Futurama: The Game

David Stevens reviews

Futurama: The Gamefor Sony Playstation 2Distributed by
SCI

• Price: £39.99
• Players: 1

Based on the animated series Futurama,this game is a third-person action shooter featuring the four main charactersfrom the show, Fry, Bender, Leela and Dr Zoidberg. Each character is fullyplayable and has their own select moves and weapons as well as differentplaying styles. The game features a superb mix of action, agility and simplepuzzle solving.

As soon as I heard a Futurama game would be made I hoped it would not followin the footsteps of the poor Simpsons games it would follow, fortunately itnever. The game manages to be both fun and challenging and features alloriginal dialogue and story. It is a platformer and follows general platformerrules, the only real difference is the characters and setting.

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The look of the game is in the style of Matt Groening, but varies from verydetailed levels and characters in the game to some disappointing quality cutscenes. Sound is clear and futuristic but the comments made by characters cansometimes get repetitive. As far as gameplay, again it varies, one level canbe very fun and others will have you throwing your controller out the windowin annoyance. I was quite shocked by a game I expected to be aimed at ayounger audience to be as hard in parts as it was. But saying that one of thefunniest cut scenes involves more mature sexuality joke.

By collecting ‘Nibblers’ you can unlock various special features includingloading screen pictures, music and the 20 minutes worth of cut scenes many ofwhich are short but funny.

I am bound to be biased because I am a huge Futurama fan, but the game isgenuinely funny and enjoyable to play. However one thing I would say is thatthe levels are very very long for a game where you can’t save mid-mission. Butother than that a very enjoyable game.

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT



OVERALLReview copyright © David Stevens, 2003.

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