Adult Swim comedy as a game?

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

IT certainly is the most absurd mini-cartoon series ever created but it does a lot of good for the heart, because it’ll make you laugh pretty hard. Harvey Birdman is one of the characters in “Adult Swim,” a late-night show that is one of Cartoon Network’s most original comedy animations. It is quite a surprise that a video game was released by Capcom to emulate the show’s off-beat humor. The PlayStation 2 game Harvey Birdman, Attorney-at-Law is largely an interactive video game that takes the player to the world of Harvey Birdman, a retired 1960s superhero-turned-lawyer for a law firm called Sebben and Sebben. The entire series is very short; about four to five hours, depending on your speed of gameplay.

Speaking of which, this game doesn’t have much gameplay. Would-be players of Harvey Birdman may have to be told to watch out for its lack of the normally fast-based gameplay that is expected of a video game. There is barely enough playing around and it’s basically a TV series offshoot squeezed into a DVD game. Its interactive nature is more of pointing and clicking on items on the screen, moving forward and backward and, well, that’s basically it. However, what it lacks in gameplay it makes up for with its utter absurdity to comedic effect. The humor used in this game is just as good as the Adult Swim TV series and it will give players moments of laughter, especially with the dialogue of the characters.

Just as in the TV series, Harvey Birdman will take on court cases that range from finding out who robbed a bank to proving that Harvey’s partner, Peter Potamus (another Hanna-Barbera cartoon character way back in the 60s) is not an arsonist. You play Harvey Birdman to solve these cases. Each case will require Harvey to search for evidence or clues that he can use during the court case. Harvey can interact with witnesses (most of whom are also 60s characters) and police officers to help him out with his cases.

It’s quite easy to examine crime scenes as the animation would almost always point these out and the relevant items themselves stand out already. All throughout his investigation, Harvey will have to contend with characters whose idiotic statements could be used in his case. Investigations will require Harvey to ask questions, which the player will have to choose via an on-screen menu. Many of the selections are just very easy but once in a while you’ll want to ask stupid questions and most often, the responses are comic. Some statements are truly funny but definitely not for kids.

Once the investigation is completed, off he goes to the courtroom where the gameplay moves somewhat faster. Here, you will examine your witnesses and cross-examine the other lawyer’s witnesses. Just as in the investigation, you’ll have to ask questions and listen to witness testimonies before using your evidence, which you could either present or press against the characters on the witness stand. Making correct choices in pressing or presenting evidence will give the players additional crests, which serve as life bars. Making wrong moves, however, will reduce the crests and it’s game over if you run out. It’s fairly common that you’ll be making mistakes and running out of crests but the good part here is that the game has its own save system so that you can backtrack a few times to make the correct choices. It can become a bit tedious at times but the verbal exchanges between the lawyers, witnesses, and even the judges and jury are very funny and sometimes it you almost wouldn’t even be able to tell if you were playing the game or watching a really long episode of “Adult Swim.”

The overall look and feel of the game isn’t any different from the TV series. In fact, it is the TV series. The only difference is that it that gives the player/viewer a chance to play the second-rate-former-superhero-turned-second-rate lawyer for a firm that defends has-been cartoon characters. The storylines for each of the cases are continuous so there is little downtime. It’s even a form of encouragement for players to finish their investigation quickly so they can move to the courtroom where much of the witty dialogue takes place.

For anyone who expects action and lots of clicking, this isn’t the game for you. Only fans of the series or just anyone who wants a hearty laugh should watch/play this. Not everyone will say it’s worth P2,000, but people who love cartoon comedies will be happy to have paid the amount.

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