The Simpsons Road Rage (Gamecube)
Developed by: Radical Entertainment
Published by: Electronic Arts

In the fast-paced world of video games, there have always been a few things that we can count on. For one, all games based on TV or movie licenses invariably suck, and for another, any game concept that is even moderately profitable will always spawn an endless wave of second rate clones.

That being said, The Simpsons Road Rage would seem to have two strikes against it right upfront. It is impossible to disguise the fact that this game is a shameless rip-off of Sega’s Crazy Taxi,which was a smash hit in arcades and later on the Dreamcast system. What’s more, it isa licensed game based on everyone’s favourite cartoon family, The Simpsons, and I’m suremany people would agree when I say that game developers have not been very kind to The Simpsonsin the past.

With the limited number of games available for the Nintendo Gamecube at the moment, however,I for one was willing to take a chance on this game, and it really didn’t turn out too badly.

As I mentioned, the game is pretty similar to Crazy Taxi. Surprisingly, there is actuallya storyline that tries to tie the whole taxi idea to The Simpsons world (as if that isreally necessary). Apparently Mr. Burns has taken over Springfield’s entire public transitsystem and jacked up the prices. So leave it to the wacky citizens to rise up againstthe iron fist of Mr. Burns and start up their own cab service, putting you in the driver’sseat with all your favourite Simpsons characters… everyone from Homer to Otto to Chief Wiggum.

The best thing about The Simpsons Road Rage is obviously the number of different charactersand their various spoken phrases. The game could have been really dull if they had onlyfocused on the main characters like Homer, Bart, Marge and Lisa, but there are over20 drivers that you can unlock, in any order you want. This includes classic characterslike Groundskeeper Willie, Professor Frink and Apu.There are a lot of Simpsons characters that fit into the taxi theme simply because theirrespective vehicles are such an important part of their personalities.How cool is it that you get to drive control Otto in his school bus, or Barney as The PlowKing?? Very cool. The vehicles all handle differently as well. For instance, Groundskeeper Willie’slawnmower is slow and difficult to maneuver, while Professor Frink’s rocket car blasts throughthe streets at extremely high speeds.

The graphics are pretty cool. Nothing spectacular, but they did a respectable job of bringing the look ofthe characters into three dimensions.If you saw the Halloween episode of The Simpsons where Homer entered the 3-dworld, you have an idea of what to expect here.One thing that is kind of cheesy is the fact that all the vehicles in the game were created without roofs.I’m assuming this is so the programmers could avoid having to do intricate animations of charactersopening and closing car doors, or perhaps it is so that you can see the characters’heads fully as you drive. This isn’t a big deal for some of the vehicles, but it just looks plain stupid to drivearound a school bus without a roof on it.

The other thing that this game has going for it is the fact that it is pretty simple. This is what made CrazyTaxi such a fun arcade game, and likewise it is also what makes The Simpsons Road Rage an enjoyableplay. This game is ideal for even novice gamers. Basically, you drive around the citylooking for passengers to pick up, and once you load one up, a floating hand will point out thedirections to help you reach their requested destination.(Of course, there are shortcuts, and as yougain more driving experience in Springfield you will not need to follow the floating handat all because you will already know the quickest path.)Along the way you can choose to avoid obstacles or trash them as you see fit. Every now andthen you will have the potential to score bonus points either by ensuring the passenger a saferide or by blazing a path of destruction through the city.

You can also play a two-player head-to-head variation of the game in a split screen mode. You can competein head-to-head mode using any of the levels or characters that have been unlocked in the one-player mode.One cool thing here is that you can actually steal your opponent’s passenger in mid-ride simply by bumping into his orher vehicle, which makes for some pretty intense competitions. I think the multiplayer modeis really where you can have the most fun with this game.

The main downfall of The Simpsons Road Rage is the lack of depth or replay value. I was worried that the sound clipsand interaction between characters would quickly grow tiresome, however, this wasn’t really an issue.There is enough variety in the sound clips that they do not get overly repetitive, and they are funnyenough to be entertaining for a long time. There are even some little hidden gems for the true hardcoreSimpsons geeks, such as the mascots that yell “I regret nothing!” when you run them over, just like thatguy who fell from a bridge while standing in line for the Itchy & Scratchy Movie. Do you remember thatepisode? I do. Good times.

Anyways, the real problem here is that the scoring system, unless I’m missing something, leaves nochallenge to the game whatsoever. Characters and levels are unlocked based on the total amount of moneyyou earn from your taxi runs. Since your total simply accumulates after each run you make, it seemsinevitable that you will eventually unlock everything, whether you are good at the game or not. It just meansthat if you suck it will take you longer to unlock stuff. So really, what the hell is the point?

The mission mode was a good idea to try and create a sense of challenge, but it seems like a bit of an afterthought.In these missions, you need to accomplish various tasks such as driving Homer to work without being caught byMr. Burns, or helping Barney run over a number of mascots within an allotted time limit.I could probably forgive the fact that the objectives of these missions are completely lame and nonsensical,but they’re also too short, and there aren’t enough of them.Another annoyance to add to this is the slow loading time. This is a real hassle in the mission mode, where in some casesit takes longer to restart the mission than it does to play through it.

In my opinion, the multiplayer mode is the best part of the game; it’s simple, but addictive. As a one playergame, The Simpsons Road Rage is definitely not worth more than a one or two day rental. The multiplayermakes up for this, but it still doesn’t really have the lasting appeal that would make it worththe full $70-80 that most videogames cost nowadays. It’s a fun game, and of particular interest to anyone wholoves The Simpsons, but it still could have been a lot better. — Sean