The Simpsons Road Rage

Ready, Set, D'oh! on October 04, 2006

When I first received The Simpsons: Road Rage as a birthday present, I was a bit skeptical about it as I initially wasn't into games based on TV shows or movies. But when I started to play this game, I was hooked!

The story (as described on the case jacket and during an animated introduction) involves Mr. Burns purchasing all the city buses and converting them into nuclear-powered buses. Fear for threat to the public health, the citizens of Springfield decide to run a taxi service fund-raiser using their own cars in order to buy the buses back from Mr. Burns.

The game holds several modes of play. The first and main mode is "Road Rage". The objective of Road Rage is to raise as much money as possible within a determined time frame. The player selects from a large variety of Simpsons characters, each with a unique automobile, and one of six locations in Springfield (however only the Simpsons family members and Evergreen Terrance are available at the start). The player then has to pick up customers and drive them as quickly as they can (while dismissing all traffic laws and safety) to their destinations. Bonuses are rewarded to the player depending on how fast they get them there, such as more money or even more seconds to the clock. The game ends when the player runs out of time. The money the player makes during the game is added to the overall total. When the player surpasses certain amounts of profit, new characters and new locations are unlocked.

Other modes include "Head to Head", where two players compete in order to reach a predetermined profit; "Mission Mode", where the player must compete different tasks; and "Sunday Drive", where the player can freely drive and explore Springfield locations at his own pace. All the extra modes are sure to bring up the replay value, but "Mission Mode" however is repetitive in some areas, such as too many tasks involving knocking a set number of objects over.

All the characters are granted with humorous dialogue during the game, which is certain to bring up many laughs. The only set-back is that characters have a limited number of lines, and therefore become repetitive and tiresome after a while (I can't recall how many times I've heard Ned Flanders say "Slow and steady wins the race").

One problem, although not serious but just enough to be bothersome, is that the game contains some obvious bugs. For example, signs and billboards can remain suspended in mid-air after knocking the support beams over, and voice clips will sometimes fail to play when necessary, but start when an unrelated character steps into the car.

Putting the faults aside, The Simpsons: Road Rage is a fun game for anyone. I reccommend it to all of those who enjoy The Simpsons and are willing to have a good laugh while playing the game.

4/5