Well, it's the first real Crazy Taxi clone. How is it compared to Crazy Taxi? Well, it depends. See, if you're comparing it to how Crazy Taxi was when it first came out, this doesn't even fight a battle, but if you're comparing it to how Crazy Taxi is now, this game is much better. There are more options, which make the game more playable than Crazy Taxi... today. However, overall, this game isn't great. Yeah, it should be, because it's Crazy Taxi plus a Simpsons twist. ...It's not. The game is fun for about a day, then stops. Why? Because after a good 2 hours or so of playing, you've heard all the lines, driven to all the places, and seen all there is to see. The voices are done well, but there just aren't enough lines. The graphics are okay, but definitely not GameCube quality. It reminds me of South Park, which was kinda fun, but the graphics were awful, and it just didn't last. The control, however, is great, but read on to get an in-depth look at these qualities of this game.

G R A P H I C S
...Err... Somehow, these are too colory. I mean, there's too much color variation. The buildings range from pink to green to brown to yellow. I know this is how The Simpsons show is, but it doesn't quite work in a video game. The other cars - the traffic cars - are very generic, and no fun to go whizzing by. Pretty much every building (and window) is the same, just different colors. The character car could be much more detailed. When you head inside a building (for instance, in the Single-Player Mode, when you have to go collecting things and are forced inside a building to collect something, it just doesn't do it. The walls are just squares of color. Ugh.

G A M E P L A Y
Fun fun fun!*

*Not including after two hours of play time

Yeah, fun, for a little. It could be much, much more fun. For example, if the other cars were driven by other Simpsons characters, it would be great, as they shouted words of un-kind-ness at you as you smash their car into someone else's. However, the multiplayer is a crapload of thrills. I mean, racing in any game against a friend is fun, but this is just crazy. It is fast-paced, fun, and, just like the regular game, it's fun to pick up other Simpsons characters, but this time, it's against your best friend. What could be better?

C O N T R O L
Absatively perfect. The huge A-button is a great way to accelerate your car because it is so easy to press. There aren't too many different things needed to control, so it is simple. Plus, the actual steering is great. It's hard to describe. It doesn?t over-steer, it doesn't under-steer. It's not loose, and not too tight. This is easily the best aspect of the game. It's so easy to whiz around tight corners, or fly across easy, large corners. But the steering isn't all. The braking system is great, too. For once, I actually use the brakes going around corners and just plain navigating. I... I... It's great.

S O U N D
Oh no. How could they do this to a game? ...Do what, you ask. Frankly, I don't know. I just wanted to say that. The voices are good, and the lines are clever and ones that you can laugh at, but there just aren't enough of them. As I?ve said, after just a little while of playing the game, you?ve heard all the lines of the characters. Still, it's alright to hear them again because they are funny, and you laugh out loud, but there's some weird ... something going on in the game because a lot of lines are heard a lot, and others just once or twice. The sound effects are alright, but not great. However, they fit the game perfectly. They are partially zany, partially not-so-great, and partially alright. It's a weird mix. Some of the things are good; some don't fit the particular moment.

- I N B R I E F -

Graphics - 6.9
Umm... not so great. I mean, the character's car is great and the characters themselves are fairly detailed, but everything else is pretty awful. For example, the other cars around you are blocky and generic. However, these are on GameCube's standards, so if this was on... say... N64 for example, this would be a 13 out of 10 on the graphics scale.

GamePlay - 7.8
There are two ways to look at this. The multiplayer is great. I mean wonderful. It is so much fun to race against your friends and steal their passengers and get money. On the other hand, there's the one-player mode. Not fun. That is not to say that it is not a good game, it just gets boring. Really boring. It's hard to make yourself keep playing. The little map in the bottom left corner is a very nice touch, though.

Control - 9.6
Wonderful! Some of the best GCN controls I've seen yet. The big, huge A button is easy to hold down for your acceleration and the turning is absolutely perfect. Everything is very well placed (i.e. the reverse button). There are even two ways to do it -- use the A and B buttons for the acceleration and brake, or use the c-stick for it. Personally, I like the buttons.

Sound - 7.1
If I were to sum it up in one word, I'd say repetitive. Two words: very repetitive. The lines that are different are funny, but after playing the game for about an hour, I heard the same thing about 13 times. Ridiculous. However, they are very clear and crisp and it's just how the characters would talk. The music is all right ... pretty good for a game like this.

Overall - 8.1
As you can see, this game varies greatly between these departments. This is fun for a while - a good game to rent - but you really need to like The Simpsons to buy it.