The Simpsons Game review

That last point is probably still true. But one underwhelming movie shouldnt stop the lavish praise, should it?Actually, when it comes to videogames, The Simpsons have a history as level as Barts hair. Shameful Crazy Taxi rip-off Road Rage and Simpsons Wrestling are two low, low points, although gamers with older memories tend to have a soft spot for titles such as Bart vs. The Space Mutants on the 8-bits.This brand new Simpsons Game contains a great deal of exclusive footage, and is worth thinking of as a series of interactive episodes that illogically follow each other. You control various members of The Simpsons clan around Springfield in levels that are homages, or rather Homer-Marges (sorry, Gamestyle cant resist) of video games. Each level has two members of the clan. You can switch at will to carry out the required tasks while the other member will hang around somewhere with enemies and get beaten up, instead of going to safety.So youve barely started doing a double-jump when Comic Book Guy pops up to mark the first Video Game Clich. This, ladies and gents, is Post-Modern Self-Referential Humour. Its making fun of Video Games- and its a Video Game itself! This is the central premise of the Simpsons Game, with mixed results. On one hand, it can be genuinely funny, and the cut-scenes are usually entertaining far beyond your average cut-scene. Level walls are lined with mock billboard posters for Bite Night, Mega Moleman and something Gamestyle cant quite read instead of Katamari Damacy.That wonderful game is parodied in one of the early levels, where Homer eats his way through levels based on countries. But the point of Katamari Damacy is never taken to its surreal conclusions here, so unlike the Prince, you cant get Homer to eat the world. In fact, guiding an inflated Homer with a dodgy camera is far less fun than Katamari Damacy.Serious camera glitches have an impact on what this game wants to be. Its no good Bart saying why dont they just make better games as youre thinking the very same thing, and remembering how much enjoyment Katamari Damacy gave. Or games with good cameras- sure, none are perfect, but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time played beautifully because the controls and the camera were great.Some levels work well- ones where Marge controls a mob, Pikmin-style (well, almost) to destroy the promotions for Grand Theft Scratchy is fluid and fun, and Shadow of the Colossal Donut is sharp and to the point, but many of the platformy levels are let down by the poor camera. However, even this level suffers a logic deficit. Each Simpson has different powers, so Bart can become Bartman and fly and Lisa can use Buddhist mental powers to move objects. What is the point of showing a new ability for Homer when it wont help the player to complete that level?The graphics are okay, if you dont look too closely. It would be nice for this to really look like an interactive episode, but on this Playstation 2 version, the standard isnt so high and the characters look a little bit raggedy. The colours are eerily accurate, and from the same palate as the Korean animators use, although is it just Gamestyle, or do some sequences look much better than others?On reflection, The Simpsons Game does demonstrate one massive asset that few games match: the writing. How often does Gamestyle wish games could be better written? Or that dialogue wasnt so stilted and banal, and models lacked characterisation? I mean Ralph Wiggum has more charm than all but the very best crafted Video Games characters, and hes barely in it. A whole cast of Simpsons regulars pop up in the storyline which is possibly stronger than the movies.The writers have an angle to work on, and this gives a mischievous sense of fun to the whole game in terms of dialogue and narrative. Fans of the Simpsons will get a lot out of the game. Anyone with an interest in video games will get a lot of out the cut scenes. However, this is standard of writing is not matched by the technical deficiencies of the game, including camera problems and repetitive dialogue, which Harry Shearer recorded or not, grates after the fourth or fifth time.Gamestyle applauds a great effort by the writers. The jokes about EA are especially worth your time. The problem with The Simpsons Game is that as an extended episode it is great, but as a video game it is average. The makers should be forced to write lines on a blackboard: twenty times of The Simpsons Game is not as clever as it thinks it is.