The Simpsons Game

When I first started playing this game my first thought was that it would be more suited to a younger player than to an adult (actually my very first thought was that the animated player characters looked remarkable pixellated compared to the backgrounds). After having played for a few hours I think the only reason you should buy this for your children is as some kind of a punishment.

There is very little of the humour that you would expect of a Simpsons title. There are a few oneliners spoken by members of the usual voice acting cast but as some of the obstacles are so irritatingly hard to get past you will hear these repeated over and over ad nauseum. It is not that the puzzles are difficult to solve. They are childlike in their simplicity but in order to balance this the programmers have decided that simple things like making a jump should be pixel perfect. As many of the jumps have to be made from a point beyond where the walking surface runs out it is really just luck whether you will make it. It is somewhat bizarre to see Bart make a step into thin air before he jumps but if you don't do it that way you will not make the jump. Consequently you end up missing your jump repeatedly and having to climb up to where you were over and over again.

From the information that is made available it is possible that there are only ten levels although I may be wrong about this. This would ordinarily mean the game is very quick to play but as you will be performing the same jump several hundred times before you succeed this could mean that you will be playing for months or more likely until you give up in frustration.

On one level I found this irritating feature was actually drawing me in as I wasn't prepared to give up and indeed I was spurred to continue playing for several hours because of this but eventually you have to put the psp down to attend to real life and when you come back to it you will think, 'No, why bother.' I know I did.

If your children know swear words then you will probably hear the air turn blue. I very rarely swear but I found this game so frustrating that I was cursing repeatedly in a very loud voice.

Another annoying feature of this game is that the camera angle changes at awkward times so that when you are trying to make a jump your whole directional dynamic changes and you have to end up guessing exactly what angle you are trying to take because you can't see where you are going and the direction you have to push the analogue controller in has changed with the camera angle. Therefore you end up missing your step once again and swearing repeatedly at the psp.

I tried to like this game, I really did. I was making excuses for it and trying to bracket it with potential users but I am afraid it is just a very bad game. Its only redeeming feature is the voice acting of the cast but this is still of nowhere near the quality of the cartoon and what small amusement it offers turns rapidly to irritation after you have heard the line twenty times.

In conclusion I would say AVOID this game unless you are a fan of the cartoon in which case I would say AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS.

Wonderful game love the simpsons you'll love this highly recommended, you'll have lots of fun play all the characters.

if you love the simpsons then you will love this. all the characters have different powers.you can swap characters when you want.it took me a week to complete all 16 levels .im just abit miffed that i cant play it anymore.the only thing i dont like is having to move the camera angle all the time.

I bought this game a week ago - it's not as simple as I would hope, yes the 13 year old is kicking my a** but it's challenging enough for me, It has some great clips in it not seen elsewhere and it is truly addictive - you just have to get the little so-n-so's. the premise reminds me of tomb raider / prince of persia in so far as I am free to wander around and I have no idea how to get out of the majority of screens. I like the fact that all characters are featured and the different games use different characters so you don't get bored. If you like the simpsons this is guatranteed to make you chuckle, if you don't appreciate the simpsons then the quality of the gaming should still keep you entertained.