This is a review on the Gamecube game called The Simpson's Hit and Run. It is the first Simpson's game to be in the style of a Grand Theft Auto game.

Who are The Simpsons?
****************************
Not too sure who the Simpson's are? Then you are either a person who does not watch TV much, or very young or just don't have a TV. The Simpson's is a TV series, starring the likes of Homer, and Bart, and the Comic Book Guy. The Simpson's live in a town called Springfield in America. The Simpson's family, called The Simpson's always get into mischief or help people out, sometimes just for no reason.

There are loads of other characters that are in roughly every episode, and then there are some rare characters. The rare characters are mainly famous people. The Simpson's have had loads of famous people on their show, like Red Hot Chilly Peppers, and Steven Hawkins.

The creator of The Simpson's (Matt Groening) also has his parts in the games, as he instructs on what they shall say etc etc. Matt Groening has also done another TV series called Futurama, as some people might know. It is also the same comedy likes of The Simpson's yet it is set in the year 3000 (1000 years from the year 2000 as that's what the first episode is set in). Well I hope that gave you a background story on what The Simpson's are if any of you were wandering, I'm sure one of you were.

Features
**********
The Simpson's Hit and Run has the same principals of Grand Theft Auto, do missions, and get further in the game. There are 7 different areas of Springfield where you will be able to explore. Each area has its own set of missions for you to complete. The first area you will be in is the Simpson house, and where the power plant is, and you will be playing as Homer.

You will have to do a series of missions, like beat Principal Skinner to the school because Lisa forgot her Science project, and other things like damage Smithers's car so you can free your scorpion farm. Pretty fun really, there are other missions also that you can do like mini missions. You can do a mission for Cleatus, and help him collect these potatoes that he lost, and then if you do it, you get his car.

Most of the mini missions allow you to win cars; you can do races, challenges, and mini missions. Then when you have done first area, you will go to the second, and you will be playing as Bart. Bart also has his own set of vehicles that he will be able to play around with. Also you will be able to use the cars that you already had / brought / won from the previous area which is cool. Then the area after that is Lisa, then after that is Marge, the Homer again, and then Bart again, and then you can be Apu, which is very cool. The game also has the Hit and Run, which means if you cause too much havok around the town, you will have the cops come after you for a certain amount of time, depending within that time if you do any bad stuff, like running over people, beating them up, then you will have the cops on your tail for longer.

There are other things in this game that some of you might be unaware of, like you can find coins around the town of Springfield, so you can get money, to buy vehicles and buy different sets of clothes. Each character has their own sets of clothes that you can buy that they have worn within the TV series. You can find coins either just lying around, inside vending machines, ventilation systems, and sometimes on the roof's of buildings.

The more coins you get, the better, because some missions might need you to buy a certain car, like the Mr Plow mission when you're Homer for the first time, you will need to buy the Plow King vehicle off of Barney (the classic drunk), so you can run down Smithers. The games driving controls are the same as Grand Theft Auto, the streets in this game are sometimes pretty straight forward, not much like an actual town.

That's one of the disadvantages of this game, but it does have advantages, like the comedy to the game, the originality all put into the missions, its own uniqueness. This game is definitely not one to be missed.

Game
*******
This games environment is excellent, it is a very bright game, and there are no changes to the weather (disadvantage to the game), it is always sunny, or a bit dismal sometimes (depending on which area you are at). The game has many secret areas for you to go to, which makes the game more exciting to play. Also this game has jumping points, like if you see a Krusty the Clown (the comical clown) window, then if you drive directly at it, you will smash through it, and get a few coins, and also do a decent jump into the opposing road. You might see some other items that you can collect in this game, there are spanners hanging around at some places of the town that means that if you drive over one of them, your car will be fixed. You can also collect cards in this game, they are a rare thing to find, but they can be found.

You will find them in secret areas, and behind big buildings that are pretty concealed. Collecting cards in the game does not really do anything, it just makes your final game percentage go higher if you want to try and get 100% complete, you will want to get these cards. There are 100 cards altogether to be collected; there are cards in all of the 7 areas. This game is multiplayer also, but I have not played Multiplayer of this as I don't use the Internet adapter (I just think it could be a waste of money).

Other
******
This game is very playable, it is a great game to play, has all the fun in it as Grand Theft Auto games would have, and also have the comedy to it also. Very enjoyable game. The game is quite addictive, it keeps you wanting to play more, but can get boring if you are stuck on a mission, and get bored just roaming around Springfield, then it will loose its addiction to you, but if you are good at those type of games, then you will love this.

The game is pretty original, it has taken a similar story to the Grand Theft Auto games in a way, but you do missions to get a new mission instead of money, you don't get to be able to roam around as much as you do on Grand Theft Auto, and the missions are completely original, which is a great thing about this game. The games graphics are very good; they look even better then the TV series animation, and have its own uniqueness to it, which is very good. The detail in the environment is really good also. The background music to the game is great, it is original, and has a ring to it, so you will like listening to it, it is not hardcore rock or anything like that, it is pretty soothing music.

There are voices in this game, and also subtitles, just encase you want it in a different language as they don't change the voice. The tutorials of this game are in English speaking with subtitles (the tutorial is done by Bart, he will tell Homer what to do and that); the tutorials are easy to get the hang of also. The sound effects in this game is good, with all the revving of the vehicle engines, and the footsteps of people walking, and the punching noises and kicking noises when you ask your character to beat someone up, very good.

The game is not difficult at all at the beginning, which is very good, so you get to do a few missions without much of a challenge, which makes you like the game even more. The game does get more difficult when you go further into the game as most games do, so don't think that this game is a push over.

This game is great value for money, it is in the Gamecube Platinum section, which is good, so buying it brand new it will cost at the dearest of £19.99, but you will be able to get it cheaper pre-owned and also off the internet. I shall give this game 4 star * * * * as I have played better games, and yet this game is not as good as the Grand Theft Auto games, yet it is certainly one to consider purchasing.

THIS GAME IS:

A Grand Theft Auto Styled Game
Very Bright
Extremely Original Missions

THIS GAME IS NOT:

As Comical As The TV Series
A Good Multiplayer
Like The Other Simpson's Games

Thanks For Reading

DBZKing