschmidt’s racing dog, Seabreeze, and is taken into police custody. You’ve got to clear Brian’s name and find out who actually did the violating. As Brian you basically spend most of your time sneaking from place to place. There is no fighting involved here, if you are seen by anyone the game is over and you have to start again.

Also involved in Brian’s part of the game is gathering clues scattered around each level that could help lead you to the true culprit. These items can sometimes be a pain to get to. For example, at one point you are in the Quahog TV station and you have to sneak onto a live set and collect video tapes of evidence. Not really the easiest thing to do with a bunch of people running around filming a TV show.

Graphic wise this game is neither excellent nor poor, it’s right in the middle. The true saving grace of this game is the presence of that ever-hilarious Family Guy humor. You are constantly presented with moments that will have you laughing so hard you fall out of your chair.

For example, at one point I’m playing with Peter and fighting my way through a ton of enemies. Well, standing to the side is non other than God, talking to a lovely young lady of course. Well I’m of the impression I’ve gotta kill everyone on the level. So what do I do? I attack God. What happens? He strikes me down with a lightning bolt and I get to start the level over again. Needless to say I laughed for about 10 minutes straight.

The game play here isn’t really all that hard, frankly I feel like a 5-year-old could probably play and beat this game with semi-ease. The selling point is the games use of that ever popular Family Guy humor, which is present everywhere in the game. I can best describe this game in this way: the game play is for 10-year-old’s while the content is for mature audiences only. If you’re a Family Guy diehard go pick this up, you’ll love it, just don’t expect an in depth storyline.