Not since the 3 Stooges instigated Disorder in the Court has such judicial mayhem ruled the courtroom as it does in Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.  

Harvey Birdman is a point-and-click courtroom adventure whose mechanics of cross-examination, evidence lists and investigation of crime scenes is inspired by the Phoenix Wright Nintendo DS series and to some extent, the Law & Order pc games. 

So who is this Harvey Birdman I hear some of you asking?  Based on characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law premiered in September 2001 as part of the Adult Swim block of programming on Cartoon Network and ran for 39 episodes.

The popular show, and game, features ex 1960’s Hanna-Barbera cartoon superhero Harvey Birdman – an aging, B-list superhero with bad knees – as a (mostly) defense attorney for the prestigious Sebben & Sebben law firm.   Harvey’s clients and workmates consist of both popular and obscure characters from other Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same era such as Magilla Gorilla, Secret Squirrel, Peter Potamus, & Inch High Private Eye, to name but a few.   The humor is decidedly adult in tone – for example, in one episode which is also hunorously referenced in the game, Secret Squirrel is accused of flashing (his secret gadgets are inside his coat) when he tries to rescue someone – and also contains numerous double entendres and sexual innuendos. 

Similar to Law & Order, each case either begins at the crime area or enroute to where you then investigate by using a magnifying glass to collect evidence that can be presented at the trial.  You can also interview witnesses and suspects.  Most of the fun relies on the outrageous humor and the twist of cartoon characters with human attributes and failings. 

Questioning witnesses on the stand usually involves you first watching a brief cut-scene of their testimony, after which you can then press them on specific aspects of their testimony or presenting evidence from your investigation that either supports or refutes their claims.  If this all sounds familiar, then you’ve probably played a few of the Phoenix Wright games.  The evidence is not your usual litany of bloody weapons, but instead includes such diverse items as a fortune cookie, a death ray machine and an empty peanut bag with a pair of dirty boxer shorts stuck inside.

You can press a witness on his or her testimony multiple times with no penalty to your case.  However, you’re more restricted when it comes to presenting evidence. If you present a piece of evidence at the wrong moment or if it has nothing to do with that witness, Harvey loses a gravitas point (gravitas points are made to resemble his crest).  Lose too many gravitas points and it’s sayonara, case dismissed and you must start over (or reload a previous save).

The voice actors from the original series – with the exception of Stephen Colbert – have all reprised their roles for the game and as such the voices are above reproach.  The graphics have the same minimalist, i.e. thrifty, look as the series which itself is styled to look like the original Hanna-Barbera library of cartoons.  You do not have to be familiar with the series to enjoy the game, as the developers have done a nice job within the game of explaining the concept of the series without ever becoming boring or redundant.

If you’re a cartoon buff or a child of the sixties and this all sounds like a lot of fun, well, it is to a point. High Voltage Software, the developers, previously honed their adult humor with Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.  The humor is decidedly offbeat and there are a few laugh-out-loud moments.  Still, when all is said and done and you have completed all five cases, you’ll feel as though you’ve just watched an interactive version of the television show – and that’s the problem.  The game is so slavishly devoted to the source material that the player seems to exist only to click on objects in order to advance the story or set-up another joke.

There are a few cameos in the game by some Street Fighter characters, but this is an idea that should have been taken to greater lengths, especially considering Capcom’s rich library of franchised characters.  While it is great to see games like this made available to such a mass audience on the Wii, the game’s brevity combined with its limited participation make it a must play only for hardcore fans of the television series.