The Simpsons Game features a hilarious storyline crafted by the TV show’s Emmy Award-winning writers. For this action-comedy, the full cast of voice actors from the TV show and movie reprise their roles for the game.
In The Simpsons Game, Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa use exciting, all-new powers to save Springfield from rising chaos. To help the Simpsons, gamers must journey through their home town (as well as vast worlds beyond!), vanquish an array of villains, and fight their way through parodies of multiple popular games.
System: PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PSP
Genre: Action-adventure platformer
Release dates: October 30th 2007 (USA), October 31st 2007 (CAN), November 2nd 2007 (EURO), November 8th 2007 (AUS)
Players: 1 (2 in co-op)
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Origin: America
The game contains 16 levels, known as episodes. Each episode requires specific skills related to the characters in that episode. For example, in Episode 4: Lisa the Tree Hugger, you are required to use Lisa’s Hand of Buddha skill to move large objects, and Bart’s slingshot skill to shutdown numerous machines.
Unique enemies are featured in all episodes with the exception of the final level, in which the enemies are “recycled” with different colors. Several after-episode challenges exist. These include finding all the collectibles for each character, finding all the videogame cliches, completing the episode under a certain amount of time, not dying once, time trial tasks, etc. There are also minigames that are parodies of games like Space Invaders, Joust, Gauntlet, Missile Command, Frogger, Pokemon, DDR, etc.
If you want to know what the Simpsons family member’s moves and their power ups are, read on (or skip to the trailer). Bart is similar to a traditional platform character, with slingshot, grapple and cape to glide, the ability to use ziplines and a power-up that turns him into a RoboCop-esque RoboBart, with invulnerability and lasers that can go through glass and destroy enemies and obstacles in one hit. Homer’s abilities mirror Katamari Damacy, as he turns into a giant ball to eat food and burst through obstacles and enemies, and he can also burp, inhale helium and turn into Gummi Homer, enabling him to shoot candy projectiles at enemies. His power-up is a spicy Guatemalan chili that transforms him into an invincible ball of lava. Marge has similar functions to Pikmin, recruiting a mob she can use to destroy, repair and build parts of the environment, and to attack enemies. She can also use a megaphone as a weapon to blow back and sometimes kill adversaries, Maggie, inside a carrier on Marge’s back, can be deployed into small areas for certain objectives and her power-up is Marge Cop, giving her strength and invincibility, and arming her mob with rocks. Lisa has a saxophone, that can both stun and kill enemies, and her main power is using Hand of Buddha ports to move objects across the landscape, and to flick and smash enemies, and send lightning bolts to the ground, and turn enemies into ice-cubes. Her power-up is Clobber Girl, giving her super-strength and invincibility.
Watch the The Simpsons Game launch trailer.
So what are The Simpsons Game’s main features?
* Play Your Favorite Characters – Battle enemies and save Springfield while playing as your favorite dysfunctional TV family; Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and even Maggie Simpson.
* The Real Simpsons – With the actual voice actors from the TV show and movie reprising their roles; characters from The Simpsons Game sound exactly as they should.
* Unique Character Abilities – While The Simpsons family have general abilities that can be used to fight opponents, interact with environments, and finish puzzles; each one has been imbued with special abilities that are unique to their personalities. These abilities grow and change as they progress through the story to battle tougher and tougher enemies in their quest to save Springfield!
* Looks Like The Simpsons – Using innovative 3D into 2D technology, the developers have been able to recreate Springfield and the entire cast of The Simpsons as the most visually authentic Simpsons game to date.
* Featuring Favorite and Original Springfieldeans! – The Simpsons Game features over 100 of your favorite Simpsons characters from the show along with 50+ new characters that were inspired by the fiction.
* An Original Episodic Adventure – The Simpsons Game features a 100% original script from the writers of the show with 4 distinct acts divided into 16 episodes and over 8,000 lines of dialogue.
* Springfield Hub – The open-world Springfield was designed as a central locale to jump into episodes with iconic locations to visit, characters to be visited and interact with, and hundreds of collectibles to be found.
* Parodies and Satire – With parodies of the video game industry, pop culture and current events, the game has the same gut wrenching hilarity as the show.
* Co-op Play – With two members of The Simpsons family involved in each episode, all episodes can be played cooperatively in addition to being played in single-player mode. Play by yourself and switch between characters to solve the various puzzles or have a friend come over, pick up a controller and drop-in drop-out of any episode they choose. Except in The Land of Chocolate tutorial where only Homer is playable, and the final level, which allows all of the family members to be used on the PS3 (and Xbox 360).
* Collectibles – Roam throughout the episodes and Springfield itself to discover custom video game clichés, and unique collectibles for each member of The Simpsons family. Collectibles lead to trophies that increase your family’s powers, and can be viewed in your trophy rooms back at home on Evergreen Terrace.
* Time Challenges – Every episode can be replayed, and each unlocks a unique Time Challenge. Use the skills you’ve learned throughout the game to beat target times over 16 individual Time Challenges.
See some more The Simpsons Game gameplay footage, as well as the “engine” that runs the game.
In conclusion let’s see how much fun The Simpsons Game is on a scale from 1 to 10?
FUN FACTOR – 7.5
The Simpsons Game is the ultimate parody of itself and the game industry. The gameplay may not be anything more than standard action and platforming, but the entire game itself is setup in such a hilarious manner that it makes up for any faults you can find. I think anyone who likes a good laugh will enjoy this game, but especially Simpsons fans will love it to bits! As a general review rule I won’t spoil the game’s funny storyline, which is what makes this game such a winner. Suffice it to say that the cut-scenes directed by the series’ animators, the hilarious script written by the show’s creators, the game’s cel-shaded and well animated graphics that make it look like the cartoon, and the original voice actors, all come together to make sure that they merge this gameworld from cut-scene to game level as if you were controlling a completely crazy Simpsons episode.
Graphics – 8.0
Over 40 minutes of new animations for The Simpsons that you won’t find anywhere else! Superbly animated cel-shaded 2D-style graphics in a well animated 3D world, whether you’re visiting Springfield or fantasy worlds far beyond.
Audio – 9.0
The show’s original voice actors all play their part, absolutely fantastic voice overs. The entire game’s enthusiastic dialogs and music that changes from jazz to j-pop make sure everything is true to the show. Even if you haven’t watched the show in a few year you’ll definitely be laughing out loud here.
Ingenuity – 7.0
The game has simple controls that you’ll pick up on within 15-30 minutes. It’s really very casual, just your average jump and melee punch buttons, with the punch having a powered up attack if the power meter is filled.
Replay Value – 7.0
Expect to play through the single player story mode in an evening or up to eight hours. The levels can also be played with someone else locally via the drop-in drop-out co-op option. There are plenty of collectibles for you to optionally go after, and minigames to play, that will help extend the playtime some. The game itself embodies how fan service should be done and for that experience you should play it at least once.