Visual Concepts is taking the classic situational humor of a seemingly mismatched comic duo and forming a game around it with Floigan Brothers--the first of what could be a span of episodic games featuring two lovable cartoony characters and a fairly complex AI routine. We recently got the chance to play a demo build of the game to see how much the Floigans have evolved.

The Floigan Brothers is a unique cartoon adventure that puts you in the shoes of Hoigle, the smart but scrawny Floigan who must interact with his hulking dim-witted brother Moigle to accomplish the various obstacles found throughout the game. Moigle is controlled by a complex AI that simulates the moods and behavior of an actual human, and manipulating Moigle's moods is the key to the game. The game's villain, the evil Baron Malodorous, has his eyes on the brothers' junkyard and has sent his army of mercenary cats to invade the Floigans' turf. Moigle is working on an invention that will keep the evil Baron away from the brothers' precious home but needs Hoigle to help him track down the various parts he needs to complete the device. You'll have to work with Moigle not only to reach the parts that are scattered throughout the huge junkyard but also to repel the invading cats.

Hoigle interacts with Moigle using a simple button interface. You move Hoigle around in real time and can interact with your environment as you please. When you find that you need Moigle's help or Moigle needs your help, you'll use the action buttons to interact directly with your brother. The game uses a context-sensitive button layout that corresponds to the four face buttons of the Dreamcast controller. When you approach items or characters that can interact with the default actions of the buttons, they will change to reflect the possible actions you can take with that item or character. So if you're near a ball, the X button might change from Hoigle's default slap to the command to pick up the ball. Then once you're carrying the ball, the button might change to the command to drop the ball. This system lets you use everything in the game without learning a complex button scheme, because you can always simply look in the upper right-hand corner of the screen where you'll find the list of commands next to their corresponding buttons. Additionally, characters can hold conversations. When you find that Moigle needs a talking to, you can use a more advanced menu to interact directly with him. You'll be able to issue simple vocal responses such as yes or no, and you'll also be able to perform certain actions specific to dealing with characters. Hoigle teaches his brother new skills and minigames, offers to play minigames with him, and can even perform actions to change Moigle's mood to one of the game's four extreme emotions--playful, sad, angry, and afraid. This combination of voice commands and character actions provides a good range of interaction between the two brothers.

Moigle starts as a fairly unknowledgeable, inexperienced character who learns new things and emotionally matures as the game progresses. Your brother will mature differently depending on how you treat him. If you're cruel to Moigle and ignore him, he'll turn into something of a bully himself. But if you nurture Moigle and cater to his every need, he might end up a big softie. Additionally, Hoigle can educate his mammoth brother by giving him certain items and giving up some of his points. Moigle keeps a tab on exactly how many points each brother has. You can earn more points by winning minigames and by helping Moigle accomplish tasks. These points can be used to teach Moigle new things and to bribe Moigle to do things he wouldn't normally want to do. You'll be able to teach Moigle at least a dozen skills, some of which are essential to completing the game, some of which are new minigames that can be played for more points, and some of which are just amusing to watch. As Moigle matures, his progress will be saved on your VMU, and you can even go online to trade Moigle characters with other players.