Customer Reviews

The Simpsons Hit & Run

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

If you are a Simpsons fan, you'll love this game. If you're not, well, you find it to be a decent game at best. This game is a smaller, less refined version of GTA littered with great Simpson references. Any true fan of the Simpsons will enjoy finding jokes from many of the shows scattered throughout the game.

The Simpsons is like Grand Theft Auto 3 in that missions involve driving a car around a city, and sometimes walking around. Instead of one huge city, there are 7 levels, comprising of one of three different subsections of Springfield - the neighborhood, the downtown, and the marina district. All the Simpsons haunts and characters are there. The Kwik-E-Mart, the Nuclear Power Plant. It's all there. You play as Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Apu.

Unlike other Simpsons games, this is a polished game. It's fun to explore the places and characters. There are many side missions and gags to do as well. Unlike GTA3 though, the sense of being in a living, breathing city is just not there. The main part of the game are the story missions. There are a total of 49 of those to complete. The missions are all a variant of race someone, gather something, or beat the clock. After a while, the repetitiveness of these missions begin to pine away at the novelty. The multi part missions are terrible in that failing a latter part of the mission causes you to restart the whole mission again. Couple this with the bad traffic AI and sometimes you just want to break the controller.

There are some other things that frustrate me. The Multi-player is terrible. All it is a cheap race that looks exactly like an NES game (the 8-bit version). It should not have been included. Also, the beginning levels are way too easy, and the latter levels are way too frustrating.

All in all, it's a good game and I recommend it to any true Simpsons fan out there, but don't expect miracles.

Pros:
Hilarious
Tons of obscure Simpsons references
An actual fun and polished Simpsons game
Great for exploration

Cons:
Missions are repetitive
Traffic and AI are badly designed
Stuck on some missions
The "multi" player level is an insult to gaming.

Time to Complete (Story missions only): 17 hours

Frustration Level: Medium/High

Difficulty Level: Easy/Medium

This is without a doubt the best Simpsons game ever because it comes the closest to doing something that I've always wanted a Simpsons game to do and that is let you play an episode of the show. Most Simpsons games have you doing silly nonsense like wrestling and fighting aliens and don't allow you to really interact with the Simpsons world. Although it is not quite as interactive as I would like. For instance you can't talk to people very often unless it is part of a mission. Although they well talk quite a bit if you kick them in the head. As far as the gameplay goes, there are several types of missions but they basically fall into several broad categories. There are missions where you have to race people. Another mission is the trail where you have to follow another vehicle and keep them from losing you and another mission that is the complete opposite in which you have to lose someone. Some missions have multiple objectives, which can be annoying, especially since failing one objective means you have to go back and sart the whole mission over. There are also missions where you have to wreck other people's vehicles. This is the closest this game ever gets to Grand Theft Auto which is what this game is based on. The only thing that I don't like is that this game gets really hard really quick. Another bad thing is there is no map that comes with the game unlike Grand Theft Auto. The only thing you have to guide you is a small radar like thing and green arrows to quide you in the general direction you want to go. However, in order to beat the harder levels you need to find the shortcuts which the arrows do not point out. in order to find them you have to scout out the area before starting the mission. Luckily, you can skip missions after repeated failure which is good for people who suck at these type of games, like me. I'm on the marge level now and I have only beaten one of the levels. I've skipped at least three of them. Other than the somewhat severe difficulty however this game is great. Any Simpsons fan will love it.

This is an awsome Simpsons Game.It's preety much GTA in the simpsons, except theres no guns or blood. There 7 levels in which you play Homer,Marge, Bart, Lisa,and Apu.The missions are really fun except for a couple impossible ones,which you can skip (a good idea for a game). You can also do a lot of other things besides missions, like street races, and getting collector cards. You can change peoples look too. Its also cool because its almost exactly how springfield looks in the show, with the simpsons house, the kwikee-mart,moe's tavern and all of the other places. This game is very fun to play especially with friends. OK now for some of the bad things. The camra angle gets stuck. In some of the missions you will find your self doing the same general thing as another mission.There might be a few graphic gliches, and the multiplayer is just plain bad.Well thats about it,BOTTOM LINE:every character in the simpsons will be involved in the game, so if your a simpsons fan definetly get it!!If your not a simpsons still get it!!

I just got this game yesterday and it is the greatest Simpsons game since probably Barts Nightmare on the SNES and Sega....This is not only a GTA replica but its also has a platform game touch to it with the double jump and coin collecting.... The Simpsons Hit and Run has everything, you get to play as Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa, and Apu... You can walk into the Kwik-E-Mart, Moe's Tavern, and other Simpsons hotspots from the show. Being able to walk around is soooo cool because you get to see everything from the show if it was on the show it is in the game like the garden on top of the Kwik-E-Mart, the Salt Factory behind Springfield Elementary that melted the snow storm, the Nuclear Power Plant (even Homer's work station) EVERYTHING... and another one of the coolest things I really think is you don't only see unknown people walking on the streets but you see well known characters walking around like Lenny, Krusty, Lou the Police Officer, and alot of others thats one of many things that make this game really Awsome there is just to much in the game to tell you about.... if your a simpsons fan and even if you haven't really watched the show this is a really fun game a HUGE MUST HAVE FOR SIMPSONS FAN WELL WORTH PAYING THE PRICE FOR IT!!!!

Yes, it is a semi-ripoff of the Grand Theft Auto series although there are no guns, hookers, or bad language. This game is appropriate for kids and is really a must have for 'Obsessive Simpsons Fans'.

THE GREAT:
-All the voices are done by the Simpsons cast, and you can find almost all the main and 'B' characters. Gil, Captain McCallister, Bumblebee Man, Comic Book Guy, Snake, Hans Moleman, Jasper, Cleatus, Frink..
-The dialogue is really really funny.
-The game is very open ended and has hours of game play.
-The town of Springfield seems like the actual town.

THE NOT GREAT:
-Made by Vivendi.. see Spyro Enter the Dragonfly.
-Camera can get stuck. I mean absolutely stuck without view of your charachter.
-Almost all of the gameplay is a 'timed mission' game. This can get old and frustrating.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you are a PS2 jockey & a Simpsons fanatic you will not be able to stop playing this game.
Cannot hold a candle to Ratchet & Clank.

Ok, this game is a great game, simpsons fan or not. Many people discredit it for its striking resemblance of the Grand Theft Auto games. IT EVEN SAYS ON THE COMMERCIALS ITS LIKE GTA!!!!! who cares. even if your not a simpsons fan, it has a great feel and has great gameplay. theres a couple of graphics glitches, not too bad. all in all, great game, buy it if you like GTA, no blood or weapons, so its not as bad as gta. BUY IT

Note: I haven't finished all seven levels yet, I'm on 5. Each level you play as a differenct character: Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Apu are the characters you can play as. Sometimes other Simpsons characters (Chief Wiggum, Cletus and Comic Book Store Guy for example), will ride with you and comment on what's going on.

Control is not difficult unless you're speeding... but then that's the whole point of the game. For some of the people complaining, I'd like to see you keep control of your car on those small streets going 70, 80, even 90+ simulated miles per hour.

The heart of the game is driving around and completing missions, but there's all sorts of side adventures. Each level (so far) has had 20 "wasp" cameras... flying cameras that resemble the insect, and can be destroyed (you get coinage for destroying things). Destroy Buzz cola boxes, lamp posts, mailboxes... they all give you some reward. Use the money to buy other vehicles, new outfits for the characters, and pay those speeding fines when the cops finally catch up with you. There's also playing cards to find, and gags to discover.

It's a bit repetitive... some number of missions each level, each dealing with driving real fast and avoiding crashing. There's bonus races on each level which will gain you an extra car if you complete them all, and there's a chance to bet on a race to make some extra money (good for gameplay... not really worth the betting, though).

The key to winning is finding the available shortcuts, and in doing so you find some really fun jumps... which you'll need to get on some roofs in order to collect all the items for some levels.

What helps is that there is more than one map that you drive on... there's a "city" level which includes such famous landmarks as the Matlock expressway, and there's the "residential" level that includes the houses, school, retirement castle, Burn's mansion, and the nuclear power plant (complete with special stone cutter's entrance).

I know a lot of people complained it's boring and repetitive, but I think we can thank a generation of short attention spans for that. I'm having a lot of fun playing at length, and so is my son (7 years old, despite the teen rating on the game - I let him watch the show, so this wasn't a problem for me), and I've been playing games for almost thirty years now (yes, I'm old).

Severe difficulty? Difficult missions? Not exactly. This game has 56 missions, but that aint sayin too much, because over all, the game is short. Missions CAN get tough but require not much attempt even in that case to beat. I'm a Simpsons fan, I love that crazy family, but honestly, this game could've been better. Let me lay it down in an easy to read format.

PROS:
1. Simpsons! Grand Theft Auto! TOGETHER!!
2. Neat variety of familiar environments.
3. Hilarious unlockable outfits.
4. Cool unlockable cars (even a hoverbike!)
5. Cool mission variety.
6. Gags. THey are hilarious!
7. REALLY just as funny as the show.
8. The card system is really very cool.
9. You can travel to any level anytime! Neat!

Cons:
1. Not too beautiful graphics when not indoors.
2. On foot music. Wait is there even any?
3. The camera bees will annoy you more than anything.
4. SHORTEST. SIMPSONS GAME. EVER.
5. Racing opponents can be really cheap.
6. Embarrassingly dorky on foot combat consists of a cheap useless kick.
7. Pedestrian animation when they fall is pathetic!
8. Jumping puzzles that will have you screaming for mercy.
9. The multiplayer minigame is a pathetic unlockable.
I think the pros however outweigh the cons to make this a very good game. But if you're a not a simpsons fan OR are very good at games like this, renting would be the way to go. Because honestly, after you beat the game, unlocking stuff is boring as heck.

DIAGNOSIS:

Graphics:

Excellent indoors, but outdoors could be better...

Overall Graphics: 8/10

Sound: Music is pretty funny and cool in the car, but is nonexistant onfoot.

Overall Sound: 7/10

Gameplay: Good. Classic. Definetely worth some praise.

Overall gameplay: 9/10

AI: Cheap often, very very very cheap. Okay, but cheap.

Overall AI: 7/10

P.S. Fans when you are indoors in the simpsons house, stand still and look into the kitchen. Funny stuff. Also in the school, look in the hallway.

Overall: Very good simpsons game. Not worth $50 in my opinion, but if you see it for $40 or lower you should try and buy it. Simpsons fans, at least rent this. This is not one to miss.

This is a great game! It's even better than The Simpsons: Road Rage, with a cooler plot and almost no time restraints! Here's the plot in a nutshell: a big number of giant wasp cameras have invaded Springfield, and the Simpsons family (plus Apu!) are investigating. You also have to do a bunch of missions too, like buying cola and ice cream from the Kwik-E-Mart, racing Skinner to the school to deliver Lisa's science project, collecting Flander's 'lost' things, and that's just with Homer in level 1. Also, you collect coins that you find on the ground, and get when you destroy objects or set off a gag. You see, a gag is something that you can activate in gameplay, like in level 1 with
Homer, one of the gags is a swingset that falls apart when you activate it. Also, there are cards scattered around each level that contain information about different Simpsons episodes. ... you can take as much time as you want between missions to go around Springfield in your own car, a different car you buy with enough coins, or someone else's car you can just get into! ...But, with Hit and Run, the worse violence is hitting some people, with no blood, and they don't die. So go out and get this game, Simpsons fan or not!

This is the best Simpson's game. I rented it since it was a Simpson's game and they're all great, and I will buy it for sure. I thought it was kind of similar to Grand Theft Auto, and the rest of the reviews do to. There are a bunch of missions in each level and each level uses a different character. After failing a mission several times, you have the option to skip to the next one, which I like a lot. The game is all driving, so if you don't like drving, you may not like it, but you should since it is so fun. I highly recommend this game.