The Simpsons Skateboarding – PS2 – Review

The widely popular
animated show The Simpsons is as much a part of American pop culture as Brittany
Spears or Pepsi–and with a legion of viewers, it is no surprise that game
makers are inspired by all the hilarious characters featured on the show.
However, even with this long list of great characters, seldom does a good game
come out of simply sticking a few elements from a hit show to a not-so-well
thought out concept.  Will The Simpsons Skateboarding prove me wrong despite
past failed attempts?  Read on, but be prepared to be really disappointed.

The Annual Skate Tour has
come to the city of Springfield and the Mega-bucks prize is a juicy $99.  This
is enough to attract a collection of skaters such as Bart, Homer, Lisa, Marge,
Otto the bus driver, Nelson and even Krusty the Clown.  Dusting off their
skateboards, they prepare to shred through various locations in the city
including known landmarks such as the Springfield Mall, Mister Burn’s Manor or
Springfield Elementary.

There are three different
modes: Skillz School, Skatefest and Timed Trick Contest.  The Skillz School is a
good place to learn many of the tricks found in this game beginning with the
basics tricks–and you can even earn some money (although, in this game, you
practically earn chump change).  Timed Trick Contest has players pulling off
tricks before the timer runs out to unlock new skaters.   Skatefest, the game’s
main mode, takes gamers through a series of objectives in the same vein as those
seen in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games.

Gamers begin by selecting
the available skaters–in this case, the Simpson family (Homer, Marge, Bart and
Lisa Simpson).  Naturally each skater has his or her own attributes that you can
improve upon once gamers earn enough money to purchase an n attribute boost.
Bart, for example, can really pick up speed but is slow when sharp turns are
needed.  His father, Homer, is not so fast but is great at making sharp turns.
Gamers can remedy these problems by boosting up the appropriate levels in the
Shop.  Of course to earn money, gamers have to earn them by completing the
challenges in Skatefest but this is where the problems start showing up.

Almost immediately gamers
will notice that the controls are not as responsive or as smooth as the game it
is trying to be.   There are a slew of skate tricks from the most basic (grinds,
ollies, board flips and nose manuals) to the more complex (crooked grind,
Jasper, nose grab and tail grabs).  The problem is that executing them
successfully is an extremely difficult because the controls are a burden in and
of itself.  There will be many times when even with enough speed; your skater
won’t be able to make it past a simple hurdle.  Thanks to the not-so-smooth
controls, gamers will find themselves colliding with the pavement pretty often.

To make matters worse, the
challenges in Skatefest have that been-there-done-that feel to them that is
difficult to ignore.  You start the mode in Springfield Elementary and work your
way through several other locales that fans of the show will recognize–such as
the power plant where Homer works.  The challenges can be found scattered
throughout each location and they consist of limp versions of good challenges.
At one point you try to pick up stray kids to send back to class or collect
character specific items (Lisa collects saxophones while Homer collects
donuts). 

What’s disappointing,
however, is that even if the challenges are unoriginal, they could have at least
spiced things up with the show’s unique humor.  Sure you’ll find several of your
favorite characters scattered throughout the game, but none of them really add
much except for the occasional sound byte.   It would have been more satisfying
if there was more character interaction or perhaps an extra challenge issued by
one of the wandering characters.

You would think that it’s
easy to bring the lush cartoon world of an animated series to a game–after all,
the PS2 is capable of it.  Unfortunately, the visuals in this game do not even
come close to matching the show’s design when it comes to Springfield as a 3D
environment.  You’ll find recognizable places, such as Moe’s Tavern, but the odd
shape of each building takes the fun out of playing in the Simpson universe.
While the environments are extremely bland, it’s fun to see the decent-looking
characters in full 3D form. 

Another unfortunate aspect
of the game is the sound that features a few uninspiring compositions and a
mutated version of Danny Elfman’s signature main theme from the show.  The
problem is that instead of growing on you, the score can actually become quite
an annoyance to the point that gamers will just push mute on their television
screens.  And the actual voices of many of the characters can be found
throughout the game as voice clips, but they are unfunny and often strange.

Failing to offer an
amusing and humorous skateboarding romp, The Simpsons Skateboarding just isn’t
fun enough to please those fans of both the show and skateboarding.  Sadly, with
so many faults, this game should be avoided altogether.  

#Reviewer’s Scoring Details

Gameplay: 3.0
With a solid framerate, the game
moves along nicely, alas this is the only good thing that can be said about the
gameplay.  Control-wise, Skateboarding is just too awkward to control properly
and too unresponsive.  There is no doubt that gamers, especially the much
younger ones, will find nothing but frustration with what should have been a
more simplified version of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater controls.  Even the most
basic move can end with disastrous results.

The modes offer up
unoriginal takes on the usual challenges found in recent extreme sports titles
and many of them are not bad at all.  The problem is that many of these
challenges require gamers to pull of complicated trick combos that are even
harder thanks to the rough control scheme.  The result is more frustration.

Graphics: 3.6
Springfield would have been much
more impressive as a 3D world had the game’s designers been more true to the
show’s animation.  While the key locations and landmarks will be instantly
recognizable by long-time fans of the show, the intentionally crooked angles and
plain textures do take away from the overall experience of moving around the
Springfield from the show.   Half pipes and things such as cars look boxy and
plain looking whereas at least the show add a little more details to plain
scenery.

The characters are not
bad, though.  Their 3D forms are at least more like the animated versions and
they even move as smooth as animation.  It would have been nice to have seen
them move their mouths as they spout out something, but at least they blink and
move their limbs naturally.

Sound: 3.4
Rarely does a game’s score become so
annoying to me that I am forced to put the game on mute.  While the show’s main
theme music occasionally crops up, it’s intermingled with the rest of the
unpleasant soundtrack. 

The voices are done by
many of the show’s cast members and would have been wonderful had there been
phrases worthy of being heard.  Fans of the show expecting each character to say
something in the same funny and witty manner as the show will only be let down.
And if that wasn’t enough, many of the phrases said become quite repetitive.

Difficulty: Medium
Whether it’s knocking over a series
of signs or trying to score X amount of points to beat the clock; the game’s
challenges are tricky events.  The challenges aren’t made any more easier due to
the awful controls that complicate the challenge that requires players to
successfully pull off a series of combos.

Concept: 3.0
Overlooking the fact that The
Simpsons have been featured in games before, often with unsuccessful results;
this is the franchise’s first real foray into the skateboarding realm.  The
unfortunate result is attempting to emulate the far more superior Activision O2
skateboarding titles by featuring the same type of objectives and adding several
prizes and areas to unlock.  All of this does sound good, but the manner in
which it is presented is what counts and this game’s presentation feels both
sloppy and rushed.  There’s not interesting or highly original challenges found
here.

Multiplayer: 3.5
Up to two players can skate in
split-screen fashion and there are just enough characters to choose from here.
The Timed Trick Contest mode just feels a lot more challenging when you’re going
up against a friend and the clock–and the player with the most points by the
end of the time limit wins the game.  There’s also the ever-so popular Play
Horse mode.  Here one player performs a trick and the second player must try to
beat the score and if somebody fails to surpass the other’s score, then a letter
is given to that player (if a player receives enough letters to spell the word
HORSE, that player loses).  While the multiplayer modes are sparse, they are
better than having nothing at all.

Overall: 3.0
It’s sad that a widely popular and
much-loved franchise is attached to such a poorly designed game that does not
offer any real thrills or laughs.  If you’re looking for Tony Hawk Pro Skater
for a much younger crowd or really love the show, Simpsons Skateboarding will
surely disappoint.