The Simpsons Meet Grand Theft Auto

Itchy the Killer writes "FiringSquad previews The Simpsons Hit & Run (XBox, PS2, GameCube), which is a strange marriage of The Simpsons and Grand Theft Auto. They seemed to think that it works." A lot of times when games are made based on huge pre-existing franchises, they suck so bad mankind is forced to redefine the boundaries of suckiness. That said, this game actually looks like I would play it, which says a lot.

Comments

hmmmm donut raid

[uhhhhhhh]

yeah that pretty much says it all

Great idea.

[I am Emmitt Smith]

As someone who really enjoyed the gameplay of GTA3, but didn't care for all the violence, I'm really looking forward to this game. This is something that I would be able to let my daughter play.

Re:Great idea.

[AzraelKans]

Hmm.. well this may seem odd but my kid (5 year old) and I, do play gta vc together, there are several things to do in GTA without being violent, we ussually just cruise around do stunts play taxi and pizza delivery sometimes we ride in the helicopter and do some ambulance and fire truck missions We ussually turn the siren on for no reason.
We also use the "hopingirl" trick and "invite" people to the car. Is a lot of fun really.
To avoid car jacking violence all you have to do is look for parked cars, or just stick to one car and taxis.

Im not saying the game is for kids is not but with some parental supervision and some careful driving is just a city live/driving simulation.

Re:Great idea.

[couch_potato]

Hmm.. well this may seem odd but my kid (5 year old) and I, do play gta vc together, there are several things to do in GTA without being violent, we ussually just cruise around do stunts play taxi and pizza delivery sometimes we ride in the helicopter and do some ambulance and fire truck missions We ussually turn the siren on for no reason.

Oops, we accidently ran that prostitute over! Did you see the bloody tire tracks? Indeed, good fun for the whole family.

My father-in-law decided that it was alright for my 5 year old nephew to play Vice City whenever he comes over, which is pretty much every day. Shortly after he started playing he picked up the nasty habit of stabbing my brother-in-law with pencils/corkscrews/whatever is handy. Now, I don't want to sound like a preachy anti-violence-in-games nut, but I wonder if there might be a connection? There's a reason for those ratings. Not to mention that anytime he plays videogames, violent or not, he turns into a complete terror, screaming and throwing fits about pretty much anything.

You need a license to own a dog, but any fool can have children.

Could be good

[Anonymous Coward]

This could be lots of fun, but it screams for cell-shading. Zelda and Viewtiful Joe have spoiled me.

Looks good, but...

[kmak]

Anyone remember the following merges?

Simpsons + Crazy Taxi = Simpsons Road Rage
Simpsons + Tony Hawk = Simpsons Skateboarding

and now

Simpsons + GTA?

I don't know.. but if the other two games are of any indictation...

I just wish they remake the original Simpsons arcade game..

Re:Looks good, but...

[hawkbug]

I agree with you - simpson's skateboarding and simpson's wrestling both completely sucked. However, I crack up everytime I play Simpson's Road Rage - the sayings they put in that game are hilarious, so if this GTA combo game is like that one with decent grafixx, I'm gonna get it.

Re:Looks good, but...

[Ian_Bailey]

I just wish they remake the original Simpsons arcade game...

I seem to remember that game as:

Simpsons + Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles = Simpsons Arcade game.

Of course, TMNT was just a rehash of Battletoads, which was a rehash of Double Dragon, which was a rehash of ...

Re:Looks good, but...

[kmak]

Heh, don't get me wrong, I like all the Simpsons reference of Road Rage, but being a Crazy Taxi expert (80k+ scores...), the collision detection was so horrible at times it was frustrating to play..

And ya, it's true, Simpsons arcade was just Double Dragon + Simpsons, but it was done really well, instead of the past few titles, which felt very rushed out the door, preying on Simpsons fans (like me)...

Seeing how I own most of these games for PS2, I'll remain a bit skeptic on this one..

A better preview at Gamespot

[Randar the Lava Liza]

Check out the preview at Gamespot.com for more information. They also have screenshots and video clips up.

I'm not sure if this page is subscriber-only or not (I subscribe to gamespot), so here's the text of their review just in case:

At a recent Nintendo press event, Vivendi Universal had on display a playable GameCube version of The Simpsons: Hit & Run, its new mission-oriented action and driving game based on the long-lived animated franchise. We sat down to play the game for a few minutes with little idea of what to expect, and frankly we were surprised to learn that Hit & Run is best described as Grand Theft Auto: Springfield. Indeed, the newest Simpsons games shares a whole lot of gameplay mechanics with the most recent GTA games, and from what we gathered while playing it in its early state, Hit & Run may just marry the Simpsons franchise and the GTA formula successfully.

The Hit & Run demo began simply by casting the player as Homer Simpson and sending him out into the world of Springfield looking for tasks to complete. The game very overtly guides you toward your next goal--it tells you which character you need to speak with to initiate the mission, and then once your objective is understood, it indicates on a minimap where you should go and also overlays the road with arrows pointing toward your destination. For the first task, Marge sent Homer to the Kwik-E-Mart to buy a new supply of ice cream, and subsequent missions had Homer racing Principal Skinner to the elementary school or searching for Ned Flanders' purloined possessions. You'll get around Springfield mostly by car, starting with the Simpsons' familiar pink sedan. Of course, in true Grand Theft Auto style you can also run into the street and nab other motorists' vehicles if you get bored with or destroy your own car.

Graphically, Hit & Run is looking decent, and its style is about what you'd expect from yet another 3D Simpsons game. The character models are solid and the frame rate is quite smooth, although the demo was fraught with camera anomalies. These will surely be cleared up before the game's release, though. It seems that the entire voice cast of the show has recorded new dialogue for the game, which is always refreshing. The constant stream of wisecracks and one-liners adds a lot to the Simpsons-like atmosphere, from what we heard.

Vivendi says that a variety of characters will be playable later on in The Simpsons: Hit & Run, although we only got to see Homer in action during our brief time with the game. In addition to driving to and fro, you can also collect a sort of coin scattered around town, attack hapless pedestrians, and double-jump your way to obscure areas. Though the quality of past Simpsons games may have been dubious, we have to say that there's something strangely likable about Hit & Run. You can drive all over Springfield, talk to famous town residents, and go inside and explore fully modeled and recognizable locations from the TV series, and even apart from the actual mission structure of the game, these things are enjoyable for fans of the show. Of course, we'll have to wait for the finished product to find out if the mission-based gameplay actually holds up over many hours of playtime. The Simpsons: Hit & Run is currently scheduled for release in September. Stay tuned for more coverage.

Well...

[leifm]

Now that it has the coveted CowboyNeal seal of approval I will have to buy it!

Great, now we can finally...

[stienman]

Does it have the nuclear power plant where Homer works?

If so, can we finally push the big red button and find out what it does?

-Adam

Maybe

[Quill_28]

>That said, this game actually looks like I would play it, which says a lot.

A lot about you or a lot about the game. :-)

Oh ye lover of:

Swingerz Golf
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates

Re:Maybe

[simoniker]

Actually, this post was from CowboyNeal, who is a sophisticated Pokemon fan, not a sophisticated Swingerz Golf fan like myself. There, that's much better, isn't it? :)

I'll play as Marge

[Rudeboy777]

This game should be fun just for the car-crushing fun of driving the Canyonero. Maybe the commercial will come on the radio a la GTA:VC

Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
smells like a steak and seats thirty-five..

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down,
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown!

Canyonero! (Yah!) Canyonero!
[Krusty:] Hey Hey

12 yards long, 2 lanes wide,
65 tons of American Pride!

Canyonero! Canyonero!

Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!

Canyonero! Canyonero! (Yah!)

She blinds everybody with her super high beams,
She's a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!

Canyonero!-oh woah, Canyonero! (Yah!)

Canyonero MP3

[Stargoat]

The Canyonero Song