Loons: The Fight for Fame – Review

Ruthless Loons fighting for fame sounds like an unusual gaming concept and it is. In The Loons: Fight for Fame you have the choice of playing Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester and Taz. The basic premise of the game is simple enough. its a cell-shaded beat-em-up title in which you all want fame and no other toons are going to stop you from getting it. The movie business is a hard nut to crack and you’re willing to use any means possible to get that role and keep it dagnabbit!

The game mechanics are tweaked to fit in with this ‘fame’ genre in that the usual standard energy bar has been replaced by a star system that grows or diminishes dependent on your performance on set. This performance usually involves beating the other ‘actors’ to particular stunts/tasks that you’re asked to do by the film’s director Yosemite Sam, he’s the Tarantino of the Loons world don’t you know. Along with this there’s the expected foray who are into the ACME style weaponry, all of which can be used to aid you in your quest, you can shoot, hammer and box any waskilly wabbit that dare get in your way! Along with this single player and multiplayer mayhem you can also compete in seven mini-games which are earned throughout the game. These are a nice extra but nothing to get excited about as you’ll have seen these all before elsewhere but of a better standard.

Graphically the Loons is what you would expect, it’s bright, amusing and very cartoony – so many cell-shaded polys you could crush the roadrunner with them. They do their job and the animation is great, all the characters look just like their Warner Brothers counterparts, why it’s actually like taking part in a Warner Brothers Cartoon. Backgrounds are also nicely done and the cartoons are all detailed with the expected bright colors and loony look.

Sound is also not too bad and again is standard fare for this type of game, the voice characterization of the characters is really well done and would give Mel Blanc and Chuck Jones a run for their money. The accompanying music also does its job, it’s very akin to the WB Cartoons with a few little cartoon style takes on more modern arrangements dependent on the film genre it’s trying to reflect. We’re not talking John Williams here but it does the job.

Presentation again is what you’d expect, all those bright colourful graphics and that Looney Tunes style music means it is presented in much the same way as those cartoons of old, if this is your thing then you can’t help but be impressed with the effort that’s gone in, the question is though, is this enough to have it be a totally blistering game? In a word or three, no it’s not.

Gameplay is as simple as it gets control wise, which therefore leads to both good points and bad. It’s good because you can pick up this game and play straight away, everything is laid out for you and it’s easy. The bad side to this however is the obvious ‘button bash syndrome’ that can then occur. At its heart, this is really a multi-player chase and bash affair and the skill level needed for initial play is very low indeed, a 4 year old could probably play it with little trouble. The problem however is that this simple pick up and play formula is then coalesced with a highly frustrating, repetitive, lengthy level model that can be difficult to progress through. Along with this there’s the added problem that it really just doesn’t feel as though there is any point to it, it’s not what anyone would call MUST PLAY.

During the game you rarely feel the fun factor, it just feels like you are plodding along through the level, brain numbing stuff. Little consistency throughout the game can leave you wondering why you thrashed the characters in seconds last level, yet this level are really struggling. One particular problem I had on a few occasions was where one of the characters would freeze on the screen and no longer play. This of course means that no matter how hard you try they will not die and thus you’re left with no choice but to restart the level. VERY frustrating.

Overall it seems like a fairly easy call: If you like the Looney Tunes WB Cartoons then chances are you’re going to like this, it’s a true homage to those lovable characters and it is like taking part in a cartoon. On the downside however you’re quite possibly going to be bored with it in no time, let’s liken it to a WB cartoon that used to be shown before a film in the cinema and say that it’s great while it’s on, enjoyable and you may well get a laugh out of it, but at the end of the day you know it’s going to last a few moments and then you want to see the main feature…. let’s say HALO – The Movie. This is an average title, so it garners a very average score.

That’s all Folks!

Review by Angela

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