The Simpsons Hit And Run Review

Mysterious vans, spy cameras, crop circles!? What the heck is going on in Springfield? Radical Entertainment lets you crack the mystery as you explore your favourite town with your favourite cartoon characters, in their latest endeavour: The Simpsons: Hit & Run. At first glance, I thought that a game on the Simpsons couldn’t really be all that good, because… after all, it was another movie-based game. But once I started playing, I was in for a treat! Starting from the game intro, all through the toughest quests that the developers could come up with, right to the very end, it was one hilarious journey!

If I were you, I wouldn’t’ go two steps ahead and start thinking that this game could be as much fun as it looks. The game is filled with lots of car-smashing, bone-crushing, law-breaking, ridiculous challenging quests, with many, many hilarious snides and remarks that’ll accompany you throughout the game! If you think you’ll finish it easy, you’re dead wrong…

The reasons why this game despite its challenging quests and the level of difficulty, is one classic that you could go on playing for countless hours…T-They’re coming! Something fishy has sprung up in Springfield. There are numerous sightings of black vans, wasp cameras, crop circles, on top of which people of Springfield are being driven to madness! To investigate what’s wrong, you begin the search as Homer and gradually progress, changing characters and going through various quests. The first level is relatively simple (as the developers put it: “90% of the games start with an easy tutorial level!”). But the levels keep getting tougher and tougher. You get to explore Springfield as Bart, Lisa, Marge and Apu who all play their parts in solving the entire mystery. With each character’s witty remarks being said throughout the game; you’ll never have a tint of boredom.

The Test of Skill

The game is pretty easy at the beginning. The learning curve isn’t really that steep, and the tutorial level in the beginning teaches you everything from the basic controls to the fact that the game isn’t as easy as it looks. As you progress into the game however, you’re in for a surprise. The quests keep getting tougher and tougher, and the time required for completing the particular quest keeps getting shorter and shorter.

The game tests not only your ability to control your character on foot, but also on an awesome assortment of vehicles.

From Homer’s Mr. Plow to Dr. Frink’s Hover Craft to Marge’s Canyenero, you’ll be able to drive in them all as you compete in street races, races with wagers, races against time, and even races for community service! But once again, the cars get faster and the quests get tougher. There are times when you’ll have to restart your mission over ten times. Of course, the developers were considerate and have included a Skip option, which pops up once the player has tried that particular mission a huge number of times.

Hit & Run!

You may think that this game has come off as yet another Carmegeddon (a game where you smash into pedestrians and enemy cars to get points!). But that’s where The Simpsons: Hit & Run is different! At the bottom-right of your screen is an indicator showing how much damage you’ve caused while driving. As soon as you cross the limit, boom! You get the words Hit & Run! flashing on your screen, and the next minute, you have the cops on your tail. What next? You either shake ‘em off, or get busted! The cops aren’t as slow as you think though. Chief Wighum isn’t as easy going as he was in the TV show!

Goodies: Mortal Combat & Bonuses

From time to time, you’ll have to take care of some pesky spy cameras which pop out of nowhere. So, the game gives combat features to all the characters you play with. Of course, this is restricted to a kick, which upholds the simplicity of the game.

There are also bonus missions which you can complete in every level. On top of that, you have certain collector cards which you can collect in a level. For every bonus mission you complete, you’ll get a reward like unlocking a vehicle. If you collect all 7 collector cards, you get a bonus track which you can play. Of course, this isn’t really worth the trouble of getting the cards. So, I abandoned that idea of collecting the cards after the first 3 levels. But of course, the ideas are really unique and marvelous, which make this game interesting to play.

Visual & Audio Effects

Although it’s a bit disappointing at first to see our favourite 2D characters in 3D, you’ll get used to them in a while. The graphics are pretty good and are kept simple as in the TV show. There isn’t too much eye candy, but the graphics are good for gameplay. Once you get used to it, the 3D Springfield will be just as good as the 2D one.

As for audio, we have the different Simpsons music tunes which play during the show. Along with that, we have numerous comments and snide remarks given by the characters as well as the people of the town. You can enjoy the sounds of characters like Cletus (the hilly-billy), Dr. Nick (head of the Screaming Monkey Institute) and Krusty the Clown! I can never forget the time when you play as Apu, which they put some Indianised music for the BGM. Wonderful tunes which you’ll really love…

Artificial Intelligence

Well, what can I say…? The AI at some points of the game was totally amazing, and during other parts of the game, it seemed like most of the characters were mindless drones. For example, there were certain areas which the developers exploited to make the game even tougher. Spectator vehicles move in on the lane that you’re driving on, or they take an abrupt turn and slide into you. Pretty neat, but you’ll hate them for this as you try the more difficult quests.

One notable feature was the co-ordination between the police cars during the Hit & Run sessions. Also, the wasp cameras get tougher to hit as the game progresses.

The Bad…

The game has two problems (according to me atleast) which it tries to make up for. The first and foremost would be the terrible camera angles! If it weren’t for the gameplay, I would have uninstalled this game at once. The “Walker Camera” just gets on your nerves. There is also another thing called “Jump Camera” which changes the camera angle right at the jump… which of course makes the jump real difficult. Also, the camera is a moving object in the game and collides with the real objects of the game. In other words, the camera sometimes gets struck in the middle of the quest. This has happened a lot of times for me, and is one thing that I can’t forgive Radical Entertainment for. You can of course turn off the “Jump Camera”, but the Walker Cam stays on till the end.

The other problem is the atrociously high level of difficulty. The game developers make up for this by giving the option of skipping a particular mission if you had already tried too many times. This is done so that the story can go on despite your level of skill.

My Impressions - The Final Verdict

In the end, the game gave me a lot more than I expected. It’s fun, hilarious, exciting, challenging and truly amazing. Everyone really has to hand it to Radical Entertainment for creating this wonderful game. The game is truly worth your money. Offering countless hours of fun, the game is for all those who love adventure and completing tough quests. If you’re someone who likes to finish a game fast, the game allows you to do that by letting you too the minimum for a particular level. But there are a lot more goodies (which I cannot reveal, so that I may not spoil them for you).

So, if you’re a Simpsons fan and if you haven’t tried your hand at it yet, you ought to grab your own copy and burn your eyes as you conquer quests and solve the mystery behind Springfield’s latest incidents.