Truth be told, the most famous family on the planet are on pretty chucklesome form in their new game. The trouble is, while their numerous parodies of classic games are often missile-guided barbs that'll nuke your funny bone, they're surrounded by an absolute shatfest in gameplay terms that, stripped of its Grade A license and related idiosyncrasies, would normally be taken outside, beaten with a stick, strung up and strangled until dead.
Case in point; the 'Medal of Homer' level. It kicks off in fine style, as our comedic soldiers drop out of a UB40 (fnar) Flying Fortress, against a rousing speech by Homer's dad where he prays his "privates" (double fnar) don't get hurt in the forthcoming conflict before urging the troops to "protect these cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (racism).
Seeing a cameo by a slimy young Montgomery Burns is another treat, but then it all turns to mush as, instead of a slick rendition of the MoH shooters, you mosey around collecting flags in the most fiddly of platforming fashions. It feels much more like a slog through Springfield rather than a jaunt.
HAVE A COW It doesn't really get much better either. The 'GTA inspired' level simply involves bashing Grand Theft Scratchy floats in with Marge and her posse of right-eously indignant cohorts, while the Shadow of the Colossus pastiche - Bart and Homer being pursued by a giant Lard Lad - is pure, distilled frustration. We can certainly appreciate EA's efforts to pay homage to their industry, but in reality it only makes you yearn to get your hands on the aforementioned luminaries rather than this tosh.
A number of Achievements (such as having to press Start to play) display a fine line in mockery, but if you set out to mock videogame clichés like invisible walls, respawning baddies and smash-ing crates, only to consciously fall foul of them yourselves, you only succeed in shooting yourself in the (yellow) foot.
So watch agape as this review hurtles towards its inexorable and - oh the delicious irony! - thoroughly clichéd conclusion. If you're a Simpsons fanboy, you'll probably find this chortlesome.
If, however, you're a fan of videogames (and we're guessing that's why you're reading this here mag), steer well clear of this pap. It's arguably even more disappointing than the movie. And that's saying something. Stick that up your Bart, man.
Rob Taylor
// Overview
Verdict
A devastatingly Krusty platformer, disguised behind lashings of glossy license garnish.Don't give into it...
Uppers
Like playing the cartoon. Voices and jokes hit home
Want another gaming cliché? How about "All simpsons games ever are rubbish"?
Oh wait, they have that in there already.
The demo on live is possibly one of the worst and most disappointing games I've ever played and is as much fun as soiling yourself. At least, that would be funny.
Still, t'is the holiday season and many unsuspecting parents and ignorant chavs will no doubt buy this pap. I half expect to see this top the games chart next week.
the demo was funny and definitely sounds like the tv show but the gameplay was utter s**t. The camera was wonky and screwed up whenever you needed it not to. It's just a boring button masher. Xbox world got it spot on as always
Ahh, mixed feelings about this, I hoped it would be good, but in a way I'm glad it's s**te as there is too many good games coming out that I just cant afford.
I downloaded the bloody rom for that about 6-7 years back when i first discovered emulators and it (trying to remember what the IT guy said) replaced some of the bios meaning that Windows wouldn't load up and in its place was The Simpsons Arcade game. When you quit the game it just shut down the pc.
To make things worse it used the tinny/bleepy internal speakers, so you couldn't turn the sound of. The result was every time we tried to work out what was wrong, fix the problem you would have to do it with a grating bleeping Simpsons theme.
As it was the family PC no one was best pleased with me.
anyway bart vs the space mutants was good at the time (though as an 8 year old with an old C64, i couldn't get to the purple bird on the statue of Jebediah Springfield's hand so couldn't get past the first level!
I downloaded the bloody rom for that about 6-7 years back when i first discovered emulators and it (trying to remember what the IT guy said) replaced some of the bios meaning that Windows wouldn't load up and in its place was The Simpsons Arcade game. When you quit the game it just shut down the pc.
To make things worse it used the tinny/bleepy internal speakers, so you couldn't turn the sound of. The result was every time we tried to work out what was wrong, fix the problem you would have to do it with a grating bleeping Simpsons theme.
As it was the family PC no one was best pleased with me.
anyway bart vs the space mutants was good at the time (though as an 8 year old with an old C64, i couldn't get to the purple bird on the statue of Jebediah Springfield's hand so couldn't get past the first level!
And Krusty's Fun House was ok wasn't it?
I tried Bart and the Space mutants on the Amiga, didn't have a clue what I ws doing so I only played it for 5 mins
The Simpson (very much like Star Wars) as games, should almost make themselves, its all there, all you have to do is create a solid gaming structure behind it..... thats it, & how they keep making this utter sh1t, i will never, never know, WHO play tests these games!?, Stevie Wonder!!!, it couldnt be simpler but they continue to get it really wrong time & time again......HOW!!!!!???????.......
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Like playing the cartoon.
