Futurama Member Review for the Xbox

Some shows are taken away from us while there peaking at there best. Ratings mean so much now days that if a brilliant show does not get many viewers, the networks treat it like Jack the Ripper treated London whores. Anyway Futurama was created by Matt Groening, the mastermind behind the hugely popular and successful Simpsoní¢â‚¬™s. In its 13th season I believe and there are plans for a movie in 2006-2007. In 1999, Matt decided to make a cartoon via his favourite sci fi films I believe. And so on, Futurama was born. Boasting impressive characters, brilliant voice acting and incredible animation, Futurama was one of the best cartoons around. Unfortunately, since it did not live up to the ratings of The Simpsoní¢â‚¬™s, FOX cancelled the show after 4 seasons. Luckily they released a game available on XBOX and Ps2, and I scored the rare game for a whopping $9.

The story begins as usual; Fry, Leela and Bender are hard at work, sitting around Planet Express. The Professor enters with "bads news everyone", Evil Mom Corp has brought out Planet Express and now she owns half of the world, giving her supreme rulership! But everything is going wrong! Riots and killer mutants are everywhere and the only way to stop Evil Mom is of course, Fry, Leela, and Bender. With a very funny cameo from Dr. Zoidberg the story is a refined lost episode. You visit many levels where you play as Fry (Run and Shoot), Leela (Hand to Hand Combat) or Bender (More Platform kinda levels). The story was written by J. Stewart Burns, an Emmy winning writer for Futurama.

The graphics in Futurama are average, the 3D animation is good but it seems the characters were just badly drawn 3D objects. The voice acting is brilliant, crisp sound and great work from the cast of the show! The music however is annoying, extremely annoying, pretty much the same beat and vocals repeated over and over again, very very painful. The game play is average aswell, boasting repetitive play and very long levels, with Checkpoints far apart; you'll be dying and having to return to where you last left can become very frustrating.

Overall the game is not spectacular, but is the biggest collectorí¢â‚¬™s item for any Futurama fan; this is pretty much a lost interactive episode. Buy this only if youí¢â‚¬™re a huge fan of the show, otherwise you will be thoroughly disappointed.

By Andrew Morley.
(www.reviewerdevil.com)