Sound:  
The music in the game is mostly unnoticable as well. It changes often enough, from entering and exiting vehicles, to doing different missions, that you won't have to hear it repeat unless you do the same situation for a long time.

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!! Some music is comical. When doing Cletus' missions you get twangy hick music, and when joining Comic Book Guy to race another nerd to a comic book, you hear the famous Star Trek fight music, although altered to avoid copyright infringement. Quiet, you want to get sued?

The voices are the real reason to buy this game. With a script written by The Simpsons writers (conveniently lifted from a recent South Park episode), and the entire Simpsons cast supplying the voices of your favorite characters,* you'll find much of the game genuinely funny. This IS the funniest game since Conker, and doesn't need over-the-top violence and potty humor (it was a British game, so "humour") to get laughs.


*Your favorite characters must not include Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz, Miss Hoover, Maude Flanders, Edna Krabapple, Dr. Marvin Monroe, celebrity guest shots, and Maggie Simpson, even though she's in it.

Gameplay:  
If you're aware that videogames have gone mainstream, then you're probably aware of a game called Grand Theft Auto 3. People who never considered playing games bought PS2s so they could put on cheat codes and run around killing hookers. The game is a true window to the American psyche, or is that psycho...

Anyway, The Simpsons: Hit and Run does a four-finger discount on GTA and "borrows" the gameplay ideas. The game features a huge sprawling Springfield-come-to-life and lets you go by foot or by car to interact with the locals and complete missions.

These missions range from following speeding cars, to collecting items, to collecting items falling from speeding cars. I think it was called "The Bus that Couldn't Slow Down."

Unfortunately, except for a few famous characters, the only way to interact with some people (even ones from the show who aren't vital to the current mission) is to kick them, thus getting a reaction.

Any kind of violent or law-breaking behavior (besides jay-walking, running lights, driving on the left side of the road, you know- stuff we all do) increases your wanted level and when it's full the coppers come after you. The fine is 50 coins.

Major plot spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Skip to the next section, you foolish earthling!!!!!!!!!!
End Warning.



Spy cameras hidden in bees are popping up all over Springfield, along with mysterious vans with surveillance equipment. Playing as the Simpson family and Apu you discover that space aliens Kang and Kodos have turned the town into an interstellar reality show called "Foolish Earthlings" (South Park did it!!!!!). The show is starting to lose ratings so they've introduced a new cola that makes people lose their inhibitions, and now they want to distribute laser guns to the people while they're drunk on the cola. As Bart says in the game, "I'd watch that show."

Control:
Control in the game is easy to understand but a little awkward at first. For example, they included a run button which you must hold to run, but you can never tire, so why not just make pressing the analog stick all the way be the run? Worst. Decision. Ever.

The first level has a tutorial in which Bart talks you through the dynamics of the game.

Multiplayer:
When you complete everything in a level, you unlock a course in a 4-player racing game. The courses are played from a bird's-eye-view (or maybe it's Kang and Kodos watching) and are like the old NES and SNES single screen racing games. Off Road maybe? I don't remember. You'd recognize it if you saw it.

OVERALL:
What an incredible show of effort on the part of Vivendi. They've crafted the best Simpsons game ever, and all it took was stealing the ideas of another game company. Oh well, we can forgive them because this game is so damn cool. There is so much detail and references to episodes from throughout the 14 seasons of The Simpsons. There are even 49 collector cards hidden in the levels that give you quotes from Simpson episodes. Even after you've collected everything, you'll still feel the need to visit Springfield, especially with the long wait to the November premier of the new season.

 

The Lowdown on  Simpsons: Hit and Run Aesthetics: Very Good Control: Very Good Gameplay: Very Good Multiplayer: Above Average Sound: Very Good Innovation: 2/6 Lasting Appeal: 5/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Very Good! "A Must-Buy"