Futurama Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 18 August, 2003

Good news everyone! Tom has finally reviewed Futurama!

Version tested: Xbox

Good news everyone! Someone's made an entertaining cartoon-based videogame! Whu? Oh, only it's not entertaining as a videogame, it's entertaining because somebody hired an ex-script writer for the show, rescued the voice actors from the Job Centre and checked the box next to 'Platform Game' instead of 'Skateboarding' or 'Crazy Taxi clone' during the design luncheon.

Excreted the old-fashioned way

'Futurama' Screenshot 1

UDS, who put the pieces together, obviously share our love for the show, because Futurama is brimming with ticklish one-liners and ads for Human Rinds. The idea is that the Professor has sold his Planet Express delivery company to Mom, which just so happens to take her ownership of the world's assets over the 50 per cent mark, plunging the Earth into her servitude. Fair enough: cheese it! Except the ship's busted up, the professor's pawned the backup engine and New New York is crawling with hover bots.

As you'd imagine, Fry is the first chap you get to control, and after 15 minutes scouting round the company building collecting the professor's tools and acclimatising yourself to the simple controls (R to lock on, A to fire/hit, X to charge a shot or thwack, B to jump, Y to open doors/activate switches and L to centre the camera), he's dispatched to the pawn shop to retrieve the spare engine. Which the Professor pawned for a gun.

Bearable, if a little unexciting, the first tutorial section collecting objects scattered around the joke-infested Planet Express HQ is a darn sight more enjoyable than what's to come. Before long Fry is scampering around sewers hammering the A button repeatedly to take out rambling monsters and mutants, pulling easy-to-find switches to open doors, and leaping from box to coffin across lakes of toxic waste. One bad jump, or too many hits from the monsties, and it's back to the last checkpoint.

For once, it wasn't me!

'Futurama' Screenshot 2

Fair enough, the game has a sense of humour. Fry's very first task involves plucking a hammer from under a dangerous pile of debris, which duly falls on his head and kills him leading to a demonstration of the Professor's "re-animator" machine - followed by Fry's insight that when you die it all goes black and white lights appear reading "Game Over". But the joy of Futurama on the TV was that you could watch it without having to then repeatedly hop, skip and jump past simplistic platform levels, cursing yourself each time your impatient haste sends you hurtling into green goop, in order to access the next scene.

Yes, it'll have you chuckling to yourself in a way that many games won't, but it'll also have you cussing the television in tones usually reserved for Kilroy's latest exposé on women who don't like their hair. Even if you can take on the mean streets of New New York in a giant mechanical chicken suit and straddle peculiar beasts with the crunchy Dr. Zoidberg.

It's just a little bit too much by the numbers. The graphics engine is a nice cel-shaded affair that captures the essence of the show but rarely leaves you gasping (and it had our Xbox juddering in places), overwhelming odds and ease of death compensates for childish level design, there are numerous fairly pointless collectibles which unlock video and audio Extras, and the camera has a habit of clipping behind walls and generally misbehaving in close quarters. In other words: a standard platform game. What kept us going was the show's intoxicating humour.

Suicide booth, anyone?

And, yes, admittedly for some this will be enough. Four of the show's main characters (Fry, Leela, Bender and Zoidberg) each get a run-out, there are regular cut-scenes and load screen ads (Tri-Curious?) to enjoy, it's a goodly length with replay value for those who want to uncover all the Extras, and with the show cancelled after three seasons (with just the DVD release of the completed fourth season to look forward to), it's about the only thing left to plunder for laughs.

But whatever the developer's intentions (and we're willing to bet, given their obvious love for the show, that they weren't the ones who picked a platform template), this is still a cynical and at times deeply boring game to play. As a platformer, it won't have Naughty Dog barking [groan] or keep Insomniac up all night [make that a double -Ed] - rather it's like humans in general according to Douglas Adams: mostly harmless. If you're convinced, by all means take the plunge. We'd rather buy the third season box set.

5 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (17) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Amajiro #1 9 years ago

    What a surprise. I could have figured this out from the 1 second snippets shown on TV. One for rental, methinks...

  • Abscido #2 9 years ago

    The PS2 version is horrendously choppy at times too. I was about to give the game credit for not being TOO crap - but since when does attachment to a franchise mean having to lower our expectations for a good game? Umm, actually scrap that question....

    Hey Tom - was there ever an explanation given as to why Hermes refuses to say anything in his room, or why he stares blankly at the screen like a zombie; damn strange.
    Edited by 1 at 18/08/03 @ 11:37

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #3 9 years ago

    I thought that was obvious: he's got a Brain Slug on his head!

  • Abscido #4 9 years ago

    Ah, I hadn't noticed that!! It did seem weird that the game was so well-presented (in terms of character representation etc) up until that point, only for it to suddenly dip in standard - as if 5% of the way into production the resources dried up! :)

  • mal #5 9 years ago

    Bearable, if a little unexciting, the first tutorial section collecting objects scattered around the joke-infested Planet Express HQ is a darn sight more enjoyable than what's to come.

    Ah, probably explains how it got a good review in the paper. Second level? What second level?

  • Smugglarn #6 9 years ago

    What are you babbling about?! I have just seen episode 16 from season 5!

    Shame about the game though, AND SHAME TO THE COCKSMOKING BEYOTCHES AT FOX! CURSE THEM ALL TO ROBOT HELL!
    Edited by 1 at 18/08/03 @ 16:09

  • pjmaybe #7 9 years ago

    ...hopefully this'll be the last you'll see of a futurama game franchise. The series was brilliant (was being the operative word - sadly) but shit like this will just add fuel to the fire Fox started when this sells zero copies, yet a lame Skateboarding game with a simpsons licence tacked onto it will sell quite a few...

    Peej

  • jt #8 9 years ago

    You know, I've never actually bought a crappy license game before, but when it came to Futurama I couldn't resist. I don't care how crappy the game turns out to be (haven't played it yet) as long as the cutscenes are funny, I'll be happy.

  • lost_soul #9 9 years ago

    What are you babbling about?! I have just seen episode 16 from season 5!

    Nah, there are 4 proper seasons, but Fox messed about with the show so much( through cancelling episodes to show sport), that they had enough episodes left over for a "5th"season.

  • 254Sephiroth #10 9 years ago

    I just hope it will live up to the TV program!

  • 254Sephiroth #11 9 years ago

    And they should never of canceld the program it rules!!!

  • Enzan Ijuin #12 9 years ago

    Futerama! I love this show so much wait a minute..... is the game or the show where talking about......

  • Enzan Ijuin #13 9 years ago

    one more thing who ever hates show shold go to robot hell anyway

  • #14 9 years ago

    It's the game, guy.

    Yup. The show rocks. In fact, it's pure genious.

  • Pirotic #15 9 years ago

    never really liked the show after the first series, the characters are annoying and the jokes are too predictable and shallow.

    Also the game doesn't support 60hz

  • #16 9 years ago

    And you've seen how many episodes beyond the first season? As far as season 2 as a whole is concerned, season 1 sucks. Season 3 is even better, in fact it's millions of lightyears closer to perfection than the first two. That FACTS, and I've got Bender to back me up!

    Go on Bender .. say it!

  • Bender #17 9 years ago

    Bite my shiny metal ass!

  • #18 9 years ago

    uh.. I need more booze. Getting sober.. agh. So painful.

  • tinodz #19 4 years ago

    Hello other people reading old comments... fun times it sure is!

  • Jheronimus #20 4 years ago

    Well, couldn't resist reading this too... Still love the shows on DVD, as a matter of fact I spent last night watching the last episodes of the fourth box set for the seventh time. The Farnsworth Paradox FTW!!!