The Simpsons Road Rage

by Electronic Arts

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005R5PX
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: December 18, 2001
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (116 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,737 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product 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 on public transportation. Refusing to shell out for the high rates, Springfield citizens are forced into humorous road-rage situations as they brave angry commuters, jam-packed back routes, and the challenge of making enough money to buy back the Transit Corporation before time runs out. No time for donuts, Homer.

Amazon.co.uk

The first thing that leaps out at you when you pick up The Simpsons: Road Rage is its similarity to Crazy Taxi--it's a shameless copy of the Sega hit. The premise is simple: drive around Springfield picking up characters from the TV show, then deposit them at their requested destinations in exchange for cash. The graphics are colorful yet not overly detailed, keeping with the cartoon style of the show. The processor resources thus saved are applied to keeping the action at a frenetic pace. The levels are pretty big, with a multitude of flash jumps and shortcuts. Most of the scenery is destructible, too, adding to the satisfying mayhem. All the locales are recognizable, 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 tool around the various levels at a leisurely pace for both sightseeing and tactical route planning. This is the best way to find those sneaky shortcuts and hidden areas. Story mode adds extra sparkle to the game, with its series of missions you have to complete (such as sneaking Homer back to work past Mr. Burns.)

As with most racing games, you're rewarded for reaching set point totals and completing the missions, but there's a twist. In The Simpsons: Road Rage, you get to choose your own reward, be it unlocking one of the secret characters, such as Groundskeeper Willie and his tractor, or opening extra maps, such as the Springfield nuclear power plant. The real high point of The Simpsons: Road Rage, though, is the sound. All characters have their own voices from the show, the one-liners are situation-specific and not too repetitive, and some of the lines are laugh-out-loud funny. This game is recommended for fans of the show, Crazy Taxi nuts, and those partial to unpretentious pick-up-and-play gaming. --Laurent S. Hall

Note: This review refers to the PlayStation2 version of this game.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too much fun!, December 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Simpsons Road Rage (Video Game)

If you're a Simpsons fan, you will love this game. It's that simple. Real voices, real characters, real Springfield locations, all of them used to best advantage. For example: Marge barrels over Bumble Bee man with her F-Series, and quips, "I hope nobody saw that", or, "My bad". Homer warns his passengers not to sit on his nachos, or complains that he's swallowed his gum. Milhouse complains about swallowing his retainer, and Ralph informs his driver that a leprechaun tells him to burn things. Chief Wiggum is late for a beating, and if you run down poor Gil in the road he'll tell you all about his troubles. Do you see where I'm going? It's the authentic, situation-specific voices and characters (which I've only scratched the surface of) that make this game worthwhile. And combined with simple, fun controls and five or six huge Springfield neighborhoods, a Simpson fan will be forced to admit that he or she would have willingly paid a lot more for the experience. And if you're not a Simpsons fan, and are simply looking for a taxi sim, no problem. This is the one. Crazy Taxi is weak compared to this game--confusing controls, 2 whole neighborhoods to roam through, pedestrians that always seem to jump out of the way at the last instant, and a minimum of breakables...why waste the money? In contrast, mail boxes and shopping carts and light posts are commonly seen flying through the air in downtown and residential Springfield, and when you hit somebody, like the Sea Captain or Mayor Quimby or Principal Skinner, you both feel it. I'm a Simpsons fan, and I can honestly say that I can find nothing wrong with this game. Bottom line: you will not regret adding it to your Gamecube library. A worthy purchase.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Woo-Hoo!!!, September 22, 2002

By 

Frank J. Sisto (currently In a battle with the Storm Team) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Simpsons Road Rage (Video Game)

Hi-Diddly-Ho There! Ned Flanders at your ser-viddly-ervice!!!

The Game starts out with the Simpsons watching the news and they find out That Homer's boss, C. Montgomery Burns has bought the bus company and has made the buses radioactive. The citizens of Springfield won't stand for it. They are forced to turn their cars into cabs and boycott the buses, while collecting money to buy back the bus comnpany.

This is one awesome game. If you're a big Simpsons fan, like me, you'll love this game. One strange thing about this game is that its just like Crazy Taxi in every way, except there is a primary objective that must be completed to beat the game, (collect a million dollars to buy back the bus company.) You can play with about eighteen characters and play on six levels. As far as game play goes, it is awesome. Graphics are phenominal and another cool thing is that the characters sound and look just as they do on the show. Here are the characters you can play with (their cars and best asset are also listed)

Homer: Family Sedan (All around)
Marge: Convero (All Turning)
Bart: Soap Box Racer (Acceleration)
Lisa: Electric Car (Acceleration)
Grandpa: Go-Cart (Speed)
Professor Frink: Hover Car (Best overall) (My Favorite!)
Flanders: Station wagon (All Around)
Krusty the Clown: Clown Car (Turning)
Apu: Sports car (Speed)
Homer: Mr. Plow (All Around)
Snake:Lil' Bandit (All Speed)
Chief Wiggum: Cop Car (Turning)
Barney: Plow King (All Power)
Otto: School Bus (Power)
Moe: Sedan (Turning)
Groundskeeper Willie: Tractor (Speed)
Reverend Lovejoy: Book-Burning Mobile (Power)

And Six Real Simpsons Boards:

Evergreen Terrace (Where The Simpsons live)
Entertainment District(Where Moe's Tavern is)
Springfield Dam
Nuclear Power Plant (Where Homer Works)
Downtown
Spring Field Montains

There is only one flaw to this entire game, not all the characters in the Simpsons Show are involved in the game. other than that its perfect. So, what are you waiting for? Get it now!

P.S. Vote Quimby!!!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SIMPSON's Road Rage, a good start for GameCube, February 10, 2002

By 

"rakishi" (Laguna Niguel, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Simpsons Road Rage (Video Game)

This is a good game to start off with on Gamecube. I just got my Gamecube and this is the first game I got. I love it. It helps that I am a Simpson's fan but I believe that everybody would like this game. Even if you just watched maybe 2 or 3 episodes. The main part of the game is Road Rage. The goal is to get 1 million $'s. It is really fun because everytime you hit a certain cash goal you win a prize, like a new character or a new starting location. The cool thing is you pick. The other cool part of this game is Mission Mode. There are 10 in all and at the end you win a certain prize(I won't ruin it for u), basically there are different missions such as knocking all of the newspaper stands down and then on the 10th mission you meet Mr.Burns himself. Personally, I like this game a lot. It does have some similarities to Crazy Taxi but in Simpson's there is actually a way to beat the game(getting 1 million $.) In Crazy Taxi there was no way to beat the game. Also, mission mode has almost nothing in common with Taxi. The Head to Head Mode(multiplayer) is also really fun. You can set the goal to 5K, 10k, or 15k. For each person you drop off you get 1k. One of the players picks the person up and tries to get the chararcter to it's destination while the other tries to follow the car and smash into it to steal the passenger. It's very cool. This game does have some bugs to work out like long loading times but it is all worth it. That's why I give it a 4. If I could have I would've put 4 and a half.