The Simpsons Game
by Electronic Arts
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of The Simpsons Game
Customer Review: Entertaining, but a weak game
Summary: 3 Stars
The Simpsons game is a rather basic beat-em-up platformer dressed up with an entertaining story. I hate to give away the entire review, but the game itself- if not for the Simpsons writing and style- is a bore.
The characters are diverse, and playing two character teams makes for some interesting puzzles but I found the level design to be a little flat and confusing, you find yourself wandering over the same ground. Having the "target time" displayed after a level makes you feel like an idiot when you were roaming a level for almost an hour and you "should have" finished it in 12 minutes. That speaks to poor level design, not a genuine in-game challenge.
The controls are tight, though the projectile targeting sometimes didn't seem to want to lock on to the intended enemy if you had multiple targets. Jumping in itself is a simple task, but it is complicated by a camera system that is a little jumpy and rather touchy. You can kind of control what you see and where, but you can't easily swing the camera around your character, nor is there a particularly useable "look" function (think Mario 64). The flatness of the color palette will lead you jump and miss many many times when you think you're on target.
However, problems aside you feel compelled to play through because the writing and voice acting is -naturally- very entertaining. I wouldn't rank it up there with the great Simpsons episodes, but I found myself chuckling at the gags in the cut scenes as well as dialogue heard in-game.
However, there is one thing at the heart of the Simpsons game that really annoyed me. They keep making jokes about how bad most videogames are, that they're too violent, too predictable, that they rely on bottomless pits and spiked walls and flame traps and lava and all that(there are even "cliches" you can collect). The sad thing is that this game is riddled with them, and not in a mocking way, but in a way that seems to say, "we, as game designers, didn't try very hard."
Making fun of something and then going right ahead and doing is a good way to parody something, but when the person has to experience that poor game design first hand, it just underscores what a lousy game you have created around a very funny premise. It is worth a rental to experience the humor of the game, but I never want to actually sit down and play this game again.
Customer Review: exactly what you think, 2 player is more fun
Summary: 4 Stars
this game definitely had a lot of creative involvement from the people who produce the show. the writing, animation, and game play is right on par with what you'd expect from the show. it isn't really that challenging, but it's almost more like a playable episode with typical video game objectives mixed up with simpsons humor.
play this game with a friend in 2 player mode. it's a split screen, much more fun than 1 player.
Customer Review: A good simpson's title
Summary: 4 Stars
Overall, the game was good. It had it's faults as well however.
Graphics: The games graphics are intended to place 2 dimensional characters in a 3D world similar to many recent comic book games. It does this very well at times. During cutscenes, however, the artistry is horrible. Occasionally, the cartoon cutscenes are nice enough to come strait from the simpson's movie. Other times, they are not even to par with the original simpsons. The characters occasionally look misshaped and distorted in some of the cutscenes, and it is fairly inconsistent when it is nice or crappy graphics.
Story: The story is pretty good. It starts out slow, as you are allowed to learn each of the characters powers. Which is weird that they introduce each characters powers so slowly, then suddenly toss a bunch of extra ones at you later in the game with a 2 second tutorial. The game consists of numerous episodes. The primary idea of the game is similar to that of Conker's Bad Fur Day. It constantly makes fun of videogames, and is actually the center of the whole story. If you enjoyed Conkers, then you could probably enjoy this games as well, as this seems like a franchised attached, slightly kid friendlier version of conkers.
Gameplay: As others mentioned, the camera is troublesome. Other than that, I found the gameplay to be genuinely fun. The abilities of each character are incredibly unique. Marge can summon people to join her in her fight, and instruct them to attack for her, lisa can use her Buddhist powers to attack enemies and move objects from above, her saxophone can even stun enemies. Each character has 2-3 unique abilities. Each episode uses 2 of the characters (until the last episode), and each characters abilities are needed to get through that episode. So it does face numerous puzzles, although to keep it easy, they usually strait out tell you what character and what special ability is needed to get to the next area. The game also is incredibly diverse. Rather than simply being restricted to punch and use powers the entire time, there are numerous other different types of "parady game play" including a space invaders and even DDR.
Setting: Besides taking place in springfield, each level as an incredibly diverse range of locations fought through, from a world of chocolate, to a game making factory, to a fantasy rpg world, to a japanese game world. There are numerous different places the simpson's visit, creating a great deal of diversity in your environment. The entire city of springfield is included as a place to walk through as an inbetween for missions. However, there is not much point to it. Besides being a place needed to walk from point a to point b, there just no reason that springfield had to be included at all. It does not offer anything to the gameplay other than a chance to place more "hidden items" needed to be found for a 100% score. All of the springfield people walk around, but most of them only possess one or two one line quips, that in general were not that funny.
The game was pretty fun to play, and enjoyable, especially once the story got rolling. It could be frustrating at times, especially when you couldn't figure out what the place or thing they wanted you to do next was. The game got a 4 in my book because it could have been so much better. Had they done more with springfield, such as add minigames or side quests, had they had you characters had stats (like speed or hit combos) they could increase, or unlockable powers, such as alternate ammo for barts slingshot, or perhaps hit combos so you can alternate between hitting and kicking, the game would have been much better. It was a great game though, I just felt it was lacking. Unless you are obsessed with 100%, just play the story through and through, about 8 hours of game play. It's a rental, and I can't say that anything about it was so incredible that I would be inclined to play it again, or go back and get 100%, however I don't regret playing it one bit.
Customer Review: One Of The Most Frustrating Games I Have Ever Played
Summary: 2 Stars
While the game has a lot of potential, it doesn't deliver. My main issue with the game is the camera. It is the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced in a video game. The camera makes some tasks in the game nearly IMPOSSIBLE.
I DO NOT recommend this game to anyone because of the camera issues, although the game is witty, it is often nearly impossible to play.
Customer Review: Fun graphics and puzzles
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually have not played this much yet. I got it for my kids for Christmas and they went through a stage of playing it a lot but haven't touched it for months. When I first tried I got frustrated as I couldn't get the characters to jump and do what they needed to do, but it was my first time gaming. Since then I've played a few other games and mastered some of the skills needed so I plan to go back and try this game again - I think the results will be quite different. I gave it a 5 based on my kids enjoyment of the game - my frustration was due to lack of skills with the controller - not the game itself.