Remembering The Simpsons: Hit & Run

By https://www.ericheintzimaging.com/the-simpsons-hit-and-run, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20747989

The Simpsons have had a weird history with video games. The first Simpsons video game was the arcade game in the early 1990s, and then there were many mediocre releases throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. As I was growing up, I managed to play a couple of these bad games at the turn of the millennium. I remember The Simpsons Wrestling on the PS1, which was horrible to play. I also played a bit of The Simpsons: Road Rage, which was a Crazy Taxi clone. The game was not terrible, but I would not call the game good at all. 

The fortunes of Simpsons video games changed in 2003 when The Simpsons: Hit and Run came out. Hit and Run was a sandbox-game, drawing heavy influence from the Grand Theft Auto video game series. With the success of the GTA video games, GTA provided a blueprint for a successful video game genre, and many developers were itching to create GTA-clones to achieve some success in the video game industry. The Simpsons: Hit and Run was no different. When I played this game as a kid, I thought this game was great with non-stop hilarity from the various characters of the game. I wanted to revisit the game as an adult and see if the game still holds up.

The best thing about playing The Simpsons: Hit and Run was the fact that you felt like you were in a Simpsons episode in video game form. The writing is excellent, and you have all the original voice-actors delivering the lines as all the different Simpsons characters. The overall story is something that you would see as a plot in a Simpsons episode. There are so many one-liners not just in the main story scenes, but also when you are driving around. Also worth mentioning that there are many vehicles and outfits to purchase throughout the levels, as well as collectibles to collect.

I also want to make a special mention of the music, which was better than I expected. Almost every mission has its own song, and there are themed songs depending on the level and the character you are playing (either Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, or Apu).

The overall gameplay is where the game starts to suffer a bit. The missions feel basic and repetitive. You are either driving to a point of interest, racing to a point of interest (either by yourself or against someone else), destroying a vehicle by ramming into it, collecting items from a vehicle by ramming into it, or collecting items on foot. There is some limited side content, including races and bonus missions. Although there are seven levels with seven main missions in each, there are only three areas with minor changes per level, so there is even more repetition with the areas that you explore.

Overall, I think The Simpsons: Hit and Run is a generally decent game playing it as an adult. I can appreciate the excellent writing and voice acting even if the gameplay can get dull and repetitive at times. I would only recommend going back to play this game if you are a Simpsons fan. If you are not a Simpsons fan, there is not enough here that would make for an appetizing playthrough.