The Simpsons: Hit and Run Review

Do you like the Simpsons? What about driving games or Grand Theft Auto? If any of those things appeal to you, you’ll most likely like this game. This game, which is a mission based driving game, will definitely please either hard core driving fans or beginners in the genre.

I guess we should start with the core and talk about the driving. The driving in this game is somewhat similar to GTA. The mini-map that is used is almost identical to the maps used in the GTA series, though there are differences in it, such as more detailing. The driving in this game is very enjoyable and any one could pick up this game and play it. Though the driving gets progressively harder, for example there are races that you can do where you have to be able to make tight turns or you will damage your car or crash. Knowing how to limit your speed or slow down a pit for a turn can be crucial, but also your car selection is important. There are many unique cars that you can use that are from episodes in the TV show. You can drive the family sedan with Homer, the Honor Roller with Bart, Lisa’s Malibu Stacey corvette, etc.

I felt that the driving of the game was nearly flawless. I never felt like I had to kill the game because I just couldn’t make a turn when I wanted to. There was also the out of game control that I thought had good controls. Other than that I must say that the environments are extremely interactive giving you plenty of places to explore.

I almost forgot to mention two major aspects of the game play, coins and the cops. The cops of Springfield, as you know, are extremely lazy, so it will take more than stealing some guy’s car or hitting one person. Every time you do hit a pedestrian or do some sort of damage to private/public property, it raises your hit and run meter, and when it gets full, the cops finally decide to get off there lazy butts and do something. Now, when you get a hit and run, it makes a police car take off to your area and pursue you, and if you are caught (which happens easily seeing how if they get very close you get caught) you are fined 50 coins. You need coins to buy cars or unlock new costumes for your characters; you get coins by destroying objects all over town.

The graphics of this game were definitely below par in some areas. I found a lot of glitches during game play; such as walking through people, walking through cars, two dimensional lamp posts that aren’t even connected to the ground. I really could state more, but that would be a waste of my time. One thing that they did do well on the graphics was the internal design of the buildings. When you enter a building, it was just like if the Simpsons were to walk into that building. For instance, the Simpson’s house interior looks just like in the show.

This game has great voice acting. They definitely didn’t cheap out on this aspect, they hired the people who do the voice acting for the TV show to do the voices for the game. The characters that you would play as would say different things while you were driving, such as Homer and his little chant “I am evil Homer, I am evil Homer.â€? They say different things depending on what happens as well, like if you got in a crash with Bart he might say, “oh my spleen,â€? or “I hope I didn’t break my memory card.â€? The only thing about this that I didn’t like was that their little quips can get annoying after a while of play. The in-game music was good as well. There was music that suited each character, like jazz music for Lisa or rock music for Bart, and of course there was the trademark Simpsons’ song.

There really isn’t much more to say about the game. If you are a die-hard Simpsons fan, than this is a must have/rent, and even if you are not and just want a fun driving game, this one is for you. With plenty to go back and do, such as buying costumes or getting the collector cards to unlock the multiplayer modes, the Simpsons Hit and Run gives you everything you need.