A gamer who could care less about the Simpsons would probably find this to be a very bland and average game. A gamer who loves the Simpsons would probably have some trouble with some of the bad controls and horrible camera angles, but otherwise enjoy the hilarious dialogue, Simpsons characters, animation and sets. A non-gamer will enjoy the cut scenes....heck, who couldn't enjoy those. This game has about 45 minutes of new traditionally animated Simpsons material, and it's just as funny as the show if not funnier. In addition to that, there's about 30 minutes of computer animated Simpsons cut scenes, which are also great.
The game itself is unique and fun, but has some problems. Each level, excluding the Land of Chocolate, is a tag team, and both characters need to be constantly switched in order to beat the level. Each character has their special. Homer can become a fat ball and break things, and also later can become the blob, Marge can call together crowds to break and put things back together. Marge also can put Maggie in tight spaces, which features some cool animation from Maggie's point of view. Lisa uses her Buddha powers to use her hands like God and pick things up and move them around. Bart turns into Bartman and can glide around. All these characters are fun to play with, and make the gameplay less repetitive, constantly switching characters. The levels are pretty interesting, ranging from trying to save the museum from bullies, to fighting the Lard Lad donut mascot.
The problems in the game are a few glitches, and some weird controls and camera angles. Some parts that should be easy are difficult because of the camera angle that you have no control over. It can become very frustrating trying to position your character right so you can see your destination. Sometimes the controls are hard to maneuver and take a while to get used to. Bart's slingshot was tricky for me, trying to figure out how many times I had to click the O button before it finally shot. As for the glitches, only one got me, and it was annoying. Near the end of the level, Lisa the Tree Hugger, Bart was shot in the sky, giving me a sky view that could not be changed. I couldn't switch to Lisa, and the only way to fix this was to restart the level.
Coming from a moderate gamer and a huge Simpsons fan, this is a good game. The writing is the best part, game second. However it was still a good game, but with the hilarious cut scenes, it had a lot to live up to.
My rating: *** out of ****. Rated Teen for language, violence, and drinking.
