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Doh

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I really wanted to enjoy "The Simpson's: Road Rage" because I am to the point where I pity the "The Simpson's" license in the context of the incredibly competitive video game world. The last string of "Simpson's" games have been nothing but complete, almost unplayable disasters. It's not saying a whole lot when I hear people are raving that "Road Rage is THE best Simpson's game!" Yes, it is the most competent "Simpson's" game undoubtedly but still somehow manages to a sad, highly unoriginal bore.

"Hello. Am I speaking to the legal department of Electronic Arts? Yes, this is the legal team at Sega America and we are just calling to let you know that we are suing you breaking copyright." How that call never happened is beyond me. "Road Rage" rips EVERYTHING from the stellar Sega hit "Crazy Taxi" except the fun! Considering Sega's title is way over a year old so it's very peculiar that "Road Rage" in no way, shape or form decides to build on the "taxi" formula and make it into something of it's own. Yes, "Road Rage" has arguably better graphics (considering the hardware leap from Dreamcast to XBOX, it's nothing to write home about), many more vehicles and arenas, faster gameplay and the occasional hilarity of "The Simpson's" license but the gameplay surprisingly is nowhere as fun, challenging or deep as Sega's "Crazy Taxi."

There are 4 gameplay modes: Road Rage, Sunday Drive, Mission Mode and Head to Head. The premise of "Road Rage" is simple. You choose one of various Simpson's characters, drive around picking up various Simpson's characters and drop them off as quickly as possible while listening to audio excerpts of the characters dialog repeat. Depending on how quickly you delivered your passenger the higher the pay you receive. Sounds mighty familiar hey? This cycle is fun for about an hour then torturous soon after. "Road Rage's" in game clock is incredibly inconsistant and will sometimes give you less then 5 seconds to get your passenger to their destination a few blocks away when you still have a fair amount of time left of total game time or it'll give you 40 seconds to drive one block; it flat out kills the fun. Sunday Drive is exactly what the title implies; driving around town with no time limit or objectives exploring the arena's whatnots. Mission Mode is a pathetic, abundantly unfun exercise in running various objects over within a set amount of time. Head to Head is the only reason to play this game. The 2-player madness can be very entertaining but Head to Head has lame restrictions and doesn't flow as seemlessly (I mean this very loosely) as the 1-Player experience.

Cars or characters - which ever you want to call them - handle one of three ways. There are the fast cars are extremely touchy (Apu's Sports Car), balanced cars that have a satisfactory top speed and handle adequately but sound like they are stuck in second gear (Marge's 4x4 Canonaro) and the slow, borderline useless clunkers (Auto's School Bus). Most people will find themselves sticking to the unforgiving, speed orientated cars because once mastered (which doesn't take a whole lot of time) domination is inevitable.

The arenas range from o.k. to barely playable. "Evergreen Terrace" and the "Entertainment District" are the most balanced levels and the majority of gamers will find themselves playing those two most often. While their premise is novel arenas like "The Springfield Dam" and "Springfield Mountains" are too difficult to navigate due to their immensity and poor level design. "Downtown" suffers from sporadic slowdown and frame-rate dives that create a slightly nauseating experience. Roads in these are too narrow and hitting the side of the course can bring your cars to a complete stop. Not to mention Mr. Burns and his entirely spastic "atomic buses" blocking the road entirely and pushing your car into walls will leave an extremely bitter taste in your mouth.

Graphically "Road Rage" in really nothing to get excited over. The colorful, Simpson'esque atmosphere is suiting but visuals aren't as crisp as one should expect from the XBOX. There is a minor texture blur that reminds me a great deal - to a lesser degree - of the graphical style of the N64 title "South Park."

I am really happy the voice actors from the TV series recorded some new material for the game. I am really annoyed that they recorded so little. Phrases are very funny the first 10 or so times, but by the time the second or third game loads up using the same character you will have had it. Lisa, one of my favorite character on the show has very few things to say and soon becomes unmistakably irritating. Same can be said for the almost the entire cast of characters.

Lastly I have to touch on how unacceptably glitchy "Road Rage" is. I've had cars get stuck on walls, in the middle of the road and occasionally get stuck onto another car. Sometimes I had to quit the game because my car was wedged indefinitely. The collision detection needs a great deal of work. I can't tell you the last time I played a game where if you got enough air time you could fly through background scenery into gray, video game limbo and float there until your time eventually expires. Also the load times, which are nowhere near as horrible as the PS2 version's, are still noticeably bad. Consider how low tech this game appears and how powerful the XBOX is, the time spent at the "Now Loading..." screen is utterly unsatisfactory. "Road Rage" has "rushed" plastered all over it.

Don't waste your hard-earned cash on this uninspired rip-off. I heard Sega will eventually port "Crazy Taxi 2" to the XBOX. I recommend investing in the originator, not settling for a half-baked designer imposter.

Super fun Simpson's madness

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is a real hoot. It's your basic "taxi-pickup" game with a Simpson's twist. Montgomery Burns has taken over the City of Springfield's mass transit system and is slowly sucking the people and the resources dry. The citizens have decided to take matters into their own hands, creating a taxi system where they raise money to buy back the buses from good old Monty Burns.

There are lots of fun features in this game, you raise money to meet your goals and when you reach the goal you can pick whether you want to win a special character (Reverand Lovejoy's Book Burning Mobile is my personal favorite so far) or a bonus track (there are six). On holidays you automatically get to play with a special character. Christmas Day we played with Christmas Apu. The next day... he was gone. : )

All-in-all a fun game for all ages with lots of action to entertain for hours.

More like Xbox own rage

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a fun game, especially if your are a simpsons fan. There is nothing like driving around the large maps and catching the simpons personality in its full glory. My problem with this game is the glaring slownesss and bugs. For one, each level takes *WAY* to long to load, and often the game crashes during load times. This game has the disturbing "pop up" as well, meaning chracters, objects (such as tree's, cars, poles) just "Popup" out of nowhere, and aren't really rendered into the screen very well. Popup is supposed to be a thing of the past, it is said when you see such lacklaster quality on the nextgen consoles as this happens on the PS2 version as well. Some of the maps have turns and crossovers that are impossible to navigate since the direction hand telling you where to go will just spin around until you finally choose a direction and run for it.

Like other reviewers have said, sometimes the voice overs cross over and becoming confusing, often times you will hear Mr Burns, Yourself and your passenger talking at the same time and it gets a bit cluttered.

I certainly don't think the developer did what they could have done, for this game could have been a #1 seller had they spent more time on it. Due to the bugs, slowdown (yes, even when pilling through traffic it slowwwwwsss down and has popup) i recommend renting or waiting for this game to drop to a more affordable and attractive price of 29 bucks since it definatly isn't worth the 50 it is now. (sorry, but half done games deserve half price!!)

ON the lighter side, this game is fun if you can get around the bugs. I would rent it.

This game is a rental (from a huge Simpsons fan)...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Graphics are well done, although you'll never get the level of character detail found on the actual Simpson's cartoon... Gameplay is very straightforward although I was able to get the car "stuck" easily by going off some jumps and flipping over.

However, the game lacks the depth that games SHOULD possess for the XBOX platform... there are only 5 town areas and they are very quickly covered. Replay value is very low. Characters are well done (although they all have the same animation patterns). The voiceovers are the best part of the game in terms of entertainment value for Simpsons fans("Thank you, come again" -Apu)...

Simpsons meet Crazy Taxi

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I love the Simpsons. I love Crazy Taxi. I LOVE the Simpsons Road Rage! It's better than Crazy Taxi because the characters are ones we're familiar with-- all from Springfield. Oh and you can unlock different levels (parts of Springfield) and different cars (including Otto's school bus, Lovejoy's book burning van, and the special car made for Homer!) There's also a mission mode where you can just play for level goals. The dialogue is what really makes it better than Crazy Taxi-- because it's funny! It takes no real skill so it's perfect for the simple gamer like myself.

Crazy Taxi with an edge

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

On one hand, this is a graphically inferior version of Crazy Taxi. Graphics aside, the game's fluidity and atmosphere are hurt by the fact it takes ages and ages to load each and every scenario, even if it is exactly the same scenario that you've just finished playing.
This game does have its advantages over Crazy Taxi, though. For a start, it's more fun: You're actually encouraged to bump and destroy stuff. Then there are the loads of Simpsons characters and Simpsons related scenarios, and although they will ultimately wear out, they are fun.

But the one thing that truly gives this game a significant edge over Crazy Taxi is its two player mode: Two rivalling taxi drivers fight it out to win customers, steal customers from one another (there is only one active customer at a time, and two hungry taxi drivers), and ruin as many things on their way as they can to hinder the opponent.
The end result is fun, fun, and then more fun.

Highly Underrated

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: September 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I can't believe this game gets so much heat for ripping off Crazy Taxi. SO WHAT!!! Crazy Taxi was a great game and The Simpsons : Road Rage is even better! Any Simpsons fan will definetly LOVE the tie ins with the show. You can go all around Springfield, driving various Simpsons characters that say hilarious things ("The leprechan told me to burn things" - Ralph, "Get out of the way Jerk" - Homer). You can choose from over a dozen characters, including the Simpson family, Apu, Ned and many more. The story mode is also challenging, having the player complete different tasks, not just taxi driving. The multiplayer mode I play all the time with my friends. You have to compete with other players in order to get customers and make money. Don't listen to the critics. Simpsons fan or not, you will love this game. Plus, its a bargin at the greatest hits price of only $20. Go buy it.

Could be better, could be much worse

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I was looking for something that my 6 year old and myself could enjoy and this game fits the bill. Unfortunately, we've had to threaten him with no more game play if he repeats the "I'm Bart Simpson, who the ... are you?" phrase again.

Pluses:
1) Challenging roadways encourage you to better your time. I've unlocked almost all of the starting points, but find myself staying on the first one or two to get better.
2) Shortcuts are plentiful and humorous (driving through the school to get to Willie's shack)
3) Faithfulness to the "real" Springfield makes gameplay easier (e.g., knowing that the Flanders live next to the Simpsons makes it easier to find)

Minuses:
1) Very buggy. I've gotten stuck in what my son calls a "tornado" a couple of times, where my car is floating in the air, spinning, until the timer runs out. Your car often runs into obstacles that don't actually seem to be there. Also, your vieport is often accidentally rendered inside of an object or between an object and your vehicle making it impossible to see. There's also a huge audio bug that manifests itself in your current passenger talking in your previous passenger's voice if you're really quick on picking people up.
2) Loading is PAINFULLY slow. It feels like it takes longer to get between games than to actually play one.
3) 3D Simpsons just don't look right. The game would have been much more interesting had they made it two dimensional ala the cartoon.

In summary, my 6 year old loves it, I'm lukewarm about it. If it's just for you, rent it. If it's for the family, buy it.

BETTER THAN CRAZY TAXI!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: April 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This weekend I have rented both Crazy Taxi 3 (which includes both 1&2 plus a new map) and Simpsons Road Rage. While Crazy Taxi does have better graphics, MUCH shorter load times, and more driving techniques such as the crazy hop and slide, SRR has it where it counts. It is easily more fun.

First off, you'll laugh till you cry with the excellent dialogue. You can play the map again with a different character and expect to pick up different people than with different conversations. And there is a ALOT of characters to play as. This leading to extended replay value. However, I personally reccomend unlocking the levels first, which are filled with little things that any Simpson fan will instantly recognize and laugh at. However, I will not tell you any of these things cause it may ruin the fun...

This game is also MUCH more destructive than Crazy Taxi ever was. It just seems more fun to smash things up in this game than Crazy Taxi. You can also runover pedestrians. Which is really funny to watch and there is no blood. Since I'm on the topic, parents maybe interested to know what type of content is in the game. It was rated 'T' for people 13+. While mostly harmless, there is a bit of foul language in the game. However, it isn't any worse than the show. You do drive by a strip joint in the entertainment district level however. But if you live anywhere in the USA, you know you don't have to go far to see any type of adult entertainment. I think that this game is more than appropriate for a 13 year old, but maybe not enough for an 'E' rating (ages 6+). Overall it should be okay for a 9-11 year old to play.

Even when the jokes begin to become stale, this game is great to put in with friends. Watching your friend's laugh till they drop will at least put a smile on your face. Thankfully, EA realized this and put in a 2 player mode, which is not available in Crazy Taxi. Unfortunately, since I only have one controller I am unable to test it out. Another thing I really like is the fact that there is a map at the bottom of the screen which helps you map out the area and tell you where to go. This was a feature was needed in CT, but unfortunately Sega never really delevered. However, sometimes this map becomes your only way of determining where to go since there are a few times where the arrow is a little buggy. But these moments are rare and far between however.

I could really go on forever about how good this game is and how well it is, but there is a limit of words. Dispite what other critics say, this game is definately worth getting, especially now of its recently reduced price. If you are still a little weary, rent it first. And if you have some extra $$$, rent Crazy Taxi 3 to do a comparison of how well this game is compared to it. Sure it maybe a ripoff of CT, but it manages to improve off of it. Which really can't be a bad thing. This game is easilly the best Simpsons game since the arcade game!!!

Not good, but not bad

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

It's a fun game if you like the Simpsons (who doesn't), but it's not a game to intrigue you for long period of times. It's fun to go and bust stuff up, play around, but it's easy, and frustrating at times. There are some flaws with the game, but you get used to them after a while. Long loading time, even between "runs" creates spells of boredom. There are much better games you could spend money on, but avid Simpson fans will enjoy this one. It is comparable to Crazi Taxi, but seems to play better and easier. The Simson twist is a grand idea, and I hope EA will release a better version in the future.

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