I didn’t actually plan to review this, I was going to do Dark Sector this weekend instead. But when somebody throws a free game at your feet, you might as well give it a playthrough. So for the last few hours I’ve been playing (and completing) the newest Simpsons game, which is unoriginally titled “The Simpsons Game”. Before this, I’d played Hit and Run, as well as Futurama, so I had a good idea of what the game would be like; a mediocre platformer.

The storyline is pretty erratic; firstly, the Simpson family discover they have superpowers after finding the game manual. Then there is a campaign against violent video games. Then aliens invade, and only the Simpsons can stop them. There is more after that, but you get the idea; that the storyline feels like it was thrown together in 5 minutes, and it’s totally forgettable; as are most of the jokes, which are either cut and pasted from the episodes, or just poor. What I did like were the clichés, the parodies, and the constant breaking of the 4th wall. Every time you see a video game cliché, a pop up will appear; for example, if you jump into water and drown, the pop up will appear saying “Duh, everyone knows you can’t swim until the sequel”. It’s sarcastic and witty, and I really liked this feature. The game also has hundreds of parodies, and you’ll recognise a lot of iconic game characters; Mario, Sonic, and Pokemon are all in there (no Master Chief though, *grumble grumble*), and I especially liked the parody of an EA factory (don’t take it personally EA, I just don’t like you). The cleverest part of the game is the way the characters break the 4th wall; if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it basically means that they all know that they are characters in a game, and will constantly make reference too it; for example “I’m the boss in my own video game! If that doesn’t impress you, what will!?”. All these parts are very cleverly written, and are sometimes very subtle, which is something I forgot the Simpsons was capable of.

The actual gameplay is fairly average, and I’m not just saying that because it’s a platformer, I know a good platformer when I play one (such as N+, or any of the Super Mario series). When you know how to complete a level it’s incredibly easy, all enemies are fought in the same way, and there is no punishment for dying. The bosses are far too weak; it will only take about 3 hits for you to take down most of them. If you’re using a ranged weapon, like a slingshot, the aiming is fiddly and annoying, and when combined with some dodgy camera positioning, it’s near impossible.. However, you’ll have a lot of fun with the powers and abilities the Simpsons have, because they’re all varied, and some are great fun; using a fat Homer as a bowling ball never lost it’s charm. Overall it’s quite solid, but doesn’t offer much that is new; but I’m not surprised, since platforming hasn’t really evolved since the days of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. The multiplayer is exactly the same as the single player, but instead of switching between the two characters, you play as both of them at the same time; although the ability for the second player to drop in and out of the game is a good feature; although, like I’ve said already in this paragraph, it’s been done before. There are various unlockables to look for, and you have the option of doing Time Trials for all the levels, but these are just extras, and there’s no real incentive to do them.

The game is meant to look like the Simpsons cartoon, and most of it does. 3d Simpsons have never looked better, and it does look like you’re playing through a Simpsons episode at the start of the game, and the parody levels are very diverse in the environments and characters. The cutscenes look like the cartoon, and are a welcome contrast to the 3d environments. It’s not without issues though; the cutscenes will ocaissionally stagger; not because of a frame rate issue, but because they’re poorly animated. That’s the only noticeable fault with it though, it’s a decent looking game overall.

 

The sound is probably the best part of the game. The soundtrack is excellent; you’ll hear a lot of the music from the series, as well as some new music for the various parody levels. The voice acting is also brilliant, and all the original cast have been used, so Simpsons fans will feel right at home. However, as good as the voice acting is, the amount of times you will hear the same phrase is incredibly frequent; no character has more that four or five lines that they will say during the game. It’s also worth mentioning that my sound did cut out at one point in the game, and I had to restart my 360 before it came back. I’m not sure if this is a problem with my 360 or the game, but I’m assuming it’s the game, because this hasn’t happened to my 360 before.

Storyline: 7/10 - Forgettable, but the in-game parodies are excellent, and some of the writing is very clever.

Mulitplayer: 6/10 - Doesn’t really add to the single player experiance, which is the least you expect of a multiplayer.

Gameplay: 6/10 - It’s quite fun in places, but it’s all been ripped from somewhere else; got to love EA’s mind boggling originality.

Graphics: 7/10 - It’s supposed to look like a Simpsos cartoon, and it achieves that.

Sound: 8/10 - It’s familiar and well voice acted, which outshines the repetition.

Design: 7/10 - Solid level design, and the ability for the second player to drop in and out is very good.

Overall: 6.8 - There are better games out there, but this is great for kids. I had fun playing it, but I doubt I’ll be going back to it. I recommend it to any Simpsons fans as a rental game, but don’t rush in and buy it. It’s not worth £40.