Software:Futurama (video game)

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Futurama
European PlayStation 2 cover art
Developer(s)Unique Development Studios
Publisher(s)
  • NA: Vivendi Universal Games
  • PAL: SCi Games
Director(s)Stephane Koenig
Producer(s)
  • Anders Hejdenberg
  • Mars Westerlund
Designer(s)
  • Matt Groening
  • Mark McGinley
Programmer(s)Mattias Olsson
Artist(s)Ralph M. Gerth IV
Writer(s)J. Stewart Burns
Composer(s)Christopher Tyng
EngineGamebryo
Platform(s)
Release
  • PAL: August 1, 2003
  • NA: August 12, 2003
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Futurama is a 3D platform video game based on the science fiction animated series of the same name. It was developed by Unique Development Studios for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, both of which use cel-shading technology. The cutscenes of the game are presented as an entire "lost episode" of Futurama on the DVD of The Beast with a Billion Backs.

Gameplay

Gameplay is a mix of shooting and platforming. As the game progresses, players play as each of four characters: Fry, Bender, Leela and Zoidberg. Fry's levels mostly involve shooter mechanics, as he can use a multitude of guns. Bender's levels are platformer-oriented, while Leela's revolve around hand-to-hand combat. Zoidberg is featured in a short segment as well. There are several Nibblers hidden in each level; collecting them unlocks extras such as movie clips and galleries.

Plot

The game begins with Professor Farnsworth, wearing a sombrero, selling the Planet Express delivery company to Mom, explaining that it had been losing money for years due to mismanagement. The buyout gives Mom ownership of more than fifty percent of Earth, allowing her to become the supreme ruler of Earth. Soon after this, she enslaves humanity.

Finding the ship inexplicably broken, the Professor tasks Leela and Bender with repairing it, and sends Fry off to find a hammer to keep him out of the way. After Fry is crushed to death under a pile of debris, he is resurrected by the Professor's new invention, the Re-animator (which closely resembles a giant toaster), which brings the crew back to life every time they die.

After discovering that the ship's dark matter engine is beyond repair, and informing the crew that the back-up was pawned in exchange for a gun, the Professor sends Fry off to retrieve it, having to travel via the sewers to avoid curfew. After Fry returns, they escape from Earth with the Re-animator.

However, Mom pursues them in an effort to capture Farnsworth. She hopes to turn Earth into a giant warship, and Farnsworth is the only person who knows how to build an engine large enough to move the Earth. After Bender frees the ship from a suck beam generated from a desert asteroid, Mom ultimately captures Farnsworth, places his head in a jar, and sends the ship hurtling into the Sun with Fry, Leela, and Bender on board.

After discovering that the Sun is habitable, Leela helps the Sun People to defeat their evil Sun God in exchange for a full tank of dark matter. After Leela destroys the Sun Temple, the crew then head for the planet of Bogad, where Farnsworth's mentor, Adoy, lives. Adoy has invented a time machine, but its generator is inconveniently placed a great distance away, with hazardous swamps in the way. Using the time machine's hand crank, which turns back time by two minutes if cranked for that long, Zoidberg (who had inexplicably appeared on Adoy "making a cameo") manages to reach and activate the generator. Fry, Leela and Bender manage to travel back to a few minutes before Mom buys Planet Express from the Professor. However, the ship crashes into Planet Express, destroying the ship. This prompts them to steal the ship of the past, leaving the broken ship to be repaired by their past selves. They attempt to stop the sale, which prompts Mom to send Destructor to attack them. They defeat the robot, but the Re-animator gets damaged and falls on Destructor, causing it to fall on top of them. Angry at the fact that the robot killed his crew, the professor refuses to sell Planet Express. But after Mom bribes him with a sombrero, he sells, and the events of the game continue in an endless cycle.

Development

Development on the game started before the series' cancellation,[1] but the game was not released until after the last episode of season 4 had already been shown. Thus, the game has been known as a "lost episode" of sorts since it includes 28 minutes[2] of new animation.[3]

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. Cast members Phil LaMarr and Lauren Tom weren't included in the game due to budgetary reasons. 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. The music during the end credits of the game is later used in the four straight-to-DVD Futurama films: in the extended intro of Bender's Big Score, and rearranged versions during the end credits of the subsequent three films.

A GameCube version was planned for release but was cancelled due to slow sales of the console in the United States.[4]

Futurama: The Lost Adventure

The cutscenes, along with some in-game footage provided by Cohen, were compiled into a 30-minute feature titled Futurama: The Lost Adventure (described by Cohen as "the 73rd episode")[5] and included as a special feature with the direct-to-DVD movie Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs.[6] With Unique Development Studios having gone out of business, the production team were unable to acquire the original full-quality video files for the cutscenes and instead sourced the footage by recording video from an Xbox console running the game.[7] The Lost Adventure compilation also removes meta references to being a video game and adds new effects to the sound mix.[7]


Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
PS2Xbox
AllGameStarStar[8]N/A
EGM4.83/10[9]4.83/10[9]
EurogamerN/A5/10[10]
Game Informer5.25/10[11]N/A
GameProStarStarStar[12]N/A
GameRevolutionN/AC−[13]
GameSpot4.9/10[14]4.9/10[14]
GameSpyStarStar[15]StarStar[15]
GameZone7/10[16]N/A
IGN6.7/10[17]6.7/10[17]
OPM (US)StarStarHalf star[18]N/A
OXM (US)N/A5/10[19]
X-PlayStarStarStar[20]N/A
Maxim6/10[21]6/10[21]
Aggregate score
Metacritic59/100[22]58/100[23]


Futurama received "mixed" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[22][23] Gameplay was generally considered lackluster, though the cutscenes were described in Wired as "side-splitting".[5] Maxim gave the game a score of six out of ten and said, "It's too bad that clunky controls and eh game play stay forever buried in a time lock of dull sloppiness."[21]

References

  1. ↑ Vivendi interview with UGO.com Accessed February 6, 2007
  2. ↑ Futurama The Game: Official Website - Features Accessed June 24, 2008
  3. ↑ Lead designer Mark McGinlay interview with computerandvideogames.com Accessed February 6, 2007
  4. ↑ "Gamecube Mailbag 2003-08-15". August 15, 2003. http://cube.ign.com/mail/2003-08-15.html. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Baker, Chris (December 20, 2007). "Videogames & Futurama, Part 4: The Lost Episode is on a PS2 Disc". Wired. http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/video-games-f-3.html. Retrieved March 28, 2008. 
  6. ↑ "TV Shows on DVD". TV Shows on DVD. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Futurama-Beast-With-A-Billion-Backs/9295. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cohen, David X.; Supercinski, Lee (2008). Futurama: The Lost Adventure (DVD audio commentary). 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Event occurs at 05:04, 08:55, 10:39.
  8. ↑ Marriott, Scott Alan. "Futurama (PS2) - Review". AllGame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=43436&tab=review. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 EGM Staff (October 2003). "Futurama". Electronic Gaming Monthly (171): 139. http://www.1up.com/reviews/futurama-g-ford. Retrieved December 12, 2013. 
  10. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (August 18, 2003). "Futurama Review (Xbox)". http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_futurama_x. 
  11. ↑ Helgeson, Matt (September 2003). "Futurama: The Game (PS2)". Game Informer (125): 109. http://www.gameinformer.com/Games/Review/200309/R03.0821.1019.30428.htm. Retrieved December 12, 2013. 
  12. ↑ Pong Sifu (August 13, 2003). "Futurama Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps2/games/reviews/30713.shtml. Retrieved December 12, 2013. 
  13. ↑ Mr. Tickle (September 2003). "Futurama Review (Xbox)". Game Revolution. http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/futurama. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Tracy, Tim (August 27, 2003). "Futurama Review". http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/futurama-review/1900-6074088/. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Steinberg, Steve (September 27, 2003). "GameSpy: Futurama". GameSpy. http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2/futurama/6204p1.html. 
  16. ↑ Hopper, Steve (September 23, 2003). "Futurama - PS2 - Review". GameZone. http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/futurama_ps2_review. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Perry, Douglass C. (August 12, 2003). "Futurama (PS2, Xbox)". http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/08/12/futurama-2. 
  18. ↑ "Futurama". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 92. September 2003. 
  19. ↑ "Review: Futurama". Official Xbox Magazine: 84. October 2003. 
  20. ↑ Hudak, Chris (October 20, 2003). "'Futurama' (PS2) Review". X-Play. http://www.techtv.com/xplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3548706,00.html. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Porter, Alex (August 13, 2003). "Futurama (PS2, Xbox)". Maxim. http://www.maxim.com/gaming/futurama. Retrieved December 9, 2014. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 "Futurama Critic Reviews for PlayStation 2". https://www.metacritic.com/game/futurama/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-2. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Futurama Critic Reviews for Xbox". https://www.metacritic.com/game/futurama/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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