Humour vs Gameplay
I’ve mentioned fighting a number of times in this review, something that you never actually see a lot of in The Simpson’s show, but there are tedious amounts of combat in the game. There’s just no depth to it and aside from using each character’s secondary weapon, such as Bart’s catapult or Lisa’s Saxapone, killing enemies merely relies on pressing the X button a couple of times. The fighting is so frequent that it just becomes repetitive and boring.The Simpson’s Game isn’t helped by some awful camera angles, where the camera tends to shift position at the most inconvenient moments. This means that you can spend 3 or 4 minutes finding a route to the upper levels of a location only to find yourself miss-judging a jump and falling back to the ground where you have to do it all over again.
Now, this probably sounds ridiculous after everything I've just written, but I have actually enjoyed playing The Simpsons. The humour often makes even the most mundane of tasks worthwhile, with parodies of the video game industry, pop culture and current events, littered throughout the levels.
Click for larger image
Click for larger imageYou won’t need to be a fan of The Simpsons to get many of the jokes and if you’re a long term gamer you’ll immediate recognise many of the references to videogames and videogame culture. There are episodes such as Medal of Homer, a homage to the Medal of Honor series, Neverquest and Grand Theft Scratcy, where Marge and Lisa try and get the game banned. There’s a level where Bart Simpson fights the giant Lard Lad in a mission called "Shadow of the Colossal Donut" and Comic Book Guy often makes an appearance whenever a videogame cliché appears. One of the earlier examples of this is when you pull a lever in order to make a bridge extend and he'll say, "What would videogames be without switches and levers?
Occasionally the jokes don’t exactly fit in with the context of what you’re doing, for example, I was told that ‘I’d do better in a turn-based RPG’ when I was actually getting along fine, but they are there to act more as a reminder that you’re playing in a Simpson’s’ game and they do make ploughing through some of the levels worthwhile; even if it is just to see one of the hilarious cut-scenes.
The visual style of The Simpsons has been accurately created better than ever before with clearly defined drawings and a vibrant and colourful Springfield world. While the game offers nothing new in terms of innovation, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and fans of the series will enjoy the witty and intelligent one-liners.
Disappointingly though, the game sends out a mixed message. On one hand, seasoned gamers and adults will enjoy the tongue in cheek humour and reference to videogames of the past, but on the other hand the gameplay is fairy crass and more fitting to a much younger audience.
The Simpson’s Game is worth a look if you’re a fan of the show and old school gamers will get some enjoyment out of sitting back watching their child play the game, whilst they lap up the humour, but ultimately it still falls way short of being the perfect Simpson’s game.
Pros
Great humour and script
Looks superb, just like the show
Cons
Gameplay feels old
Combat is repetitive and too frequent
Camera problems
Co-op sucks
The best looking and funniest Simpson’s game yet, but it lacks severly in the gameplay department.
HEXUS Awards
The Simpsons Game – Xbox 360
2
Microsoft enhances Red Dead Redemption for Xbox One X
6
Microsoft ceases production of Kinect motion control cameras
7
Microsoft Xbox 360 mass production ends
HEXUS Right2Reply
HEXUS World Leading HEXUS Right2Reply initiative invites manufacturers, their representatives and vendors which supply HEXUS with products for technical editorial evaluation, to comment on the articles that we publish. If they choose to respond, we publish their response verbatim.
Related Reading
2
Microsoft enhances Red Dead Redemption for Xbox One X
Alongside 5 other Xbox 360 titles, & 19 original Xbox games become backwards compatible.
6
Microsoft ceases production of Kinect motion control cameras
The firm has sold approx 35 million Kinect units since 2010.
7
Microsoft Xbox 360 mass production ends
The console celebrated its 10th year of availability last November.
Sign in for the best HEXUS experience
LOG IN
- 1 Introducing CORSAIR® DDR5 Memory
- 2 CORSAIR Announces Full Range of Components
- 3 Two AOC GAMING mice and a wireless headset.
- 4 AGON by AOC presents three displays aimed at competitive gamers
- 5 Philips monitors launch the new M3000 and M5000 PC gaming monitor series
- 6 ASUSTOR is authorized by the CVE Program as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)