A Simpsons game, for the PS3, courtesy of EA. I’ll let you know now my expectations were not that high. Previous Simpsons games haven’t exactly been spectacular and EA have a less than perfect record developing for the PS3. Having been a fan of the Simpsons, through better and through worse, I was hoping all my reservations would be completely unfounded. To tell the truth, I’m still not sure I have an answer.
The game is your standard platforming fare. You direct the entire Simpsons family around a variety of different levels, battling foes and overcoming obstacles. After an initial tutorial level you are then free to explore the town of Springfield, GTA style, well without the drive-by shootings. All the main sights are there, as well as the towns famous residents. Areas such as Moes bar and the church have been faithfully recreated and you are able to fully explore them. This does contain a problem though; there is nothing to do, you just basically go in for a bit of a look around, which while fun, does wear thin, fast. The town itself though is full of different types of collectable items, one for each member of the family, for this process Maggie and Marge count as one. The levels are dotted around the town, located by tall beams of light. They don’t play out in the city though, once activated they take you to separate areas.
During levels you always pair up with two predetermined members of the family. They are relatively varied, a wide variety of areas, though you are essentially fighting the same type of enemy every time. Each character has their own special abilities, which you will learn as you progress through the game. Lisa for example utilizes her sax, Bart turns into Bart-Man etc. The powers are fun and levels are dotted with pick-ups and collectables for both characters. The plat forming elements are mostly fun with frustrations from time to time. The game does utilise lots of shortcuts though, instead of finding cleaver ways to overcome problems such as ‘invisible walls’, the game puts these down as ‘video game clichés’, which you have to discover and collect. The game plays better as a two-player games and a 2nd player can jump in and out at will, the AI taking over when you’re on your own.
The plat forming elements are not however games main attribute. The game is actually quite funny, the cut scenes are nice, but I found the main humour came from the in-game comments from the Simpsons characters and their opponents. The humour itself is not purely directed at the child market, as I was expecting. The game has a 12 rating and some of the dialogue is adult in nature. The story line as well was well built and certainly not what I was expecting, lots of twists, turns and many funny moments. So I won’t delve into it here any more at risk of spoiling it.
Each level starts and ends with a clip featuring the same professional standard you would get from the TV shows. Professional to every standard, the visual quality is top notch and they do tickle that funny bone.
The game features a decent length, 1st play through about 13 hours and that’s missing many of the collectables. The game has an alright online mode, you don’t actually play online, but features online leaderboards for each level, so you can record and show off your speed runs. So overall a must for any fan of the series and recommended for anyone who enjoys a laugh and has any interest in the Simpsons. Otherwise it’s just another adequate platformer.
