The Simpsons Road Rage [Platinum Hits]

• Release Date: February 14, 2003
• Genre: Racing
• Style: Mission-Based Racing
• Similar Games: Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (Xbox), Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride (Game Boy Advance), Smashing Drive (Xbox)

Game Description

The Simpsons Road Rage brings the lighthearted mission-based driving of Crazy Taxi to the characters, settings, and amusing sense of ennui cultured in the popular animated television series. Play as one of over 20 Simpsons characters to run driving errands and deliveries at breakneck speeds through a dozen Springfield neighborhoods featuring over 100 recognizable landmarks. The world and its characters are rendered in full 3D for a sense of space and speed, yet the familiar people and places of Springfield are designed to match the 2D essence of their television counterparts. The physics model is purposefully exaggerated to allow impossible trick maneuvers and arcade-style control.

Homer's boss Mr. Burns lives up to his reputation as a true capitalist pig when he buys the local transit system and raises all the fares to outrageous rates. The resourceful citizens of Springfield begin to drive themselves around instead of paying the ridiculous mass transit fees, so the streets soon become crowded with frustrated motorists. Only by running errands and making deliveries can the downtrodden masses of Springfield earn enough money to buy back the transit system and return the roadways to their former state of relative efficiency. The game's Story Mode offers at least 40 different challenges that can help earn money for the cause. The more open-ended Sunday Driving mode lets players make deliveries and cruise virtual Springfield at their own pace.

Review: Overall

After starring in a simplistic wrestling title, The Simpsons have relocated to the next-gen systems in a racing game patterned after Sega's Crazy Taxi. Road Rage's biggest strength is its faithfulness to the animated series, with a great representation of Springfield and all the major characters as either playable drivers or willing passengers. The title falters when it comes to playability, however, with repetitive action lacking the intensity and sense of urgency from the game it shamelessly copies.

Fans of Crazy Taxi will be immediately familiar with the basic structure. After picking one of five initially selectable cars, players drive around the streets of Springfield while looking for passengers to pick up. Once a character is in the vehicle, it's a race to the destination as quickly as possible, with extra time awarded for speedy deliveries. Bonus cash is awarded for doing things like avoiding vehicles or smashing into objects.

While each of the six areas of Springfield feature a number of jumps, objects to run into, and shortcuts, the game isn't as fun to play as Crazy Taxi or its sequel. Problems include an absence of moving pedestrians, comparatively sparse traffic, and roads generally being too wide, making it easy to dodge vehicles. There's not enough activity going on in Springfield to keep things exciting.

Each of the passengers and drivers offer several phrases, most of which are dependent on the characters involved and/or the situation, voiced by the cast from the television program. The voice work is the highlight of the game and captures the humor the show is known for. In fact, the only reason to keep playing is to unlock the extra characters and areas just to see (and hear) more aspects of the show.

The Mission Mode was designed to offer some extra replay value, but all of the objectives are essentially the same: knock over X amount of items in X amount of time. Two of the ten missions are short, straightforward races, but the rest are tedious. Once they are complete, there's no need to revisit them. The third mode, Sunday Drive, is simply a leisurely drive through the unlocked areas so players can find different routes.

Road Rage is one of the rare instances where everything seems in place for a completely different game. A kart-style racer or a vehicular combat title using the same vehicles, characters, and environments would have been more enjoyable than a watered-down Crazy Taxi. Even the Sunday Drive mode could have been spiced up with hidden objects to find or stunts to pull off. One word, used by Homer throughout, best describes the action in Road Rage: "Bor-ing."

Review: Enjoyment

Each object can be knocked over for fun, including trees, but the sense of danger you get from racing at high speeds is not here. The engine should have been used for a different style of game.

Review: Graphics

Springfield and its citizens are now rendered in 3D, but each location and character is easily recognizable. Some slight stutters in frame rate and minor draw-in mar an otherwise great presentation.

Review: Sound

Each character is voiced from members of the show, and the dialogue is quite funny. While there's some repetition, it's bearable.

Review: Replay Value

Most will want to keep playing to unlock all the areas and characters, but gameplay becomes tedious after a few trips. Even the two-player mode is uneventful.

Review: Documentation

The included manual thoroughly explains the game, offering descriptions for each of the ten missions in the Mission Mode as well as the requirements to unlock bonus characters and areas.

Production Credits