Futurama (video game)

Infobox VG
title = Futurama


developer = Unique Development Studios
publisher = VU Games / Fox Interactive
designer =
engine =
released = flagicon|EU August 1, 2003
flagicon|US August 13, 2003
genre = Platform
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: T
OFLC: G8+
PEGI: 12+
platforms = PlayStation 2
Xbox
media = DVD
requirements =
input = Gamepad

"Futurama" is a 3D platform game based on the science fiction cartoon series "Futurama". Versions are available for the PS2 and Xbox, both of which use cel-shading technology. A version for the Nintendo GameCube was planned but later cancelled. The cutscenes of the game are presented as an entire episode of "Futurama" on the DVD of "The Beast with a Billion Backs".

Storyline

Mom, the game's antagonist, buys Planet Express for sinister reasons. The team of Fry, Bender, Leela, and Zoidberg must thwart her evil plot to take over the universe.

After realizing the Planet Express delivery company has been losing money for blatantly obvious reasons (such as using a giant spaceship to hand-deliver single packages and the crew never actually collecting money for deliveries), Professor Hubert Farnsworth sells the company to Mom. With her purchase of Planet Express, Mom now owns over 50% of the planet Earth, and becomes its supreme ruler, taking all humans for slaves and instituting a curfew with "hoverbot death troopers" patrolling the streets. Fry, Leela, Bender and Farnsworth attempt to escape Earth but the ship is inexplicably (for now) broken and scorched. Whilst the others repair the ship, Fry is sent to find a hammer. However, he is killed when the two-ton pile of steel and junk the hammer was supporting falls on him. He is brought back to life by the Professor's "Re-Animator" (he had set up the junk pile to kill Fry and test the machine) and finds all the Professor's tools to fix the ship. Alas, the Professor couldn't fix the Dark Matter engine, and he pawned a back-up engine to get a gun. Fry navigates the sewers and enters the city during curfew hours, armed with the gun the Professor gave him, and reclaims the back-up engine from the pawn shop. The crew installs the engine and escapes Earth with the Re-Animator.

Mom's plan is bigger than the mere conquest of Earth; she plans to turn the planet Earth into a gigantic warship to conquer the universe. However, in order to move the entire planet off its orbit, she requires a large Dark Matter engine, that only Professor Farnsworth knows how to build. She captures the Planet Express Ship in a tractor beam from a scrapyard on a desert asteroid. Bender escapes with the Re-Animator and shuts down the tractor beam. Mom's ship (in the shape of Mom's head) captures the Planet Express Ship in its mouth and Mom and her sons board the Planet Express ship. They cut off the Professor's head and put it in a jar before hurling the Planet Express Ship into the sun.

In a bizarre twist, the sun actually has a habitable surface, where the Sun People live in fear of the Mighty Sun God that has killed much of the star's population and created an undead army out of their bones. Leela defeats him, in exchange for Dark Matter to fuel up the ship, and the crew heads to the planet Bogad (Dagobah spelled backwards minus two letters), home of Professor Farnsworth's mentor Adoy (Yoda spelled backwards), presumed to be the only person capable of hatching a plan to solve the situation. As the crew journeys to Bogad, Mom succeeds in powering up the Earth's Dark Matter engine and proceeds to destroy nearby planets.

On Bogad, the crew meets Adoy, who reveals he's invented a time machine capable of sending them back in time and stop Mom before she became unstoppable. Zoidberg (who just so happened to be on the planet to make a cameo appearance) turns on the machine, and the ship and crew travel into the past but arrive completely out of control, crashing the broken, scorched ship inside the Planet Express hangar with not much time left to prevent the original sale of Planet Express. They then leave in their original ship, thus explaining how the broken ship got broken in the first place.

The crew arrives at Mom's Company just in time to prevent the sale, however Mom forces them to fight the robot Destructor. The crew manages to defeat him, but then they are crushed and killed by the falling robot. Professor Farnsworth has a face-off with Mom and then returns to Planet Express to give his employees some good news. The cutscene shown at the end is actually the first cutscene from the beginning. The game ends the way it began, returning to Level 1 and completing the circle in the timeline (creating an infinite loop).

Characters

While the game remains generally faithful to the series, many characters are omitted altogether. A list of characters that do appear are:

*Philip J. Fry: Playable character, appears in a number of cutscenes.
*Turanga Leela: Playable character, appears in a number of cutscenes
*Bender B. Rodriguez: Playable character, appears in a number of cutscenes
*Professor Hubert J Farnsworth: Non-playable character, appears in a number of cutscenes
*Dr John Zoidberg: Playable character, appears in three cutscenes
*Nibbler: Serves as a collectable.
*Hermes Conrad: Non-playable character, seen in his office during the first level with a brain slug feasting on his brains, a reference to Raging Bender but has no lines. His locker can also be seen.
*Amy Wong: Doesn't appear, locker can be seen in the first level.
*Zapp Brannigan: Doesn't technically appear but can be seen advertising the army on posters.
*Mom: Non-playable character, main antagonist. Appears in a number of cutscenes.
*Walt, Larry and Ignar: Appear in many cutscenes, serve as bosses throughout the Bender missions.
*Sal: Appears in a cutscene in which he assists Mom in taking over the universe.
*Scruffy: Non-playable character, seen sleeping in the flooded basement in the first level.

Game development

Development on the game started before the series' cancellation, [ [http://www.ugo.com/channels/games/features/futurama/interview.asp Vivendi interview with UGO.com] Accessed February 6, 2007] but the game wasn't released until after the last episode had already been shown. Thus, the game has been known as a "lost episode" of sorts since it includes 28 minutes [ [http://www.futureramathegame.com/futurama.htm Futurama The Game: Official Website - Features] Accessed June 24, 2008] of new animation. [ [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=89464 Lead designer Mark McGinlay interview with computerandvideogames.com] Accessed February 6, 2007]

Many of the crew from the "Futurama" series worked on the game. Matt Groening served as Executive game developer and David X. Cohen directed the voice actors. These voice actors were the original actors from the series: Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, and David Herman. Also adding to the authenticity of the game was the original music composition provided by Christopher Tyng who also composed the music in the series and "Futurama" scriptwriter and producer J. Stewart Burns who scripted an original storyline for the plot. Indeed, the music used in the end credits was later used in the intro for the straight-to-DVD film .

Reception

Gameplay was generally considered lackluster [ [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/futurama?q=futurama Metacritic page for XBox edition of game] ] [ [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/futurama?q=futurama Metacritic page for PS2 edition of game] ] , though cutscenes were described in Wired as "side-splitting".cite web| url=http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/video-games-f-3.html| title=Videogames & Futurama, Part 4: The Lost Episode is on a PS2 Disc| author=Baker, Chris| date=2007-12-20| accessdate=2008-03-28| publisher=Wired] The cutscenes, along with some in-game footage, were included as a bonus feature on the direct-to-DVD movie, '. [ [http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Futurama-Beast-With-A-Billion-Backs/9295 TV Shows on DVD] ] The game's "Futurama" Theme Remix" was used in both direct-to-video releases, ' and "".

References

External links

* [http://www.futureramathegame.com/ Futurama the game official Website]
*moby game|id=/futurama|name="Futurama"
*IGN: [http://ps2.ign.com/objects/015/015173.html PS2] and [http://xbox.ign.com/objects/497/497143.html Xbox]
*Game Rankings: [http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/582181.asp?q=Futurama PS2] and [http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/583448.asp?q=Futurama Xbox]
* [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/futurama Metacritic Review Aggregation]
* [http://www.futurama-madhouse.com.ar/sounds/game.shtml Sound clips from the game]
* [http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/futurama/ Futurama at Gamespot.com]