At a glance...

Futurama review

Futurama is the spawn of Simpsons creator, Matt Groening, starring hapless 20th Century 20-year-old Phillip J. Fry (or just "Fry") who is accidentally frozen on New Year 2000, finding himself awake 1000 years later at the start of the year 3000. Futurama was funded and aired in the US by the same people as the Simpsons, Fox, but was cruelly cancelled last year, despite the fifth (and thus unshown) season having already been produced.

Despite the series' death, SCi are continuing the legacy of Futurama through their new licensed game. Of course, to many gamers, the words licensed and game often bring back terrible memories of games - see our reviews archive for examples like The Scorpion King - and there were even the poor quality Simpsons games in recent years. That said, licenses have also brought titles of the highest calibre like Goldeneye and Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2. Futurama, however, is not an absolute classic like the latter too, but in all is still surprisingly good.

Graphically Futurama is essentially a 3D version of the show. Its looks certainly give the impression of an interactive episode, which is something Unique Development Studios is trying to get across (especially with 30 minutes of exclusive footage, forming a brand-new episode). However, despite the impressive initial looks, you cannot help feeling that the graphics are often slightly rough around the edge, and there are quite a few occasions when the frame rate begins to judder along. This comes at a surprise when the game presents such simple visuals - flat textures and limited details on the player models are not features which should be slowing down the PS2.

As well as providing the feel of an actual show through the graphics style, Futurama presents a complete audio experience of the series. As you would expect, the voice actors behind the three main characters of Fry, Leela and Bender (Billy West, Katey Sagal and John Di respectively) are all present and correct and delivery some excellent voice-over work. Mind you, animation voice-actors are use to saying things over on-screen action, so their expertise should come across well. There are also other characters that provide dialogue done by the actual actors (including The Professor, Amy, Hermes, Dr. Zoidberg, and Zap Brannigan), and of course, there are the familiar tunes, remixed well to give you a bit of originality and authenticity at the same time. However, all in all, these are expected features, what makes the sound tie in so well with the series is the humour. Groening and the script writers behind Futurama were behind the creation of the game's script, and the witty and intelligent humour is used through the game with great effect. The actors deliver the one-liners well, and this is a game that will make you genuinely laugh out loud.

The gameplay itself is the deciding factor about whether a licensed title is actually any good - after all, a lot of such titles have possessed all the glamour of the show (graphics, sound, etc.); see the recent Simpsons games for example - but when it comes down to the essentially components of any enjoyable game they are simply missing. Beneath Futurama isn't an awful game, although things are essentially quite basic. The game could easily be considered a simple arcade platformer, but layered on top of this structure is the game's essentially humour. This is where the game's deciding factor for a potential purchasee comes in to play; do they enjoy the series on TV? If not, the humour might not be as enjoyable, or at least as gameplay-forgiving, and thus the former description will be more easily noticed.

The game's biggest problems occur with the platform genre's favourite sections - jumping. There are many occasions throughout the game - including early on with Fry and some moving alligators, and later with Bendder and girders - where jumping is necessary to proceed and these moments can become highly irritating. The reason for this is the controls; the button configuration is fine, but the game's reaction to your input is often sloppy making it difficult to manoeuvre your character correctly into tight spots. Added to this that these tight spots are hard to detect - knowing how close to a platform you have to be to reach it changes through the game. A lack of collision detection consistency and the annoying effect of the shadow beneath you on working on your position are the culprits in this.

The rest of the game, as I said, is the usual platform stuff, including a few puzzles along the way. Altogether it is a relatively simple game, and will likely take most gamers around 6-8 hours to complete. The longetitive of game again relies on the player's devotion to the series. While the gameplay is neither enticing enough to become essential to continue playing, it is not a turn off either, so the decision to keep playing often comes down to your willingness to complete the game and unlock all the extras (including the episode footage, music, and concept art).

Ratings

Click here to buy Futurama from Amazon.co.uk.

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