Computer games based on the Simpsons have had a rocky ride on the market. None of them have been instant successes and there have been downright bad releases as well. In 2003 Fox teamed up with Radical Entertainment to create the next generation Simpson’s game.

In the game mysterious giant bees has become a hazard in Springfield, also a new cola has been released that can control people’s minds. Much of the story is based around this with some minor side plots.

The overall layout of the game resembles Grand Theft Auto 3; it could basically have been a Simpson’s mod for GTA 3. However the game has more of an adventure than action tone. Graphically the game captures the colourful environments from the TV-series but The Simpsons Hit&Run fails to capture the characters.

A problem with constantly throwing in 3D character models in games are that they loose personality and look stiff. This is exactly the case in the game; Homer doesn’t really seem like Homer because you can’t see his facial expressions. I think that this game would have gained on 2D hand-drawn graphics instead of 3D, it would have resembled the TV-series and focused on what made the whole series successful.

The voices are great and from the real voice cast with Julie Kavner (Marge) and Dan Castallaneta (Homer) among others. There are really nice dialogues in the game, but the words the characters says during the game play sounds like an old text to speech program. Even though it’s the original voices they loose detail during the game play.

Most of the missions in the game are about either racing or collecting items (driving to them). Since the game is so much about driving it looses depth and if you are a fan of the TV-series you know that driving isn’t exactly central in the Simpsons.

Homer and Marge has some sort of convertible in the game, it’s not the original cars from the series. There are also a lot of other vehicles that you will unlock during the game, like a formula 1 car, the Plow King among others. Driving isn’t hard and you will get the hang of it quickly.

What I dislike with this game is that it aspires to be an adventure game but mixes in strange game play centred on driving and unlocking vehicles. It also fails to capture the details from the TV-series. If Radical and Fox want to do a Simpsons adventure game then use the original Simpsons artwork, not a 3D engine stolen from Grand Theft Auto 3.

The game missions are too simple for adults, but might be fun for children (the game is from 7 years and up). If you are an adult Simpsons fan you will like the dialogues and story, but hate doing the missions between. So far The Simpsons Hit&Run is the best game of the Simpsons licensees, however it’s not top notch.

Requirements:
Pentium III 700 MHz, 192 MB RAM, 32 MB VRAM
Tested on:
AMD Athlon 64 2.2 GHz, 2x512 MB RAM, Geforce 4 64 MB, Windows XP.