Among the many titles available in E3 Capcom booth this year, the one that I actually had to play was the upcoming title for the PSP and PS2: Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. I know what you’re thinking, “A Birdman game, WTF?”
I thought the same thing at first, but after playing, I was soon won over by the title.
Harvey says to hit the jump.
When they announced Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law way back at the Capcom Gamers Day, I thought to myself, “Huh, that sounds like a strange idea for a game.”
After I had a chance to play the title, I realized that it wasn’t that strange at all, at least not in the traditional sense. The game itself is strange, but only because the source material is pretty bizarre to begin with. The player essentially assumes the role of the late-night cartoon attorney, and tries to solve the wacky cases that come his way.
Since it is a legal battle game, Capcom heavily borrowed the play style from another one their attorney franchises (Wright, anyone?). The only difference here, is that HB:AaL is more about the humor and wit of the popular Adult Swim cartoon, than actual legalese.
In fact, the way the game is set up is that each level plays as if it were an episode of the show. So as Harvey, you take on cases whose source material is derived from the show and its twisted brand of humor. For those of you who have watched Birdman, you’ll know what I mean by twisted.
Even though I had a good time playing the game, be aware there really isn’t that much playing going on. The game is more centered on giving the player a laugh than it is about being a challenge. You never really have to remember too much to win a case, but winning or losing isn’t that big of a deal since you’re pretty much just there to enjoy the show.
The lack of in-depth gaming isn’t a bad thing, though. The title stands on its own as far as an entertaining experience and should be judged as such. I don’t know that I would get this for my home console, but this is kind of a no-brainer purchase for the PSP. (It’s like a cartoon you can play!)
On a side note. Something that made me crack up a lot was the fact that the game is still in early development, and because of that, the voice actors from the TV series had yet to record their lines for the game. To remedy this, the developers had recorded the entire dialog for the E3 demo themselves.
It was pretty hilarious listening to a bunch of Capcom employees trying to imitate the show’s characters. Though funny, I must say that they did a good job; I didn’t even notice the difference until somebody had told me!
