Review: The Simpsons Game

Gameplay: 7
Sound: 9
Graphics: 8
Value: 6
Overall: 7.9

The Good:
Original cast present for voice work
Outstanding character and level design
Lighthearted humor makes game great for kids whilst still appealing to adult audiences
Plenty of cameos and moments which will make you “wow”
Plenty of collectables and challenges for some replay value


The Bad:
Clocks in at just under six hours
Gameplay can get repetitive towards the end
Heavy special effects can sometimes cause slight frame rate drops
Camera can be frustrating at times

The Simpsons have a history of games behind them; most of them should be forgotten and will not be named. However the wittily named “The Simpsons Game” is the family of fives’ best adventure yet offering some nice platforming action that will be looked back on and shadow other Simpson’s games.

The game plays like any platformer in terms of design and control, you start out as Homer in the infamous Chocolate Land, and you are confronted by a white chocolate bunny rabbit that lures you to his chocolate mountain with his arse, learning the basic gameplay mechanics along the way. Homer can initially power burp and the simple mashing the X button which will be your combat main serving for the game.

After the tutorial level you are introduced to the story, the basic outline of the story is that Marge catches Bart buying a video game, “Grand Theft Scratchy” to be precise, an angry Marge does what any over smothering mother would do and bans the M rated game from him. Bart then complains about his video game whilst walking in anger down an alley, then all of a sudden “The Simpsons Game” manual drops from the sky leaving Bart astonished, the Simpsons then decide to collectively protect the town of Springfield, but wait? Where’s the twist? Oh of course there is one, it’s not an alien invasion is it that would be just too cliché... I’m afraid to say it is. The Simpsons Game does a good job of collaborating all of these cliché moments almost to their advantage and exposes them whilst still suffering in its own right.

The graphical presentation in The Simpsons Game is quite phenomenal and almost raising the bar for cell shaded games, the character models are all highly detailed whether it be the Simpsons themselves or the folks of Springfield, each are perfectly translated into 3D format making fans of the series jump for joy seeing their favourite characters in the street, you can punch Ned Flanders in the face, and guess what? It feels good. Moreover the character models the level design is just much more to look at, offering places such as the Land of Chocolate as mentioned before and going further places such as the urban streets and dungeons will keep you replaying some of the levels simply because of the design.

Sound is the best part about The Simpsons Game, the original cast is here to fill the boots of all the characters and they do a damn good job as usual, characters on the street will communicate when passing by which is always funny to see, the script is funny and keeps the same humour you’d expect from the series. The music is hit or miss, some will find it irritating, others will absolutely love it, and the music definitely fits in with each level, like the level design some people may find themselves revisiting the levels just hear the catchy tunes you’ll find.

There is a price to pay however, the game only clocks in at just less than six hours, anymore however would feel a bit tacked since the game itself can be slightly repetitive. The game doesn’t quite end after the main campaign; you can choose to play time challenges which are basically mini games in a sense. Got a friend round? The game offers split screen play in case you and your friend want to go back and play the levels for achievements such as completing levels under a certain time limit which prove difficult when alone or just play some of the challenges.

Overall, The Simpsons Game is a platformer. That is what it is. It would be hard to recommend for anyone to buy with its short life span but any hardcore Simpsons fan, sure the yellow fuckers are funny and all but it’s worth a rent at most.