When EA announced they were making The Simpsons Game the first thought that ran through my head was, "Oh Christ not another hacked-kneed, sloppy, piss poor attempt by EA to suckle on the teat of a popular franchise". Fortunately EA managed to proved my initial suspicions wrong and I couldn’t be happier because The Simpsons Game is without a doubt the most amusing, well-written and just plain enjoyable game I’ve played this year. Sure it controls about as well as a rodeo bull and the camera is at best useless and at worst suicide inducing, but that’s forgivable because everything else is just so damn fantastic that it’s almost impossible to not have a good time with it.
For starters, The Simpsons Game knows it’s a game and it plays to that fact, by setting the story inside a videogame then filling it with in-jokes and references for hardcore gamers to enjoy. Here’s a short list of what you can expect to find:
- Mario and Sonic slaving away in a game factory to produce sequels
- A parody of Missile Command where Lisa must use her Buddhist Power to drop explosive barrels
- Being attacked by a knock off of Ryu from Street fighter II
- 8-bit Simpsons characters confused that the game doesn’t have Points or Lives
- A parody of Gauntlet complete with keys, gold barriers and enemy spawners
- "All your Simpsons are belong to us"
- Will Wright’s greatest failure, Sim Sandwich
Despite the focus placed on embracing EA’s largest audience, gamers, The Simpsons Game hasn’t forgotten it’s non-gaming fans that are out there and also references past Simpsons moments, such as "The Land of Chocolate" and even includes creator Matt Groening as a character in the game.
Between levels you’re treated to absolutely brilliant animated cut-scenes that appear to be done by the same team that animated the movie. The entire original cast has reprised their roles for the game so Homer sounds like Homer and comic book guy sounds like a man who’s wasted his life. Even the guest character Will Wright is voiced by his original voice actor, EA Employee #17655.
Game play is split into several worlds each with its own unique theme connected by the overall hub world of Springfield. The first few episodes are based within in the series reality, but as the game progresses things get a bit… existential. You’ll ascend from the world of Springfield to the Game Engine where all Simpsons’ games are manufactured and eventually destroyed, and then you go to the home of your creator.
Controls are a little on the loose side, especially when using Bartman’s Glide ability, but they’re not loose enough to cause frustration and are pretty much what you’d expect from a Simpsons game. The only notable issue I experienced was with the games’ DDR battle. It’s a royal bitch to hit the exact directions with the 360′s D-pad. It’s so bad in fact that I had to dig out my DOA4 Hori Stick in order to beat it. Though in all honesty since the 360 D-pad is notoriously inaccurate anyways it’s hard to fault EA for this error. Besides no matter how frustrating the D-pad is it pales in comparison to the game’s camera that was almost certainly forged in the deepest depths of the seventh circle of hell.
To say the camera is bad is to say the Holocaust was a footnote to World War II. It’s just plain terrible. Apparently one coder, most likely a bitter little man with a dried up rotten heart of coal, decided that the camera should be a physical object that can interact with the game world. This means when trying to move around in a tight corner you’ll be blinded because your camera has hit a wall and will not move through it or zoom in to go around it. It just sits there, hung up, eagerly watching as you get gang-raped by a horde of green aliens. It’s like the camera was designed for the director from Manhunt. It’s not fun and on more than one occasion it forced me to throw down my controller in disgust. Still despite the sore feeling I was left with after dealing with the camera, it’s still not bad enough to keep me from going back for more.
Time trials and challenges offer some level of replayability, but aside from the achievements there’s little motivation to play them. Collectables offer some motivation to explorer the world, but honestly the only collectibles truly worth hunting for are the game’s clich© moments such as "Exploding barrels", "Double jump" or "AI running into walls". Every time they’re pointed out you just sort of laugh and think, "Ha, so true."
Designers did include a split-screen mode that allows you and a friend to take control of two different family members, but, disappointingly, it’s offline only.
It’s not perfect and the game play is average, but the story and presentation are better than any Simpsons episode since season 10 and I’ll even go as far as to say it rivals the fun of The Simpsons Movie. This really is a must play game and I strongly encourage any true gamer or Simpsons fan to check it out.
This article originally appeared online in Blogcritics Magazine, November 13, 2007.
