Xbox

American Chopper

It's possible that there's a great idea for a game buried somewhere in the Discovery Channel's hit reality TV show, American Chopper. Each week the Teutul clan--Paul, Paul Jr., and Mikey--scream at each other while working against the clock to design and build a custom chopper. If there is a decent game to be wrenched out of that concept, however, Activision's American Chopper isn't it. Lacking both the volatile charm and the compelling technical details of the series, it's little more than a halfhearted racing game with some guest appearances by characters and locations you've seen on TV.

For all of AC’s problems, the game still does a few things right. One smart idea Activision/Creat Studios did was making this game simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, even if the controls don’t handle too well at times. Another thing that stands out here is that if you are to copy any game out there at least it was Grand Theft Auto minus all the car jacking, freedom, and fun. Unfortunately even at its discounted price, American Chopper just doesn’t do the hit TV show justice with its generic graphics and basic races. Although it has a few good points about it, the game ultimately fails to be even above average.

The game doesn’t succeed in a way that will have gamers sitting on their couch day in and day out yearning to speed around town on their newly earned chopper. While the bike selections are lengthy, the customization is shoddy at best, and the gameplay will have players reminiscing of Grand Theft Auto a bit too much. When you can play GTA why play this? It is too much of a departure from the hit TV show and will leave fans feeling slighted.

Mediocrity seems to be the overall summary of American Chopper. I would have to say that overall this game was a big disappointment. True American Chopper fans and die hard motorcycle enthusiasts may be able to get more lifetime out of this game, but too the casual gamer, American Chopper does not deliver the goods. The game is a mish mash of already existing titles that seems to have been hastily thrown together to feed off the popularity of the television series. Playing this game for more than an hour is a truly challenging task. I am really disappointed that more time and effort was not put into this game seeing the potential that the OCC franchise has shown to casual bike enthusiasts. At least this game has one bright spot, a 29,99$ retail price tag.

I have come to identify with the Teutels through their show and find them to be decent, caring, talented and occasionally volatile, human beings. It's a shame that this game does not commemorate their contributions to both the motorcycle industry as well as the entertainment industry. Anybody for ice cream?

Just stay away, If you like racing games, there’s severalout there that are a lot more fun and entertaining, this game is just awaste of money and time, for one thing there’s really nothing new,innovative or anything the least bit entertaining in this game. Go outand rent or buy something else, unless of course you’re related to theTeutuls, or you have stock in Activision.