Product Description

There's road rage, and then there's road rage Simpsons-style. D'oh! Mr. Burns is up to his greedy tricks again. He's purchased Springfield's transit corporation and heinously jacked up the fares. Refusing to shell out for the new rates, the rage ensues. You'll take on commuters and jam-packed back-routes, all in an effort to help buy back the corporation before time runs out.

More than 25 Simpsons series characters climb behind the wheel or wander the streets begging for a ride. Careen through timesaving shortcuts and take on terrain that includes hills, mountains and forests. Wreak havoc in five Springfield neighborhoods that include landmarks such as Moe's Bar and the nuclear power plant. Busy traffic and wayward pedestrians confound your rage. However, two-wheel leans, speed-starts, power slides and other cool car-physics help you release that rage.

Multiple game modes let you go head-to-head in two-player split screen action that challenges your opponent in a race for the next passenger--or you can steal their passenger mid-ride. Complete up to 60 unique passenger deliveries in story mode. Or take a leisurely Sunday drive through the fair Springfield. A bonus system lets you unlock cars with specific characters, while intuitive menus make this game easy to play. And as Homer would say, "If it's hard to do, it's not worth doing".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2728 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2001-11-08
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.co.uk Review
The first thing that leaps out at you when you pick up Simpson's Road Rage is Crazy Taxi--it's an unashamed copy of the Sega hit. The premise is simple: drive around Springfield picking up popular characters from the popular TV show and depositing them at their requested destination for cash. The graphics are colourful, yet not overly detailed--but then that's in keeping with the cartoon style of the show. This enables the PS2 to keep the action at a nice and frenetic pace. The levels are pretty big, with a multitude of flash jumps and short cuts for show-offs; most of the scenery is destructible, too, and that can add to the game's satisfaction. All of the locales are recognisable, from Moe's Bar to Grandpa Simpson's retirement home.

The main element of the game is the aforementioned Crazy Taxi-esque "Road Rage" mode. There are also Sunday Drive, multiplayer and mission modes. Sunday Drive allows you to pootle round the various levels at leisure for both sightseeing and tactical route-planning reasons; this is the best way to find those sneaky short cuts and hidden areas. Story mode adds a little extra sparkle to the game, with a set series of missions to complete--for example, Homer's skived off work for the afternoon and you, as Bart, have to sneak your dad past the evil Mr Burns and back into work.

As with most racing games, you're rewarded for reaching set point totals and completing the missions, but the difference with Simpson's Road Rage is that you get to choose your reward, be it unlocking one of the secret characters like Groundskeeper Willie and his tractor or opening extra maps like the Springfield nuclear power plant. The real high point of Simpson's Road Rage, though, is the sound. No Homer-a-likes here--each character has their own real voice from the show, the one-liners aren't too repetitive and do lend themselves to the type of situation that the characters find themselves in, and some of the lines are laugh-out-loud funny. All in all, recommended for fans of the show, Crazy Taxi nuts and those gamers who are partial to unpretentious pick-up-and-play gaming. --Laurent S Hall

Manufacturer's Description
The Simpsons Road Rage blends renowned Simpsons wit and edge-of-your-seat racing action into a rip-roaring, reckless and riotously-funny arcade-style driving game.

Mr. Burns is up to his greedy ways again, purchasing the Springfield Transit Corporation and jacking up the fares. Refusing to shell out the high rates, Springfield citizens are forced into humorous "road rage" as they brave angry commuters, jam-packed back-routes and the challenge to make enough money to buy back the Transit Corporation before time runs out. No time for donuts, Homer.

Customer Reviews

Simpson's or Crazy Taxi?
People keep telling me that Simpson's Road Rage is just a Crazy Taxi rip-off and to them I say this...You're absolutely right, but, Simpson's Road Rage does have a few plus points above Crazy Taxi:

1: There are 6 levels (Taxi has 2 if I remember correctly, although they are huge)
2: There are more cars each with a different Simpson's Character and design (not just 3 taxis!)
3: There are other missions to play within it
4: It has a multiplayer
5: There's an insentive to play it because the more money you earn the more levels and cars you unlock
6: The graphics aren't realistic like Taxi but they do look like a simpsons episode in 3d!

Personally I found Taxi boring after about 20 minutes and I found this an all round more enjoyable game even though it is a pure rip-off. Can't wait for Simpson's Tony Hawk...er I mean, Simpson's Skateboarder!

The only bad things about this game I found were the loading times, it takes about 30 seconds to load a level and it even has to reload just to restart a level, which needless to say is tedious. Also, I have to admit Taxi is more challenging. Simpson's is very easy on Hard.

A good game but a bit repetitive
I bought this game 4 months ago after I played it round a friends house it was good for a few days but after that it got a bit boring. I personally think that the the levels are a bit small and there are not enough of them. The missions are not very challeging and after 5 attempts at the missions you can skip the level, exept for the final mission which isn't that hard either.

But there are some good things about this game like the ammount of charecters and vehicles also the multiplayer is quite good aswell. Another thing I find good about this game is the charecters voices but unfortunately it gets so repetitive for example if you are Chief Wiggum and you play a level it doesn't matter which one it is, for 10 minutes, he is likely to say the same phrase about 25 times in just that short space of time.

The best part of the whole game though is the Sunday drive mode which is just cruising smashing things up and running over people.

Overall a good game but could do with bigger, better and more levels. Ideal for people that watch the Simpsons on tv, people who like crazy taxi or people who fancy smashing up stuff and runnig over people.

Crazy Taxi Eat Your Heart Out
A lot of people say that this is not as good as Crazy Taxi, but I strongly disagree. This is a great game.

There are four modes. "Road Rage", "Sunday Drive", "Mission Mode" and "Head to head". The first game mode "Road Rage" is the main mode. In this mode you get to pick from one of six locations (once unlocked) and from over twenty five authentic Simpsons characters (once unlocked). Your target is to earn a million dollars from taking people to where they want to go. It takes a very long time to get this amount but you get a feeling of satisfaction when you do.

"Sunday drive" is just like free mode in Tony Hawks. You get to drive around your chosen location with your chosen character. Use this to learn the areas so that you can drop your passenger off quicker. You can also find out some sneaky shortcuts and where they go. (HINT: look for a dirt track leading off of the road.)

"Mission mode" is a fairly tricky mode. You have to complete a task in a certain amount of time and when you complete all of the tasks you get a nice little treat. So don't give up on task 10.

"Head to head" is your old fashioned two player mode. You and a mate race around the same loction with different characters picking up passengers and delivering them to their destinations. But its not that simple, your mate can steal your passenger and deliver them!

RATINGS:
GRAPHICS: This game has fantastic graphics. All of the characters look like they are meant to and their cars are the ones that they have in the show. The environments are also extremely similar to the ones in the show. RATING:*****

SOUND: All of the characters have the same voices as in the show. When you go flying over a bump your character will yell something funny and all of the way around all of the passengers speak to you and criticise your driving which is extremely funny sometimes. RATING: ****

GAMEPLAY: This game runs extremely smoothly and fast. All of the cars skid around corners and you lose control in the blink of an eye. The controls are not hard at all; they're just the basic driving game controls. RATING: ****

LIFESPAN: This is the main downfall of the game. Although it sounds like fun to earn a million dollars it actually gets extremely repetitive at about 800,000 dollars, but keep going it's a good feeling when you finish because you know all of your hard work has payed off. RATING: ***

Overall this game is a decent game; if you're a Simpsons fan you should buy it because it's not as bad as some people say. (Also you'll know what some of the characters are talking about, if you don't watch the simpsons you probably won't find this game as funny.)