It has been quite a while since we last heard from the Looney Tunes. If I'm not mistaking then their last big appearance was in 1996 with blockbuster movie Space Jam. Warner Brothers thought it was time to bring out an animation movie of these ancient heroes and dug up the models deep inside the archives of Warner Bros. HQ. They couldn't let Disney get all the glory in the profitable animation era, now could they? So with the movie comes the videogame and no other than EA is responsible for the creation of it.

Graphics:

Looney Tunes visuals are what you pretty much would expect of a cartoon videogame, bright colours and bold simplistic characters. There are hardly any special graphical effects though, unless you want to count the pretty vast amount of cut scenes, all of them are extractions of the movie. Oh yeah, you might need a little time to get used to a 3D Bugs Bunny.

Sound:

You can't escape from the many one-liners throughout the game from our two cartoon stars Bugs and Daffy, who just seem to go on continuously babbling nonsense. At one time they were without a doubt the funniest characters in cartoons, but from a personal point of view the characters lost their wit years ago. It might still be fun for the youngsters I guess.

Gameplay:

Looney Tunes is played with Warner Brothers 2 biggest stars, Daffy and, of course, Bugs Bunny. In a nutshell the story is about a madman acme chairman trying to steal a massive diamond so he can use it for world domination. Some pesky monkey, however, snaps it away and it is the job of Daffy and Bugs to retrieve it, because the diamond brings out the worst in people.

So you have to go out there, in Looney land, to bash some monkeys. You will spent most of the time doing ordinary platformer stuff, like collecting coins, jump from platform to platform and try not to get whacked by enemies.

An important feature is the interaction between Daffy and Bugs; you can switch between the two at a button press, allowing you to work at different parts of the area. This could prevent you from a lot of backtracking.

Catching monkeys is the main objective and the most of them can be found via a challenge. And there is quit a bit of variety in these challenges such as winning a Martian gravity race, unplug a flooded city or dismantle an invisible thief.

It isn't always clear how to do these challenges, mainly because it is vaguely described in the pause menu. But once you do get the picture, it shouldn't be too hard to beat them, after all, we're dealing with a 3+ rated game here. The game is just easy. To put it even further, the most daring and time consuming aspect of the game is to find the golden statues and Road Runner bird seeds hidden throughout the levels that grant you bonus material.

Controls:

Daffy and Bugs have different abilities, while Bugs can dig in the ground and does double jumps, Daffy swims the fountains and can semi-fly by repeatedly pressing the button.

As an extra both characters can wear costumes, Daffy his power-duck outfit, while Bugs can wear a couple of outfits, such as the quick draw cowboy suit or the hula bikini line, which is to distract the guards who don't want Bugs or Duffy wander around the terrain. This gimmick is a typical trademark of the countless old cartoons of Bugs Bunny and, more importantly, distinguishes itself from other platformers.

There isn't too much wrong with the super easy control system, other than a faltering camera, who needs manual adjustment just a bit too often.

Lastability:

Looney Tunes has 5 huge levels and it will take about 7-10 hours to finish it, depending on how fast you will find the various collectibles. Even worse, there aren't any multiplayer games and the only bonus mini game, starring poor Will E. Coyote, is catching Road Runner.

Final Say:

The ideas in the game are initially fresh and definitely a lot of fun, but the execution is meagre. Could be a deadline issue, the fact that the release of the game should be parallel with the motion picture. Or it could have been a conscious decision to keep it straightforward, as this is a game obviously designed for young kids. Either way, Looney Tunes is an entertaining and easygoing platformer but lacks a couple of extra gameplay features.