Floigan Brothers

Pros • Evokes Saturday morning cartoon flashbacks • Good sense of humor • Competent, but not overly challenging puzzles • Incomparable to other products	Cons • Camera woes promote suicidal tendencies • Intellectually stimulating as an Animaniacs episode • Over way too quickly
Bottom Line Just like a chocolate covered midget--short and sweet! Two brothers--one who’s half retarded--and one hour of play: you do the math. It’s puzzle solving the zany, can’t-stop-to-think way, albeit with a tasty candy coating made from sumptuous visuals and goofball humor. You’ll move on to other projects shortly after starting, but damned if it won’t be perhaps the most rewarding hour spent parked TV-side this season.

Humor is, ahem, a funny thing. It can be bad, good, witty, or droll, but seldom more than one of the above. For a game publisher, it can also spell relief (of the comic variety) or disaster. Such thoughts undoubtedly crossed Sega's mind when creating the goofy, innovative Floigan Brothers, a product boasting more in common with Saturday morning cartoons than traditional interactive entertainment. Part puzzler, all prankster, it's a unique, silly puzzler with a few glaring errors, but lots of heart.

Damn that Baron Malodorous. Instead of letting the laughably portly and dimwitted Moigle complete a secret project, that goon has to wreck a perfectly good day. Never mind that tubby's got enough on the brain as is, what with having to collect specific parts from around his junkyard home. Thankfully, the older, wiser brother, Hoigle, is handy, else chances of success would be minimal. Mayhap through your intervention as well, these mismatched heroes can get home in time for dinner (and Moigle's nightly snack binge).

Short and sweet, Floigan Brothers will remind you of typical animated shorts. But here you must solve zany conundrums by using Hoigle to influence Moigle into completing certain tasks. Motivators include an occasional assault, taunt or tease, e.g. whatever it takes to get his oversized butt in gear. Although slow on the draw, Moigle eventually learns from mistakes, and can be developed into a semi-sentient being that can be swapped amongst players. How an XXXL pant wearing misfit fits onto a tiny VMU, well… that's another story entirely.

Also present are a few creative mini-games. Supposedly these should heighten your enjoyment, but they mostly just serve as mildly entertaining diversions from story goals. Fending off enemy attacks are prime examples, in addition to Hoigle and Moigle-centered affairs. Such tidbits essentially enhance the sheer idiocy of the experience, which seems developer Visual Concepts' ultimate goal. Read into that what you will.

Promising though it sounds, play leaves you feeling unfulfilled. Mindbenders are easily solved, even by beginners. Overall, the game doesn't last but an hour or two. Worse yet, damnable camera angles wreak havoc on one's sanity. Pointing your tubby alter ego towards important goals wouldn't be so tough if the camera wasn't constantly under manual control, often defaulting to crappy configurations. Let's not even get started on how infuriating this effect becomes when operative during close quarters situations.

Mercifully, no complaints arise concerning audio-visual details. Arguably no competitor has successfully mimicked this kind of cartoon adventure in 3D with so grand a payoff. From splats to squishes and crunches, every character displays a fluidity and grace of animation that rivals professional televised work. Whoever handles Looney Tunes casting and sound production should really consider doing more recruiting in gaming circles. Believe it or not, you will laugh out loud at some point. Bank on it.

Brisk, breezy and outright bonzo, Floigan Brothers is a title you shouldn't miss. Of course it's also a title you really shouldn't buy either, save for collecting purposes. A rental will do just fine, giving players of all stripes time to enjoy the shortest, sweetest game known to man, or at least the Dreamcast-owning, homo sapien variety. Hey, if these brain-dead siblings can work it out, we're sure you can too.

Info & Screenshots