"The perfect game for the person who likes to drive around the same area 50 times in a row"

American Chopper is a game based on the popular Discovery Channel series of the same name. If you're familiar with the TV show, you would know that it is about Orange County Choppers, a bike customization company. Now the average person would think that the main point of the game would be customizing motorcycles, but they would be wrong! *Insert shock here* This is a racing game. A rather mediocre one at that. Here's why:

Game Play 3/10 All of the missions in this game are basically the same. They are racing missions. And there are 4-5 different types of racing missions but they all involve driving from point A to point B as fast as you can, this game is heaping with variety!

At the beginning of every race you get to pick from a selection of customized motorcycles that you may recognize from the TV series. You get a list of all the bikes in the game, but only one of them is selectable, although it tells you to choose your bike. Each mission has a different bike that you are allowed to select from the list.

Next you have to drive your "selected" bike and meet up with other bikers to race. Did I mention every mission is basically the same? And then you race for a painfully long amount of time. Some races last over 10 minutes. Also there is pretty much only one map which consists of the city surrounding the American Chopper garage which includes a small town and a freeway. Actually 89% of the game is driving around on the Freeway, some missions actually just involve you driving along the Freeway for an allotted time of 8 minutes. That's right you must drive along a straight length of highway for 8 minutes without falling asleep. It's more challenging than it sounds.

Now let's move on to the customization! After you complete each chapter you get to pick out some parts for your new bike. Sounds good so far. But then you realize you only have 3 parts to pick from to add to the bike and they all are nearly identical to each other! Thank you Activision for giving us so many choices!

Story 4/10 You're basically a new guy who comes to work for Orange County Chopper. You cannot edit the character either, which is quite distressing. Basically the story revolves around you getting parts for your new chopper, and you get them by performing mundane race after mundane race. Not really much to the story and I've already informed you of the fantastic parts you get for completing these races.

Graphics 6/10 The graphics are actually pretty good. They aren't the best but they are far from the worst. The Tuttles look like the Tuttles and the bikes look just like their real life counterparts. However there is a distinct lack of scenery. The background is pretty bland. And like mention before most of the game takes place on the same map. You have a small inner city area and a huge freeway and that's about it. Not a lot of eye candy.

Sound 6/10 The voice overs in this game aren't bad. The Tuttles lend their voices to the game, but you can tell they aren't voice actors. The engine noises are also rather well done. However when you are racing you may notice that the other racers like to yell at you when you pass them or drive near them, or they just yell for no reason. However the noise they make sounds like a cross between a mentally challenged person covered in bees and a dog being hit with a sledge hammer.

Replay 1/10 There really is no need to replay this game. Most people probably couldn't stomach playing it after the first 20 minutes. The entire game is racing, racing, and more racing and the races aren't very challenging or entertaining.

Buy or Rent Stay away from this game completely. Leave it on the shelf. Unless you're a huge fan of American Chopper or motorcycles in general, or if you just love terrible games.

This game just doesn't seem complete. It seems like Activision just wanted to cash in on the title and didn't bother putting a decent game together.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/05