The Simpsons Road Rage
Score: 90% ESRB: Teen Publisher: EA Games Developer: EA Games Media: GCD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Mission-Based Driving
Graphics & Sound: It's about time the most dysfunctional cartoon family had a Great Looking video game counterpart. After that debacle called Simpsons Wrestling for PlayStation, I was afraid there would never be a successful follow up. Thank God for EA, Radical Entertainment, and Toon Renderer technology, which not only made the most hilarious cartoon family 3D, the same was done for every Simpsons character imaginable. I'm talking about Mr. Burns, Krusty the Clown, Principal Skinner, Comic Book Guy... the list just goes on and on. However, the characters weren't even the thing that impressed me the most. It was the amount of detail that went into all six of the levels you're allotted to drive in. If you ever wanted to know what Springfield truly looks like, play Simpsons Road Rage. Whether you're just in the neighborhood or heading downtown, you'll find yourself amazed at how much everything is carbon copied, down to the last fire hydrant. Sticking with the cartoonish feel, the actual voices are also a part of Simpsons Road Rage. Each character has a few things to say that are absolutely hilarious. Ralph bends his Wookie, Apu says "Thank you, come again." Seriously, I found myself rolling on the floor from uncontrollable laughter. The music is straight out of Springfield as well, which filled in nicely for background effect. The only thing I have to complain about was with the voices, which sometimes got a little repetitive, and other times didn't match up when characters were talking to each other. It was like listening to two different conversations at once.
Gameplay: Simpsons Road Rage is a much funnier version of Crazy Taxi. The plot of the game is that Mr. Burns has taken over the bus transit system and has jacked up the prices, so it is up to you to deliver as many Springfieldians as possible in an allotted amount of time for some serious cash. As previously mentioned, there are six different landscapes to do so on: Evergreen Terrace, Entertainment District, Springfield Dam, Nuclear Power Plant, Downtown, and the Springfield Mountains. For those locations, you can use over 30 of the different characters available (provided you have unlocked them all), each coming with their own car. Marge has her Canyenero, Otto has his school bus, Apu has his sports car, and Professor Frink has a hover car. Each vehicle has different levels of handling and speed, so you may want to pick a different driver depending on which location you choose. I just described one of the four modes available for Simpsons Road Rage. There is Road Rage, Sunday Drive, Mission Mode, and Head to Head. Sunday Drive allows you to get a feel for the cars and each location, without the hassle of a ticking clock. Use this mode to learn to nooks and crannies for when you do decide to take on Road Rage. If you get tired of racking up fare money, try the Mission Mode, where you take on ten missions of destruction, each more difficult that the last. And if you'd like to take on your buddy in Head to Head, the two of you will compete for fares around the town until one of you reaches the target money total. Remember, bumping is encouraged!
Difficulty: SSR contains three degrees of difficulty: Easy, Normal and Hard. This means because of the game modes, you'll have plenty of time to play through each level of difficulty to learn your driving strategies, and then work your way up to the hardest level. Again, the Sunday Drive mode will allow you to drive around the locations to get a feel of where you're going before you head into the other modes. That said, the only thing that is really affected by the difficulty is the time allotted during the modes. The Mission Mode is probably mostly affected, as you will get less time to complete the missions. The only other difficulty I can think of is that to unlock characters and locations, you must use the money you earn from your cab fares. The more you unlock, the more insane the target price is for unlocking the next item.
Game Mechanics: The controlling of the cars in Simpsons Road Rage is unbelievably easy. You'll be flying high in the air when you hit the jumps, and whipping 180's at the drop of a hat. There really isn't much to the controls at all, so it won't take long to figure it out. Another great aspect of the game is the lack of loading time, which is a contrast to the PlayStation 2 version. Everything loaded almost immediately, and in between games, everything was auto-saved. What a relief this turned out to be, because in a game like this, you don't want to be constantly saving manually after every level. The other good thing is that the memory card has very little memory space used, meaning you'll have plenty of room for other games. While there are only four modes available for Simpsons Road Rage, the replayability will keep you coming back for more. If you're a Simpsons fan, you'll find yourself dying of laughter from the hilarious voice tracks. This game is a must have.
-Red Dawg, GameVortex Communications AKA Alex Redmann
NFL Quarterback Club 2002 WWF No Mercy