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Simpsons Hit A Home(r) Run With GTA Clone?

Posted by simoniker on from the secondbest-simpsons-game-ever dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for their review of the PS2/Xbox/GC driving game, The Simpsons: Hit & Run, released this week, in which they shrewdly point out: "with perhaps the sole exception of Konami's 1991 arcade action game, The Simpsons, no [Simpsons games] have really even proved to be much in the way of fun." Although it seems "practically every mission in the game is a direct clone of one of the GTA driving missions", the reviewer thinks Hit And Run "finally manages to bring the world of the Simpsons to life with proper justice", and much of the appeal, according to Gamers.com, is in the references: "You'll plow through a field of Tomacco... and take a shortcut through the Stonecutters' Hidden Tunnel... you'll conduct missions that require you to collect 'flatmeat' for Cletus, [and] round up monkeys for Dr. Nick's experiments."

5 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. I don't understand these people by Apreche · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know who makes these Simpson's games, but they are seriously not using their license to the full potential. All they have done since the beginning is take cookie cutter genre games and replace all the graphics and sound with simpsons stuff. Started out with generic beat 'em up, then platform games, mario kart type games. It goes on.

    If I had the Simpsons video game license you can sure as hell bet that I'd be making some innovative games. Maybe something like an episode maker. Include craploads of animations and sounds and graphics on a CD, or DVD even for the PC, and let people make Simpson's episodes.

    Another good one, a virtual springfield. Pick any one of the zillion characters and live out their day in the town. Have multiple decision paths for each character, unlockable characters and a zillion minigames or some such to determine outcomes of things.

    There is so much you can do with a license like the Simpsons. It's one of the most popular shows ever because of its high creativity, which it's video games have always lacked. Stop sucking!

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    1. Re:I don't understand these people by lightspawn · · Score: 3, Interesting


      I don't know who makes these Simpson's games, but they are seriously not using their license to the full potential. All they have done since the beginning is take cookie cutter genre games and replace all the graphics and sound with simpsons stuff.

      It's not just one company; many different developers (and several different publishers) were involved in simpsons titles. And you know what? Some were OK, some were mediocre, and some sucked. That's what normally happens when you look at any random batch of titles, licensed or not.

    2. Re:I don't understand these people by Kyouryuu · · Score: 4, Interesting
      With the track record most Simpsons games ahve, 8.3 is legendary. The only really good Simpsons game, IMHO, was that "generic" beat-em-up Konami produced for the arcades. Sure, they probably cloned the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles engine and replaced the sprites, but it was a fun game, which is far more than I can say about any of Acclaim's butcherings of the franchise.

      I have a gut feeling that the people who are in charge of Simpsons licensing as it applies to video games are out of touch with how well the games do in the market. When the producers of TMNT wanted a new video game to commemorate their resurrection of the series, they faithfully returned to Konami and commissioned them to do it. Why the producers of the Simpsons games continually allowed Acclaim to tarnish their reputation, instead of going back to the only publisher that actually made a good game, is mysterious to me.

  2. Seems like they are doing their last game over by IRNI · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I have Simpsons Road Rage for PS2 and it is indeed fun. You drive around and run into people or things. From the description of this review I thought they were talking about that game for a minute. Are all the new simpsons games going to be driving games? Interesting.

  3. Why is it 3d by techstar25 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I didn't read the article but I've read other things about this game. My question is: With all the great looking cell-shaded games out there, why didn't they just animate the game to look exactly like the show? It makes no sense to me to make 3d models. For an example of how they should have animated it, look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game coming out next month. It's beautifully animated to look like you are actually playing a cartoon.