Looney Tunes: Back in Action (GameCube)

In 2003 the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action was released to far less excitement than Warner Brothers expected. An attempt to capture the same success of Space Jam fizzled out as actors like Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman didn’t have the same sort of draw as the world’s biggest athlete of the time, but the inclusion of animated Looney Tunes alongside live action actors did provide more wacky antics starring the classic cartoons. Licensing the human stars of the film for a tie-in game would likely have been more expensive than it was really worth, but rather than recruiting imitators or stands-ins, Looney Tunes: Back in Action for GameCube takes the more unusual route of completely rewriting the film to remove almost all non-cartoon characters and reworking some into more cartoonish caricatures to better fit a story that was now exclusively about the Looney Tunes.

 

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are still portrayed as employees of Warner Brothers Entertainment who are treated like actors in the game’s version of the story, but things quickly jump straight to the main focus of the plot rather than attempting a gradual build-up. The leader of the Acme Corporation aims to use the Blue Monkey Diamond to turn everyone on Earth into monkeys as revenge for his company being humiliated in Looney Tunes shorts, but the jewel itself is pilfered by a red monkey who runs off to hide in various locations around the world. The globetrotting of the film is still included as Bugs and Daffy chase after the monkey to stop Acme’s plans (and in Daffy’s case, hopefully grab a valuable diamond for the chance at riches), but while you will drop by places like Paris and Las Vegas, they’re simply places the monkey thief decides to visit rather than having any meaningful progression that ties to the ongoing narrative.

 

Bugs and Daffy both serve as playable characters you can usually alternate between outside of special circumstances, both of them featuring Joe Alasky as their voice actor who did their voices in the associated film. This ends up providing a fairly authentic version of both characters with writing that suits their usual behavior as well as making fresh fun at the video game medium that they don’t get to poke fun at often.  Daffy is still his greedy and glory-obsessed self while Bugs has a more wry sense of humor, their contrast strengthened even in simple moments where Daffy will be disappointed with how little each money pick-up he grabs is worth while Bugs is happy to have found a bit more cash. Daffy will end up the butt of jokes while Bugs better handles situations and is more willing to acquiesce control over to Daffy when he knows the duck would better handle it, and the banter can be fairly amusing at times. However, the game does go a bit overboard in the presence of simple chatter. Collectibles can be placed pretty close together and they’ll hardly have time to say a voice line for picking one up before trying to say another, and at other times a mundane action like Daffy flapping his arms to gain more distance with a jump will play an obnoxious yell that will likely push you towards playing as the already more capable Bugs more often. Other familiar Looney Tunes like Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, and Marvin the Martian put in small appearances so they’re usually able to briefly perform their comedic shtick without wearing thin, the two leads just needing better management in what triggers their talking so they don’t start to get annoying.

In this 3D platformer, there are five main levels with multiple objectives each in them, the reward for completing them being monkeys who were once humans. Most stages take on a linear progression where you earn one monkey after the other, the game more willing to shake up a stage’s design and get creative with its trials because it makes sure the main tasks have clear structure to them. In the early Warner Brothers Studio Lot level for example things start off with you just chasing after a runaway monkey, but later in the stage the entire place will be flooded, necessitating the use of Daffy’s exclusive swimming ability and quicker movement with Bugs as the boxes he walks across can sink. Most of your basic navigation isn’t going to be challenged all that much, a few regular enemies placed in sometimes rather open spaces and even easy to smack around if they do approach, but to make exploring levels feel a bit more interesting there are hidden collectibles as well as plenty of money that is necessary for unlocking the new levels, activating specific power-ups, and purchasing monkeys from the rooster Foghorn Leghorn.

 

Bugs and Daffy don’t have too much they can do on their own. Bugs has a double jump that makes him practically the superior choice for exploring a level save the few moments the game has a platform out a little too far for him to reach, and while Daffy can swim it isn’t an ability with too much variety in its use. Similarly Bugs can burrow underground and knock up hidden goodies as he does so, but it’s mostly a small factor in the adventure and instead you’re far more likely to engage with either fairly plain platforming trials or special situations that break from the typical controls. The Louvre itself is a rather mundane place to explore despite the art on the walls being images from recognizable cartoons, the architecture repeated and not often too challenging to navigate. However, that same level has a fight with the hunter Elmer Fudd where you need to get him to shoot Wabbit Season and Duck Season signs to switch what they say, and while the fight is very easy, it’s a cute concept. Conceptual interest is usually the game’s greater strength than gameplay substance, and while it deviates into minigames often, it sometimes even fails to explain how they work. The final boss battle doesn’t tell you its unique control method while other brief gameplay shifts like one where you help the Tasmanian Devil go on a rampage are so simple it would be harder to lose. Briefly playing bomb tag with people driving golf carts or operating a laser cannon to fight off martians who are harassing Daffy go on too long for how simple the interaction is, but such frequent forms of novelty do make it more interesting to press forward to see what lies ahead.

One idea the game tries is to have a few areas where Bugs or Daffy will need to don an outfit to progress. Bugs will get dressed up in costumes with unique abilities like a space man who can blast away an area filled with baddies with his laser, but others like the secret agent just make already visible but intangible platforms solid so you can jump onto them in a very basic form of progressing. Daffy’s superhero alterego Danger Duck gives him brief invincibility, but mostly it is used to activate specific minigames like a space race or button mashing wrestling competition. Again the appeal seems to be more about doing something distinctly different than doing something with a lot to it, and maybe if it kept that focus then it could have turned out a little better. Some challenges can even prove to be decent tests like a section where other Looney Tunes are being boiled in pots throughout a rather large area and you have a timer counting down to urge you to be fast and efficient in saving them. However, as you near the end of the game and have grabbed every monkey that’s required as part of the plot, you’ll reach a door and be told you need 35 in total to complete the game when it only put you onto about 24.

 

The extra monkeys will require you to do extra tasks in each level. Some of these are pretty simple, each stage having Sylvester the Cat trying to catch Tweety Bird in a few locations and you go over and smack him to stop him, finding him usually not too hard but scouring a level’s nooks and crannies will often be required to some degree to find a spot or two. You’ll need to inevitably thoroughly explore many spaces in Looney Tunes: Back In Action though because you’ll have to collect enough cash to not only continue onto new levels but potentially buy more monkeys from Foghorn as his prices rise in each stage. Michigan J. Frog statues are scattered around every level in abundance but unless you grab all twenty you won’t get a monkey and while you’ll likely get a good haul in each stage, finding them all is a fairly involved task that mostly just requires poking around levels, digging in the dirt a lot, and potentially restarting levels and playing through every one of the main monkey objectives again since some are only available when the level is in a certain state. Birdseed is another collectible and unlike the statues it will be lost on leaving a level, the purpose being to find seven in a stage to unlock a minigame where Wile E. Coyote runs up a busy road dodging cars for a fairly long time trying to catch the Roadrunner. Each of the five levels has a slightly more demanding version of this minigame to unlock and play to get a monkey if you want to go this route instead, but again you’ll spend a lot of time just walking around and doing tame jumps around stages to try and gather the required collectibles to potentially make up the monkey deficit to see the ending. It’s not like this sudden focus on heavy collection is the only thorn in the game’s side thanks to weak level layouts or diversions that are too simple for their own good, but it does add a sour end to an adventure that was otherwise doing a swell job at constantly adding in variety.

THE VERDICT: Looney Tunes: Back In Action in GameCube may amuse younger players with spot on Looney Tunes writing and performances as well as the frequent introduction of new ways to play, but the plain level design coupled with those imaginative ideas mostly being surface level change-ups leads to the cracks in the game’s design gradually becoming visible. Some diversions go on too long without anything interesting to justify the length and platforming can sometimes feel like it’s not being tested adequately, but it’s the late game reveal that you need to be scrounging up every coin and collectible you come across to finish the adventure that makes you realize how novelty initially helped shield the game from judgment for its mostly unappealing platform levels and basic tasks.

 

And so, I give Looney Tunes: Back In Action for Nintendo GameCube…

A BAD rating. I would perhaps still recommend this game for younger players even if they’re likely to be even more put off by the 35 monkey requirement than older ones, but they will likely see less issue with how simple many of the new ideas being presented really are. Many platforming portions of the adventure feel like you’re just poking around a space in search of the apparently very vital collectibles and cash with the task at hand being something you could swiftly complete otherwise, that truth perhaps being why the game felt the need to extend its length a little by making you pay attention more to the spaces it built. Minigames are a fine form of deviation since at least their new design won’t rankle the player since they’re often over so quickly or even if they do linger you hopefully won’t be returning to it again later, although the linear level progression can make return trips to a stage to grab all the birdseed or find the last statues annoying since you will need to retrace all your old steps. The difficulty level was likely kept low to avoid alienating young fans of the Looney Tunes brand and the development team did at least think of new ways to shake-up the action so that it can keep your attention with new areas and play styles rather than legitimate challenge or puzzles, and maybe if it had no optional content it could have likely gotten away with distracting you with the latest twist up until the end. The coins could have still made levels worth poking around a bit since they work to unlock levels, but having Foghorn sell monkeys and other collectibles that are either fairly abundant or hidden well enough, you end up spending too much time doing activities that don’t really engage you and help you to realize you weren’t really doing too much in the game otherwise. Other little issues exist as well like 2D jumping sections where mild 3D interference can make your character’s jumps not work out or unnecessary ledge lips keep leading to bonking your head instead of pulling yourself up, and the voice line spacing in general makes the otherwise spot-on performances lose some of their charm.

 

Had it kept its focus on moving along through new experiences fairly rapidly, Looney Tunes: Back In Action would be a fine little licensed platformer that brings enough of the borrowed franchise’s charm with it to make it mildly memorable. However, the points that go on too long and the shallower ideas are let down by the game’s insistence on collection being a heavy part of the experience. Finding extra goodies would be a fine touch for people who want more out of the game, but this adventure drags when it’s having you go over its locations with a fine-tooth comb despite its levels working best when they’re moving you along at a fast pace. A weak attempt at depth in a plain platformer ends up souring the small successes, it easier to reflect on the many small quibbles with its design when it’s not letting you have your finale until you’ve put in extra time. Even if you went in knowing to grab everything you can in advance, Looney Tunes: Back In Action still distracts too much from its action while at the same time making the adventure more about what you’re doing than how you’re doing it, an approach meaning it’s not able to hold your interest well when portions of play last longer than their basic ideas can sustain.