Some say this game borrows from Grand Theft Auto, but it feels more like Mario Kart. Gold coins are all around and collecting them allows you to purchase different vehicles or outfits. It feels very "console-ish" with only a basic action button and kick button and you're definitely better off driving with a gamepad in hand. Even the mouse provides little use other than to look around. As you progress through the different missions, various sub-missions and bonus missions pop up. Completing these will unlock additional cars which can prove useful, but more likely necessary, later in the game.
I found the missions themselves to be fun, but some required expert level knowledge of the areas in advance, such as shortcuts or secret paths, in order to be completed in time. What this means is you are frequently subjected to playing a mission, failing it, then retracing your steps to learn the area before starting over, which can get annoying. In addition, the camera tends to get stuck at times, forcing you to step away from a wall or building before your character can be seen again. Finally, while a Simpsons spin is put on each mission, most are simply the same old point A to point B mission over and over again.
That said, it's not a particularly bad game. All of the original voice actors make the universe faithful to the show, plus it'll run decent on a midrange computer system. Simpsons fans in particular will enjoy the varied cast and landmarks, from Moe's Tavern, to Fat Tony's Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club, to the Jedidiah Smith and Lard Lad statues. In addition, there's 49 collector cards scattered among the levels which will supposedly unlock an Itchy and Scratchy episode once they are all found.
Hit and Run is not particularly innovative in any area, but it's a good looking game and a quick, escapist diversion with plenty of gags that fans of the series will appreciate.
Hope the review helped.
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This is what I call a "quickie" game: guilt free, temporarily satisfying, and over with in time to make appointments. There isn't really enough in here that makes this game worth the asking price, as the missions are over in a hurry and your ability to explore Springfield is fairly limited. For the most part, all you get to see of the town is the outside of buildings, and all you do is drive around completing a series of overly similar missions."Collect *insert item here*", "Stop Smithers", "Go to the Kwik-e-Mart", "Talk to Marge", etc, is all you can expect from the game. There is no interaction with characters, the different vehicles add nothing to the game, and it all becomes tiring very quickly.
For this, you can expect to lose up to 1.8GB in hard drive space if you opt for full installation, which is needed to ensure smooth running of the game. In the minimum installation, the game ran with "hiccups", and this is on my 2.6Ghz, 512MB RAM with 3D video card system. In my opinion, the demand on the computer isn't worth the ultimately unsatisfying game.
As a rental, for a few bucks you'll get what you pay for. To buy you're much better off getting a game with more depth and replay value.
Best Deals for The Simpsons: Hit and Run
If you suffer from high blood pressure or a low pain threshold, then for the love of Jebus, do not buy this game. It's a bunch of fun, it's funny, the graphics are good, the sound is great, and yes, it's like GTA3 but without the violence. You are given a whole world to play in, several characters to inhabit, plenty of vehicles and bonus missions and a dozen other lovely goodies. Perfect for the kiddies or, sickeningly, the kid in us all.What you are not given, however, is a chance. All in all this is a very short game you can play the story missions all the way through in under a couple hours. What makes it last longer than three episodes of the television show, however, is the insane level of difficulty in the mid to later missions. Not only are they mind-numbingly repetitive, but they are just ridiculous in their execution. You are given time limits and minimum distance from the vehicle/item, otherwise you fail the mission. There's no reason for these time limits not that we're looking for reason in a fantasy world but nevertheless they seem only to serve to make the game more difficult and, hence, stretch out the playtime.
Some missions you will try over a dozen times, maybe twenty or more. Even the game realises it's too hard if you fail a mission something like five or more times, it gives you the option to "skip" that mission and move on to the next one. Only the next one's going to be much worse.
Another thing is that you aren't sufficiently rewarded. Play through a mission, tearing out your hair and chewing your fingernails to pieces, screaming obscenities at the computer and kicking the cat, and finally you reach your objective with a second to spare, black smoke pouring out of your vehicle. And what happens? Do you get a new vehicle, some money, some kind of bonus powerup? Very rarely, if at all. Instead you are immediately transported into the next painfully frustrating "collect 'em all" or "smash 'em up" or "race 'em there" (yes, there are only three types of mission) task, which is twice as hard as the last. Pretty soon you get bored of the whole thing, playing the same annoying missions over and over just to progress the story. And the story's ridiculous, but we didn't expect anything else. What we expect as game players is to be given some sort of pat on the back for a job well done not just another two lines of dialogue for the fanboys. We want better vehicles, better weapons, something, ANYTHING. Sure, from time to time you'll get an extra car, but that's it. And if the mission's too hard, you're not even given the satisfaction of finally *winning* it you just have to skip to the next one.
What I propose Vivendi do is implement some sort of sliding difficulty scale. If the game realises that you're having a hard time, it should automatically give you an extra few seconds on the timer for your next attempt, or make your car slightly tougher, or give you more "strikes" before the cops turn up, or marginally improve handling. I'm a pretty good gamer, but I've been stuck on the final mission for about thirty tries, and yes, I've skipped a few others before that one.
Besides that, there's only one way to finish a mission. Unlike GTA3, where you are usually given the freedom to explore and try different approaches to an objective, with Hit & Run, there's just one way to do it go as fast as you can and take all the shortcuts you find, and try not to hit anything along the way, or else the stupid cops will appear out of nowhere and annoy you even more. This gets old fast, and when you couple complete linearity with the eye-bleeding difficulty level and repetitiveness of the missions, it's hard to recommend this game to anyone.
However, the saving grace is that this is, yes, a Simpsons game. All the characters are there doing their various wacky things, and dialogue from the actors has been recorded especially for the game, making it an occasionally hilarious experience. You get to explore all of Springfield which is a bunch of fun, take on a few self-imposed sidequests (destroy all cameras, collect all cards, make as much money as you can to buy cars and clothes by smashing stuff up, find all the gags etc.), or just generally goof around. These things save the game from mediocrity, but only barely. If this was anything but a Simpsons game, I would advise you to stay well clear of it. But as it stands it's a potentially worthwhile purchase for the fan (when the price drops a bit), so long as you're not too keen on actually "winning" the game.
If you want a game like this with challenges you can actually *overcome* through your own ingenuity, and not just sheer luck or digital dexterity, then stick with the GTA games, or True Crime. And if you just want a laugh, try an old adventure title from Lucasarts. But if you want to learn to hate your computer, then sure, buy this.
Honest reviews on The Simpsons: Hit and Run
Alot of reviews about this game have been bringing up point that this is finally a "good Simpson game" in a gimmicky like fashion. However, The Simpsons have had a string of great entertaining games and software on the PC with the AfterDark! Simpson screensaver collection, to the Simpson's Cartoon Studio and Virtual Springfeild. However if we talk about console is definately the best with maybe a minor expection of the Konami arcade game.What's so good about it? Well essentially it's just a Grand Theft Auto clone but the game itself is fun because of the environment in which you are surrounded and it stays very accurate. Devout fans will notice and pick up on all the places you've seen from the show, for example Moe's Tavern being next door to the music store or Mr. Burn's impressive back garden while casual fans will have the joy of seeing all their favourite characters, voiced by the real actors, spouting all their trademark personalities.
It's a fantastic production with one major criticism: Some of the missions are just too unforgiving. In some missions where you need to chase a vechile while picking up items, the mission will automatically fail you if you're not close enough to the item even if you are close to the vechile. But besides that this is worthy game for all Simpson fans.
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