In an attempt to make money off of two popular franchises... those being the GTA and The Simpsons series... this game was (poorly) made. Now, I've been a fan of The Simpsons for the better part of my life. And I liked the original GTA, as well as Vice City. But this is just awful on so many levels. The game, with all factors taken into consideration, is mediocre at best. The control sucks; every time you're not in a car, you have to run around with bad control over your character, who seems to change directions every time the camera changes, which it does almost constantly; furthermore, you can only run in the same direction all the time, you can't change direction while running; you have to stop running, walk in the new direction, and then run again, which is all the more irritating when the camera changes, as you have to change directions again. The car control is also bad; most of the cars seem to instantly stop every time you hit something, which is nearly impossible not to do, as the cars all turn either too fast or too slowly; either in a quick flash, which is way too fast, or unbelievably slow, which will cost you precious time, and will often cause you to lose the mostly time-based missions. The missions consist of mainly time-based driving, either racing another car, or racing to a certain point in the level, with usually only just enough time, which means that you can't make one single mistake(the game actually simply throws more meaningless challenges at you later on, to heighten the difficulty), or slow down or anything, and still win the mission. The camera angles are horrible; most of the time, they're all wrong for what you are trying to do, whether it's trying to walk over some straight line, where falling down will force you to start over again(which most of the walking portions of the game consist of... along with the irritating jumping puzzles). The camera is only good when driving, and, as I mentioned before, the driving portion is very bad(and that's the majority of the game-play). On the plus side, there are plenty of cars in the game, if you have the patience to get them, which mostly consist of either buying them at increasingly large prices(getting to be ludicrously high at the very last levels), winning them in extra races or obtaining them after completing "bonus" missions. The cars are quite diverse, and there is pretty much a car for every liking(and just about every single car in the history of the show is there). There are also a huge number of in-jokes, for the hardcore fans of The Simpsons who've been watching the show since it started. The creators also did a fair job of making Springfield, and most of the well-known landmarks are there. You can go to the Kvik-E-Mart... in the Lil' Bandit, the Canyonero or even the Stutz Bearcat. Levels can be interesting. There are also a number of jokes in the game, but it's mostly the "new" humor, which means it's humiliating, extremely stereotypical or just plain gross, mostly. Nearly no sign of the comedic genius of the earlier episodes. I suppose fans of the new episodes will like it, though. The voices of all of the characters in the game are the actual actors from the show, which is good, I guess, but it's more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. Now, are there comical catchphrases and such, said by the very characters? Yes. And does it get annoying after five minutes of playing? Again, yes... and this time, in italics, with bold letters and yes, even an underlining. Some get annoying after hearing them a few times, but most of them were never funny to begin with. Also, many of them(along with all of the cars) are apparently from the last attempt at a Simpsons-themed car game... Road Rage. Furthermore, several of them contradict what's going on when they are spoken and they're not randomized very well. The police get all over you if you destroy enough property... which is the only way to gain money for the items(required to gain the 100% rating, which is the only thing keeping you playing past the story missions, which don't take very long to complete), past the coins that you can pick up(which there aren't enough of). They're both too difficult and too easy to avoid(getting caught costs you 50 coins, setting you back). The pedestrians seem to intentionally getting in the way, and the cars intentionally driving into you... making it seem as if everyone in the game is against you(*not* a good thing to make pre-teens and teenagers, the main group playing this game, think). Also, you can't die; now, I can understand and appreciate the attempt at not including that in a game meant for the two aforementioned groups, but this just rids the game of a sense of danger. And before anyone says that not all games need to contain that, play five minutes of Heart of Darkness, then five of this game, *then* tell me that I'm in the wrong here. The writing contains little sense, limited creativity and several times, actions which contradict the characters that take them. Rather often, it felt like the writers and level designers weren't on speaking terms. I could spend many more words describing the low points of this game, but I've reached the word-limit on this site. Overall, the game has some good stuff for Simpsons fans, as well as for car/racing/GTA gaming fans, but the repetitive and at times frustratingly difficult game-play makes it barely worth playing at all. For huge Simpsons fans only. I recommend this to fans of The Simpsons who *really* wants to see more of them, and who are totally in love with the idea of being able to play them and drive around in Springfield. Everyone else should skip it. 5/10
Review of The Simpsons: Hit & Run
The Simpsons: Hit & Run
(2003 Video Game)
For die-hard Simpsons fans *only*... and it helps to be uncritical
7 December 2006