Crazy Taxi was a huge success on the Sega Dreamcast, and it was only a matter of time before it was emulated with many "clones." The Simpsons: Road Rage takes all of the aspects of the Crazy Taxi and adds a Simpsons twist to it. The passenger delivery aspect of it remains fully intact, but The Simpsons Road Rage adds a bit of a story to it, if that's at all possible.

The story is as follows, the devious Montgomery Burns is causing trouble once again. He has taken control of Springfield's transportation system, raising the prices for everything as he sees fit. Primarily you take control of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Grandpa as you ship several Simpsons' favorites to such locales as Moe's Tavern, the Kwik-E-Mart, Krusty Burger, (Seeing good ol' Gill being run down by the Atomic buses deployed by Mr. Burns), the church, and many other attractions around the 6 areas of Springfield that you unlock.

Many of your favorite Simpsons' characters can be seen walking the streets of Springfield, and the sight-seeing is a must. It's also hilarious seeing good ol' Gill being run down by the atomic buses deployed by Mr. Burns! The Simpson family and their fellow citizens must band together and raise one million dollars to buy back the transit.

There are 4 modes in this game, Road Rage, Sunday drive, Mission Mode, and Head to Head. Road Rage is your simple delivery service mode. For those of you that do not know the basics rules, they are very simple. The object of the game is to get your passenger to his or her destination quickly so you can keep some extra seconds. A side map appears when you pick up someone and an arrow points towards you passenger's destination. You collect money from your ride based on how fast you get them there. Occasionally a passenger will require you to either drive cautiously or go on a rampage and create mass carnage! You get extra money for those special requests. The money is used to unlock new levels and characters. Sunday Drive is very similar to Road Rage, except that there isn't a timer, and you can't earn fares. You can use this mode to figure out shortcuts or to just see all of the funny signs placed around Springfield. Mission mode gives you a set character and you must complete some sort of objective, which usually includes running over x amount of things. This mode is pretty bland, and they could have done so much with it. Almost every mission's objective is to run over some sort of item.

I suggest you just beat all 10 missions, suffer through it, and get the prize at the end. Head to Head is your multiplayer mode. You and a friend battle it out to pick up a passenger and deliver them to their target. This mode can get pretty hectic, but again, they could have added a little more to it. Like a couple more modes, with a theme to them.

The controls are very simple and easy to learn. The oversized 'A' button, or the C-Stick up, is the gas. The 'B' button is either used as a hand brake, or if you use it in conjunction with turning, you can make some needed sharp turns. The 'Y' button is also a hand brake, and 'X' is reverse. You can also tilt the C-Stick backwards for reverse; you'll get the hang of reversing fairly quickly. And when there's a traffic jam, and you're stuck in the middle, you can use the ever useful 'Z' button to restart you. The controls occasionally get a little shaky. They aren't as stable as the DC version of Crazy Taxi. I've also heard the controls of the GCN version of Crazy Taxi are very similar. I have don't have many gripes with the controls, very easy to use.

The opening scene tells the story with 3-d rendered graphics of Bart playing a videogame. It is exactly how it should be. What would be better for a Simpson's game? The many vehicles and landscapes seem to be cel-shaded, and also fit the theme of the game perfectly. The characters models aren't as great though. Most aren't very detailed, and could use some work, but most won't even notice it. My biggest gripe is the load times. It's supposed to be a grab-and-go action game.

But when you want to restart a failed mission, or change the level. You're in for a 2 minute wait. The different areas of the game are much more varied than that of Crazy Taxi. That's where the Simpsons license really shines. There is just more variety in the terrain, and objects to interact with.

The sound is probably the best thing about the game, thanks again to the Simpsons license. All of your favorite characters have their zany one-liners, and reactions to different characters. The lines are just entertaining and will make you laugh, especially if you're a fan of the show. But sometimes they are just out of context, and they start to repeat in about 30 minutes. The voice actors from the show should have recorded a little more lines to fit that void. The game of course opens with the show's theme song. And the rest of the songs are taken right from the show sound great also. No problems in that department.

If you enjoy the show you'll definitely enjoy this game, might even pick it up for nostalgic reasons. But for everyone else, this is clearly a rental to me. The dialogue gets old fast, but you'll have fun unlocking all of the characters, and seeing the best part of the game, the different locations. If you had to pick out of Crazy Taxi or The Simpsons: Road Rage, I'd choose the latter. Simply because of the license, the varied locales, and the variety of play modes. Radical Entertainment could have done so much more with it. Instead of a complete clone of Crazy Taxi, they could have added a little more from the show.