The Simpsons: Hit & Run Review

Now running isn’t entirely realistic in this game like it is in GTA because you never actually run out of breath (although the characters complain enough about it). You can run as long as you want without having to worry about letting your character catch a minute break, but in some cases, that is truly a positive thing. Plus the Simpsons was never meant to be realistic so it’s rather fitting.

Finally, each character actually has an entirely custom wardrobe at his or her disposal! Some of the unlockable outfits are simply for laughs, like Homer’s “underwear” mode. Some outfits are actually required to complete some of the missions, like in Apu’s case when he has to dress up to look more “American” to complete one of his missions later on down the road in the game. These alternate costumes are bought, and it’s up to you where and when you want to wear them!

Main Missions: This game has an actual story, so of course there will be missions for you to accomplish! There are several chapters to this story, and each chapter is dedicated to a different character. You will use many of the Simpsons characters, especially Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Apu. Each of them have their own unique obstacles to overcome, and most of the missions are actually quite engaging! Most of them will encompass some sort of “investigative” prowess because that’s obviously what you’re trying to do in this game. You’re trying to get to the bottom of the side effects of this “Buzz Cola” and why everyone is acting so weird about it. The story can certainly throw you through a loop, and each new chapter is greeted by a newspaper headline that is meant to drive the humor of what you are about to go through!

Now while most of the missions do feature some kind of “investigative” task to complete, there are some that are sort of “side” things that you still actually have to do, but really aren’t related to the main drive of the story. Sometimes you’ll end up having to collect things for someone and bring them back to them inorder to unlock a new vehicle. Sometimes you’ll have to follow a vehicle and pick up items they drop, sometimes you’ll even have to participate in a “town race” that isn’t one of the hidden circuit races just so you can make the story progress! It doesn’t really matter what you do, but most of the missions are diversified nicely and make the overall experience quite unique!

So overall, the gameplay in H&R is very fun and can be rather addicting for the first time you end up playing it. There is a good number of missions per playable character and all of them have something fresh to offer for the most part. This is definitely a great Simpsons game that emulates the mission style of GTA, but does it in its own way so that you almost never get bored!

When you finally beat this game, you will view a cinematic cutscene that ends the story. The ending mission is actually REALLY hard just because of how limited the time is you’re given. But when you finally beat it, you will get a nice laugh at the conversation the Simpsons have with each other, which really makes you feel like you might be watching the end of an actual television episode. It’s a nice way to end the game, and doesn’t really leave any questions left unanswered!

This is where this game truly suffers a detrimental loss in it’s overall quality value. Everything about this game really is great, but the replay value just really isn’t there. Why is that? Once you complete all the missions, destroy all the bee cameras, and find all the hidden cartoon artwork that is hidden throughout the game, there just isn’t much to come back to. To be quite honest, finding all the hidden stuff and accomplishing everything really isn’t entirely difficult once you understand how the game plays out. You can easily find and do everything in about 2 weeks, and quite frankly, there just isn’t anything left afterwards. Unless you want to experience the story again, which really isn’t anything special after you beat it once, there’s almost no reason for you to want to come back to it. Sure there is a multiplayer mode where you can play a few mini games with your friends that emulate the SNES game Super Off Road, but even those tend to be a pain to play, and it quite frankly just isn’t worth it.

This game does have its merits to come back to if you’re a true, hardcore Simpsons fan, but for anyone else, even fans of the show, this game doesn’t have the “drawback” feature to it.

It’s unfortunate that one feature of a game could be so detrimental and hurtful to its entertainment value that one can’t really suggest purchase of it, but that’s where the stance of this review is. This game features very impressive graphics, and everything around you really looks great. The voiceovers are done extremely well, the music is well suited for most areas and the sounds do their job. The gameplay is very fun, it can be addicting and you will find yourself wanting to continually complete those missions. But once you do, and once you find everything (and it is quite easy in fact), there just isn’t much that will bring you back to the experience. The Simpsons Hit & Run is most definitely the best Simpsons game to date, but it unfortunately suffers from a lack of replay value that is truly detrimental to be enough to make someone buy it. Maybe at a bargain price it would be more worth it, but definitely not at top dollar. This would most definitely be a more worthy rent, but if you can find it cheap, then go for it.