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PRE-GAME

Mysterious black vans and surveillance cameras have been showing up all over Springfield.  The shape of a long forgotten crop circle has reappeared as the logo for a new brand of cola. What is the connection?  Is there a connection at all?  Only time will tell…

That is where the Simpson family comes in…Homer, Bart, Lisa, and Marge (respectfully) take their turn trying to sort out the mystery that is plaguing their town…But when all available options have not turned a noteworthy profit, clue wise, can Apu, the owner of the Kwiki Mart save the day?

EYE-SPY

THE HOOK: Simpsons fans rejoice!  Finally, there is a Simpsons game that does not suck!  After the terrible gameplay of the Simpsons: Road Rage, it is exciting to see a title, set in the Simpson universe, that can actually grab one’s attention – in a good way – and then keep it.

HOW IT LOOKS AND FEELS: The Simpsons: Hit and Run will not win any awards in the graphical department.  After saying this, however, we have to think about the fact that this is a game based on a cartoon, and that if the graphics were those of say God of War, the overall look would not be nearly as convincing.  The cartoon-y feel is enhanced by the lack of “shine” on any item.  Instead of running around trying to pick up bright and shiny items, materials are instead rather dull, and enhanced with sparkles floating around the perimeter of them.  The sparkles also help you in seeing them from a distance in the very crowded Springfield environments.

The controls of the game are very intuitive.  There is really no learning curve at all.  So all you people who are like me, who love to start playing without reading the manuals…well, you’ll be ok.  You have basic commands: X is jump (hitting twice in a row lets you double jump – a la Crash Bandicoot), Square is kick, Circle helps you run (which you will be doing a lot of) and Triangle lets you enter anyone’s car.  Yes, you read that right – ANYONE’S car!

Driving is very simple as well. If you have ever played a racing game before, you will know how to handle it.  But don’t just jump into your car and start hitting everything (even though most items are filled with coins), or the “Hit and Run” meter will fill up and send the cops chasing after you.  Besides that, if your car takes enough damage, it will explode.  Not a good thing when you’re in the middle of a race.

HOW IT SOUNDS: This game excels greatly in the sound department.  Fans of the show will immediately recognize the voices to be those of the actual actors from the cartoon.  Even the not-so-famous characters like Groundskeeper Willie and Principal Skinner sound the way they should.

The sound effects are great as well.  The engines sound real.  When you hit something, like a metal trashcan, it actually sounds like you hit a metal trashcan.  If the object in question is hollow – it sounds hollow when you run over it.  Get the picture? The sounds are great!

Aside from the actual voices and sound effects of the game, the music changes from hard rock when you are playing as Bart, to a lovely sax when playing as Lisa, and many things in between.

EXTRAS: The game is mission based, but along with the missions, there are special items that you can collect and destroy.  Remember the surveillance cameras I mentioned earlier?  Well, they just so happen to be in the shape of wasps that follow you around when they spot you, and it’s up to you to destroy all 20 of them in each level.

Along with cameras, there are collectable cards in each level to grab.  These cards have pictures from various episodes of the television program on them, which let you reminisce in times long past.  Collect all the cards in one level and you unlock a surprise.

As if that weren’t enough – in each level there are three different outfits to unlock for each character, each of which has a special meaning to those die-hard fans of the show.

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE: Short cutscenes play at the beginning and end of each mission, but in between each level is when the power of the PS2 really shines through – in the form of actual “movies” that play to better explain the transition from character to character.  

BEST PLAYER: Overall, I like Bart the best…The controls of each character are the same, and after you get to a certain point, you can all drive each other’s cars, so it’s not like he has an advantage over anyone else. Mostly, I chose him just because of the one-liners he yells while driving.

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED: The “Blow up cars on impact” cheat that enables you to hit any car with your own and cause it to immediately explode.  This will really help you out on all the missions that require you to destroy vehicles.

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: The ability to play as more characters of the game!  Five is indeed a good number, but what about all the other memorable characters from the show?

OH MAN! MOMENT: While playing as Homer, there is a jump you can take over a large fire pit – You lose control in the air so that the game can show you you’re jump… Truly impressive.

GLITCH ITCH: Several times throughout the game, when you are trying to cut corners especially, your car will become stuck or jammed, if you will, into the corner of the building.  Vivendi has thought of this possibility, however, and with the simple press of the “Select” button, your car is reset to a position on a nearby road.

FAN SERVICE: I know I mentioned it before, but the voices are the actual actors from the TV show.  What more could you want?

END GAME:

I really enjoyed playing this game.  I hadn’t really watched the Simpsons on TV for a while before playing this game, and it’s nice to know that this title alone rekindled my interest in the series.

Overall, once you play the game for even five minutes, you will immediately discover that the gameplay is a LOT like any of the multiple “Grand Theft Auto” titles. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  The environments are pretty much open-ended – you can travel basically anywhere you want to over many different parts of the town of Springfield .  My only complaint on that front however, is that you can’t travel from one part of town to the other without switching levels, and therefore characters, before hand.

The game has a slight rag-doll physics aspect to it as well. Just like the GTA games, you can hit a pedestrian and send them flying into the air like, well…a rag doll.  Unlike the GTA games, however, the story is much more light-hearted. No one dies, and even if you hit a pedestrian or blow up a car with a person in it, they somehow manage to survive.  This alone makes the game a lot more kid-friendly.

Fans of the Simpsons series along with not-so-big fans will love this game.  The basic gameplay is relatively easy.  The missions themselves, however, are hard, but not to the point where you’ll be pulling your hair out or throwing the controller across the room.  Besides, where would the feeling of accomplishment come from if you finished everything in life on the first try?

The only big downside to the game that I can see is that the missions, after a time, will become slightly repetitive.  There are four or five basic ideas that just get cycled through with different characters and items in question.  For instance, one of the main missions types that is repeated is a scenario in which you have to follow a certain character in a car and pick up all of the “fill in the blank here” items.  It can seriously irritate you after a time.

It’s also sad when a company knows that during gameplay you are likely to become stuck in one of their environments.  Instead of using the “select” button as a quick escape, they should have taken the time to make the environments more “driver friendly,” if you will.  I wouldn’t mind a bit of “clipping” as long as it meant that the gameplay would be smoother.  Now, I’m not saying I would like to be able to walk through walls or anything, but getting stuck in the middle of the road by running over a piece of metal?  That’s just not acceptable.

After examining all of its faults, I would still have to say that The Simpsons: Hit and Run is a worthy game to have in your collection.  With multiple overlapping, albeit short, storylines, the game doesn’t really ever slow down.  You are always wanting to get to the next level or even mission to see how the story progresses.  As well as all that - even if there was only one playable character, I would still say go pick this one up, but the fact that you can play as multiple characters from the Simpsons universe simply sweetens the deal even more.  With a price of under $20, you really can’t go wrong.

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