HA-HA! Video Games - Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law Review
HA-HA! Video games.
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law was largely ignored by most people due to its short length and low difficulty. However, something made me decide to finally pick it up, and that something was the game's new price point of $5 new at Gamestop/EBgames. I'm willing to give just about anything a shot for $5, something that has backfired on me in the past.
I'm a huge fan of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and I love the Harvey Birdman cartoon, so when I heard the game was essentially Phoenix Birdman: Ace Attorney at Law I was intrigued. The game works just like Ace Attorney, having you look around crime scenes, talk to people, and use evidence to prove that people are lying in court. Unlike Ace Attorney though, everything is blindingly obvious. You never have to think and at times it feels like you're watching a cartoon that makes you press a lot of buttons before anything actually happens.
This is tolerable as really you're just there for the Birdman humor. The complete cast is here and all of the voice actors save Stephen Colbert reprise their roles. Colbert's replacement does a fairly good Sebben though and Reducto isn't around tons, so it all works out. As the game goes on you see the same recurring gags and even the same ending style from the show. If you have not watched the show, the game is still fairly funny, but all of the references will go over your head.
My biggest problem with the game is the wasted opportunity in the "press" command. In the Phoenix Wright games, this can be used on every statement a witness would make to almost always get unique, new dialog out of the characters. Some of the funniest lines in the game were obtained via these commands, but in Birdman most of the time you get a generic "I don't see anything wrong with that" from Harvey.Aside from this though, the game throws a lot of good jokes and bizarre situations at you.
You really can beat the game in about an afternoon; each case is the length of a slightly longer than normal episode of the cartoon, making the game feel like a DVD of the show with only five episodes. Still, it's worth picking up, especially at $5. Fans of the cartoon should go get it right now. If you've never seen the show before you'll likely find it uninteresting unless you're a fan of other old Adult Swim shows like Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Sealab 2021. Also a Space Ghost game would probably be the most amazing thing ever created.
Featured, HA-HA!, Harvey Birdman, SEBBEN
Reader Comments (3)
I bought this game the day it came out and I absolutely loved it! I am a huge Birdman/Adult Swim fan and this game did not let me down at all. I do agree though that if you do not know Harvey than you will not know most of the jokes in this game.
lbdjtcto...
lbdjtcto...
I hope youve got a stop! This is one of the better blogs Ive ever learn. Youve got some nutty skill here, man. I just hope that you really dont lose your fashion because youre definitely on the list of coolest bloggers out at this time there. Please keep it up because the internet needs someone such as you spreading the word.