Tryzon?s Nostalgic Gaming Trips #4
Is Futurama the best sitcom ever? Possibly. Is it the best animated sitcom ever? Probably, since the only competition is its older but less daft cousin The Simpsons. In any case, it?s an exceedingly good show, and chances are you agree with me, seeing as you?re reading this, and all. Now consider the Futurama game. Best game ever? Hell, no. While it?s not without its charms, I could name a dozen similar but superior titles. But here?s the thing: this gets a good bit more right than it gets wrong, although when it does slip up, it does so quite inelegantly.
What with this being a licensed title, the only reason I or anyone played this was the subject matter, so it seems like a perfect starting point. What with this being released after the fourth series ended and the show was cruelly put on hiatus (a crime against fun, although it has recently restarted, which is cause for celebration), many consider the game a ?lost episode?, and it does deserve the reputation, for the comedy and styling is more or less spot-on, and nearly all your favourite characters are there, all seemingly with their proper voices. Amy, Hermes and Scruffy were apparently away at the time of the events unfolding, but I didn?t notice anyone who was there with a bad impersonator instead of the real deal. It would also appear that some non-speaking help was at hand, with the writing and comedic timing being all but seamless. If you just wanted an interactive episode, you couldn?t have hoped for more.
Basic plot is as follows: Professor sells Planet Express to Mom (who I like to call ?Mum? because I?m a British crumpet-chomper), which gives the evil hag a 51% stake in Earth?s value, effectively giving her control of the globe. Naturally, the trusty trio of Fry, Leela and Bender have to clean up the mess. This is done by partaking in traditional but solid platforming malarkey across varied environments filled with amusing enemies, countless references to past jokes as well as a number of new ?uns. Where could you go wrong?
The first thing I noticed while playing was that the jumping was pretty damned responsive, and that Fry?s shooting-things combat was simple but effective. Less good by far was the foolish inclusion of a lives system, although the game?s explanation for repeated deaths is gold-quality funnyness. Live are a horrible way of artificially hardening and lengthening (*girlish giggle*) gameplay. Die one too many times, and you have to do the whole level again instead of just appearing at the nearest checkpoint like usual. Stupidity incarnate, and there is no defence against it. Luckily, there exists a cheat to give oneself extra lives, which I suggest you use. It makes the game the proper, unfiddled-with difficulty, which is to say a tad easy, but that?s far superior to hair-tearing. Finally, the camera is a bit squiffy, especially in enclosed areas.
All the characters have different combat styles and so forth, with Fry being gun-crazy, Bender spinning like a certain orange overgrown rodent from down under, and Leela being pretty rubbish. In fact, Leela is a bit broken, because her punches don?t seem to be able to hit without getting her damaged too, so jump-kicking like a spring-booted retard is the only guaranteed road to victory. It?s the old ?why can?t they pick up a gun from their fallen enemies? thing again, like in Wolverine?s Revenge. That game is better than this, but not by much, and Futurama?s funnier. Zoidberg suddenly pops up late in for a brief, mildly enjoyable but increasingly annoying timed romp through a swamp (hey, that rhymes!) on the back of a ?horse? as he calls it, tentacles and all.
This is the kind of game that doesn?t strive for originality or greatness, but it?s better than The Simpsons Hit & Run by a long shot, although when it comes to licensed games, King Kong is probably king, conveniently enough. It has a few nice ideas with platforming challenges, but the puzzles are at best boring and at worst absolutely horrific, but they shall feel my wrath in but a few moments; I want to compliment the game more before kicking it in the balls.
The biggest selling point is also its biggest strength, as I touched on before, and the atmosphere truly is consistent all the way through, although the very beginning is a tad slow. The humour is straight out of the Telly, the music is all new and old Chrisopher Tyng work, and the visuals are more than sufficient cell-shaded loveliness. Each location has a different feel, but the sun civilization?s living skeleton army were my favourites, because everything they say is either a bone joke or a bone pun.
All the characters constantly sprout appropriate witty remarks, with varying degrees of annoyance. Fry was irritating, Leela teetered on unbearable, Bender was tolerable (mainly because I basically have metal fever for him) and Zoidberg is completely enjoyable, since I only spent half an hour with him. Also very nice is the recurring 4th-wall shattering remarks, including Zoidberg explaining his being on a distant planet by proclaiming ?I?m here for my cameo!?, and Fry?s seeing a large game over sign upon death. It?s terrific stuff, and the writers clearly took advantage of the medium when they had the chance. Hit & Run?s jokes were almost all just stolen from the show, too. For shame, you horrible excuse for a source of entertainment.
Now here is where the really bad things start to pour in. Well, one thing, really. If you can get past the lives system, then this will still almost kill this game for you: the puzzles start off innocent, but by the last few levels, they start to get bad, and the last level has probably the worst puzzles I have ever seen in any title to date. Let me paint the scene. You must press buttons to complete a number sequence, and getting a single button wrong instantly kills you. At first, the numbers have a pattern, so it?s okay, and you respawn right next to the room. But eventually, the numbers just become random, and you start respawning five minutes earlier. There is no clue as to the number sequence, and if you don?t use the lives cheat, you?ll only have about ten tries before it makes you do the entire level again. I did the thing properly, through process of elimination, and it took at least an hour, during which I must have rushed through the same corridors without stopping to shoot robots thirty times. It is astronomically bad, and I suggest you use any one of the number of internet help sites to get the sequences, as otherwise you?ll likely be driven as insane as GOITS! GOITS! NICE AND BIG, RIPE AND READY FOR ANAL INSERTION! GET THEM BEFORE THE LOCAL PRECURSORS EAT THEM ALL!
Bottom line is that this game is almost very good, but ends up being simply very competent. In the event that you are in the position of being Der Über-Fan, you will look past the thing?s shortcomings and thoroughly enjoy it. I did, but only with that lives cheat. Lives really are a horrible thing. It?s on my Gametrailers blog listing ?crimes against gaming?. Good reading, if you give a dipstick. To end this surprisingly short review, I give the game a fair recommendation, and leave you with the happy knowledge that, like all but three of my PS2 games, a 60GB PS3 will play it all but perfectly, although there was a bit of rare frame-rate dipping which could either be the code, the disc or the system, but it never annoyed me, and barely warrants a mention.
Futurama on PS2 (and Xbox, naturally) isn?t Lovely Jubbly, but it?s better than Tomb Raider, which may be the most overrated thing (not just game, but thing) of all time. If I can be bothered to waste my English pound on it and then stomach the horror, I will just have to do a controversial review. Nothing deserves it more, and there?s almost enough problems in my memory alone to warrant a moderate crucifixion already?
Is Futurama the best sitcom ever? Possibly. Is it the best animated sitcom ever? Probably, since the only competition is its older but less daft cousin The Simpsons. In any case, it?s an exceedingly good show, and chances are you agree with me, seeing as you?re reading this, and all. Now consider the Futurama game. Best game ever? Hell, no. While it?s not without its charms, I could name a dozen similar but superior titles. But here?s the thing: this gets a good bit more right than it gets wrong, although when it does slip up, it does so quite inelegantly.
What with this being a licensed title, the only reason I or anyone played this was the subject matter, so it seems like a perfect starting point. What with this being released after the fourth series ended and the show was cruelly put on hiatus (a crime against fun, although it has recently restarted, which is cause for celebration), many consider the game a ?lost episode?, and it does deserve the reputation, for the comedy and styling is more or less spot-on, and nearly all your favourite characters are there, all seemingly with their proper voices. Amy, Hermes and Scruffy were apparently away at the time of the events unfolding, but I didn?t notice anyone who was there with a bad impersonator instead of the real deal. It would also appear that some non-speaking help was at hand, with the writing and comedic timing being all but seamless. If you just wanted an interactive episode, you couldn?t have hoped for more.
Basic plot is as follows: Professor sells Planet Express to Mom (who I like to call ?Mum? because I?m a British crumpet-chomper), which gives the evil hag a 51% stake in Earth?s value, effectively giving her control of the globe. Naturally, the trusty trio of Fry, Leela and Bender have to clean up the mess. This is done by partaking in traditional but solid platforming malarkey across varied environments filled with amusing enemies, countless references to past jokes as well as a number of new ?uns. Where could you go wrong?
The first thing I noticed while playing was that the jumping was pretty damned responsive, and that Fry?s shooting-things combat was simple but effective. Less good by far was the foolish inclusion of a lives system, although the game?s explanation for repeated deaths is gold-quality funnyness. Live are a horrible way of artificially hardening and lengthening (*girlish giggle*) gameplay. Die one too many times, and you have to do the whole level again instead of just appearing at the nearest checkpoint like usual. Stupidity incarnate, and there is no defence against it. Luckily, there exists a cheat to give oneself extra lives, which I suggest you use. It makes the game the proper, unfiddled-with difficulty, which is to say a tad easy, but that?s far superior to hair-tearing. Finally, the camera is a bit squiffy, especially in enclosed areas.
All the characters have different combat styles and so forth, with Fry being gun-crazy, Bender spinning like a certain orange overgrown rodent from down under, and Leela being pretty rubbish. In fact, Leela is a bit broken, because her punches don?t seem to be able to hit without getting her damaged too, so jump-kicking like a spring-booted retard is the only guaranteed road to victory. It?s the old ?why can?t they pick up a gun from their fallen enemies? thing again, like in Wolverine?s Revenge. That game is better than this, but not by much, and Futurama?s funnier. Zoidberg suddenly pops up late in for a brief, mildly enjoyable but increasingly annoying timed romp through a swamp (hey, that rhymes!) on the back of a ?horse? as he calls it, tentacles and all.
This is the kind of game that doesn?t strive for originality or greatness, but it?s better than The Simpsons Hit & Run by a long shot, although when it comes to licensed games, King Kong is probably king, conveniently enough. It has a few nice ideas with platforming challenges, but the puzzles are at best boring and at worst absolutely horrific, but they shall feel my wrath in but a few moments; I want to compliment the game more before kicking it in the balls.
The biggest selling point is also its biggest strength, as I touched on before, and the atmosphere truly is consistent all the way through, although the very beginning is a tad slow. The humour is straight out of the Telly, the music is all new and old Chrisopher Tyng work, and the visuals are more than sufficient cell-shaded loveliness. Each location has a different feel, but the sun civilization?s living skeleton army were my favourites, because everything they say is either a bone joke or a bone pun.
All the characters constantly sprout appropriate witty remarks, with varying degrees of annoyance. Fry was irritating, Leela teetered on unbearable, Bender was tolerable (mainly because I basically have metal fever for him) and Zoidberg is completely enjoyable, since I only spent half an hour with him. Also very nice is the recurring 4th-wall shattering remarks, including Zoidberg explaining his being on a distant planet by proclaiming ?I?m here for my cameo!?, and Fry?s seeing a large game over sign upon death. It?s terrific stuff, and the writers clearly took advantage of the medium when they had the chance. Hit & Run?s jokes were almost all just stolen from the show, too. For shame, you horrible excuse for a source of entertainment.
Now here is where the really bad things start to pour in. Well, one thing, really. If you can get past the lives system, then this will still almost kill this game for you: the puzzles start off innocent, but by the last few levels, they start to get bad, and the last level has probably the worst puzzles I have ever seen in any title to date. Let me paint the scene. You must press buttons to complete a number sequence, and getting a single button wrong instantly kills you. At first, the numbers have a pattern, so it?s okay, and you respawn right next to the room. But eventually, the numbers just become random, and you start respawning five minutes earlier. There is no clue as to the number sequence, and if you don?t use the lives cheat, you?ll only have about ten tries before it makes you do the entire level again. I did the thing properly, through process of elimination, and it took at least an hour, during which I must have rushed through the same corridors without stopping to shoot robots thirty times. It is astronomically bad, and I suggest you use any one of the number of internet help sites to get the sequences, as otherwise you?ll likely be driven as insane as GOITS! GOITS! NICE AND BIG, RIPE AND READY FOR ANAL INSERTION! GET THEM BEFORE THE LOCAL PRECURSORS EAT THEM ALL!
Bottom line is that this game is almost very good, but ends up being simply very competent. In the event that you are in the position of being Der Über-Fan, you will look past the thing?s shortcomings and thoroughly enjoy it. I did, but only with that lives cheat. Lives really are a horrible thing. It?s on my Gametrailers blog listing ?crimes against gaming?. Good reading, if you give a dipstick. To end this surprisingly short review, I give the game a fair recommendation, and leave you with the happy knowledge that, like all but three of my PS2 games, a 60GB PS3 will play it all but perfectly, although there was a bit of rare frame-rate dipping which could either be the code, the disc or the system, but it never annoyed me, and barely warrants a mention.
Futurama on PS2 (and Xbox, naturally) isn?t Lovely Jubbly, but it?s better than Tomb Raider, which may be the most overrated thing (not just game, but thing) of all time. If I can be bothered to waste my English pound on it and then stomach the horror, I will just have to do a controversial review. Nothing deserves it more, and there?s almost enough problems in my memory alone to warrant a moderate crucifixion already?
