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Gaming, In My Opinion
The Simspons. "Now there's a license that has been wasted," some think. The Simpsons Road Rage. "Crazy Taxi rip-off," some think. Wrong. The Simpsons Road Rage is much better than Sega's age-old arcade game.
No, it's not perfect. Far from it. TSRR boasts the cheapest graphics EVER. The character models are enough to make the PSOne weep, and it's an utter insult that these visuals are on Nintendo's Great Purple Box. Why did the developers try to create 3D Simpsons? Why not cel-shade them like their cars? That would have been much, much better wouldn't it? The backgrounds and environments aren't too bad because, like the cars, they look like they've been ripped from the cartoons... sort of. Yet as shoddy as the visuals are, they don't look out of place like some The collision detection and objectives are also decidedly dodgy. The cars get wedged against an invisible wall too often, lighlty scratching past an oncoming vehicle counts as a head-on collision and it is more than possible to be wedged down a short gap (and no Austin Powers-style three-point turns will set you free). This is remedied by a handy 'reset' function with the Z-Button, dropping you on the road nearby. Also worrying is where the characters want to go. It is reasonable for Skinner to be going to Krababbel's apartment, but why would Otto want to go to Patty and Selma's. Hmm. But ignore any of that becuase this game is HILARIOUS!! As you are playing, you will ignore the fact that this is a cheap PlayStation port. You won't care that you are stuck in a position that you can't get out of. All you'll care about is that you are enjoying a game that by all rights should be RUBBISH!! It’s indescribable, really. The pick-up-and-play controls mean you know exactly what you are doing. So you begin, and within seconds of getting your first fare, you will be laughing your head off as the voice comments, though obviously random, seem to make real conversations. And all of the voices are the real cast. Soon, you’ll hunt around for different characters, merely to see what they say, and where they want to go (some of which are simply bizarre. Hans Moleman wanted to go to Patty and Selma’s?!). Then you’ll play with different members of the Simpson Family, purely to see what they say and do. And then…and then… you’ll realise you are in Sunday Drive mode (a free-roaming mode that Crazy Taxi seriously needed), and you need to go on a Road Rage to earn more money. Then you’ll realise that with the money, you can unlock the rest of the seventeen characters and six levels (much more than Sega’s game has to offer). And, weeks later, once you’ve unlocked all of that, you’ll see the Mission Mode, an option that you might have missed and you’ll persevere in ten scenarios of destruction. All the while you’ll be ignoring the rubbish visuals, the occasional niggles in terms of programming, and the limit of phrases in the game. And all the way through, you’ll love the frantic multiplayer. The Head-to-Head mode is the greatest driving multiplayer for many years, easily beating the shoddy Driver 2 games (though lacking the variety) and rivalling Mario Kart 64 in terms of enjoyability. Yes, it looks rubbish. Yes, sometimes it plays rubbish. But no, it isn't rubbish. This is pure Simpsons fun with a great single player and a better multiplayer, with much more on offer than Crazy Taxi. It so much fun, you'll begin to question why we care so much about game visuals and good programming. If the game is as enjoyable as this, it shouldn't matter. It's questionable whether or not The Simpsons Road Rage is worth forty quid, especially for non-Simpson fans, but regardless of whether you going to buy it now or when it's cheaper, no Simpsons/Crazy Taxi/Driving Games fan can miss out on this. VISUALS: Very PlayStation-ey and disappointing for the Gamecube, despite resembling the cartoons reasonably well. 5/10 SOUNDS: "U.S.A! U.S.A!" It's like listening to the Simpsons cartoons. Could have done with better music though. 9/10 PLAYABILITY: Fantastic. You won't put it down, especially when playing with a friend. Niggles can be annoying though. 9/10 LIFESPAN: Once you've unlocked everything, it's a matter of personal opinion on whether to come back. If you really enjoyed it, you'll be trying to beat your own scores for months. 7/10 VERDICT: "Excellent!" The Simpsons Road Rage is hilarious, both playing it and watching it. It may be let down by shoddy visuals and poor programming, but the fun wins each time. 75% |