Completion Time: 6h:08m:00s
Rating: 5/10

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What's Up, Doc?

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First blog post of the new year, and I'm hoping to keep it a bit more consistent this time around! I tapered off a bit at the end of 2024, but I've got a new drive: one that will allow me to play as many mainline Nintendo and terrible licensed games as possible. I only wish I had picked something a little more interesting to cover for my first one of these, it's a tad on the bland side. How do you figure that? This is a game about the Looney Tunes, the game should be super looney! Right?! And it's based on the Joe Dante film which actually isn't terrible, so it's just an unfortunate situation all around.

You're a duck. Fly, damn you!

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Dethpicably Mediocre

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You feel like you might be off to a decent start as you get into the game, with the fun voices and the colorful atmosphere, and even running around the Warner Bros. backlots feels decent enough. But the further you get in to just that level, let alone later areas like Area 51 and the Las Vegas-set "Wooden Nickel", you realize how unresponsive the controls are at times. And this is a platformer, mind you, which isn't great. Moving around swaps between incredibly floaty and being weighed down by a bag of sand with little in between. The attacks at least work just fine, and it's fun to beat the hell out of Yosemite Sam as Daffy Duck, for example. But the lack of variety can really bog this down as well. Maybe there should've been purchasable attacks of sorts? There's already Foghorn Leghorn running around as a salesman in the game, selling a "munkie" (the Mario stars of this game), so why can't he make me a bit more powerful, eh? There are doors where you can buy powerup costumes for segments, and that goes a long way to add some mechanics to the game. But they're temporary and limited in their use cases, unfortunately. Like a brief jetpack boost, or a hypnotic hula skirt.

Why was Porky been downgraded to studio guard? Lack of appeal?

You get to play as both Bugs and Daffy, swapping between the two of them at your own leisure and summoning the other to your location via mailboxes scattered across the various worlds. But there are tasks that only one or the other can accomplish, like flying across platforms or burrowing into the ground to get into bound-off areas. And if there's a thing this game does excel at, is that while the gameplay can grow stagnant, the world designs are visually interesting and well constructed. There aren't a ton of worlds in the game, so I guess they sort of have to be. And speaking of, the primary drive here are missions structured in a similar vain the something like Super Mario 64. You've gotta get these "munkies", right? Well, sometimes you platform to get one. Sometimes you figure out a puzzle to get one. There are instances where you'll need to beat up Sylvester half to death to keep him from getting Tweety Bird, and there are Michigan J. Frog statues scattered around that you'll need to collect all of. Collecting birdseed will send you to a Wile E. Coyote challenge where you have to reach a certain speed to finish the stage. Every one of these challenges leads to your obtaining of a munkie in your desperate plea to reach the Blue Monkey Diamond before the CEO of the ACME corporation can.

This is exactly what I see on my way to work every morning

The combat is basic, the enemy AI is basic, even the comedy is basic. The presentation overall leaves a lot to be desired, though the biggest highlight is probably the voice acting. It's gotta be for something like this, and honestly it's a bit of a low bar all things considered, but having folks like Joe Alasky running around (who had to be the premiere Looney Tunes character actor following Mel Blanc) only helps the product. And Jeff Bergman, Bob Bergen, and plenty of others rounding out the cast was certainly a delight. But this is a game after all, and as such, the gameplay goes an awful long way. And it just isn't there. And I cannot stress enough that there is NOT enough goofery to be found here. Where are all of the looney actions that I've been promised by the title?

There could be some comedy out of Elmer blasting statues at the Louvre, but nah

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Completing the Game

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Is there any actual completion to this game? Well... not really. Completing the game means making your way through all of the challenge missions to earn all the "munkies". And while I'm certain beating the game without literally every one of them is possible, it isn't like it's much of a hurdle to just go the extra mile. You're gonna tear down some wanted posters. You're gonna smash some bosses in the head with a big mallet or something. You're going to chase after the roadrunner to get a specific speed. It's pretty consistent, which is perhaps it's biggest benefit, but also part of it's downfall. Nothing stands out and by the final couple of worlds it's just all far too repetitive to be worthwhile.

What a helpful progress bar, doesn't actually have any numbers or anything

The game is just bland. There isn't enough going on throughout the whole thing for it to leave a lasting impression, but the fact that it's cohesive and actually works is a bit of a miracle in and of itself. As with plenty of these licensed games, I'm sure it's a standout for diehard fans of the property just for the voice acting alone, but there's nothing to write home about in the actual game. If you're a fan of platformers and action games, or if you're even just looking for something with the comedic charm of a Looney Tunes cartoon, you'll find it lacking. We'll leave it at that,

This is another entry in a series where I go through and complete every GameCube game, as it is the largest part of my video game collection. GameCube Games: 29/652