I have played the other Simpsons games, such as the Simpsons Movie on the PS2 platform, but none of them have been as good as Hit and Run. I bought it a while back at the full price of £30, but now it has definitely decreased as PS2 games have lost a lot of market and I've seen it in game for around £5 preowned.
While other games based upon television shows and movie tend to be a downfall in the game department, this proved to be great and enjoyable. It doesn't follow a previous Simpsons episode, and they have created a whole new plotline for Simpsons fans to follow! The game is rated 7 plus, and this is due to the fact that throughout most of the game violent things can occur like running people over. It can be quite difficult to complete some of the tasks, so I would rate this as more of a 12 game.
The plotline centers around the new soda drink Buzz Cola that has been appearing throughout the town and following its arrival into Springfield, there have been black vans carrying cameras whizzing around the town. With the help of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Apu you have to do various missions throughout the game and see what's really going on and try your best to stop it.
It has basically been developed as The Simpsons version of Grand Theft Auto, except not as difficult. You tend to just drive around the town, with the ability to pick up random missions or following the storyline missions given to you. Usually the missions revolve around driving round the town picking up objects as you go along, avoiding being hit by cars or getting as far away from another car as possible. Some can be quite difficult and take a while to complete, but a nice thing in this game, is that after a while they will give you the option to skip a mission and move on to the next one.
One thing when playing this game is to make sure you avoid any of the citizens of Springfield, as if you hit them, your Hit and Run meter will increase and if it turns into a full 360 circle, you'll start to get chased by the police. During missions I actually found it quite hard to keep a low Hit and Run meter, as with such short time limits you find yourself rushing past whatever you can just to get items or away from someone.
If the police catch you during this Hit and Run, you'll face a fine, which is 50 coins and can be annoying if you have just started a mission which requires you to buy something!
Scattered around the game, and when you hit obstacles or win a race, are coins that you need to collect to buy vehicles or costumes. It's handy to get as many of these as you can as if you don't have enough to bu particular things for particular missions, it can be really frustrating trying to gather enough to complete all the missions. Collecting all the vehicles and clothes options can take ages, but there is nothing more satisfying than knowing you have got every bit of a game! There is also set amounts of Collectors Cards to find, which if you want to waste some time, you can wander around and look for all of them as it will unlock a race for you to play on each level.
Collecting all of these took me quite a while which was great as it gave me much more gameplay than I expected.
As mentioned above you can buy vehicles with the money that you gain from the game, and as The Simpsons Hit and Run missions mainly focus around driving everywhere it's no suprise that there is a large variety of cars. Each character has their own car for each level, and as you increase in the story and unlock new characters, their cars are unlocked with you. Homer has the sedan and Mr Plow, Marge has her Canyonero, Bart a rocketstyle car and Lisa a Malibu Stacy dream car. All of the cars set to the characters really match the personalities of them, the most famous obviously being Homer's as it is shown in the opening scene of every Simpsons episode!
Each vehicle has different stats, and you have to make sure you choose wisely when competing in races or doing particular missions, as ones that are heavier will be able to do more damage whereas faster ones will have you beating all of the opponents in a race. However, the vehicles do face some problems as if you find yourself crashing into things repeatedly, your vehicle will start to fall apart and eventually explode, losing you some of your hard earned coins. However, it's easy to repair them as their are spanners everywhere in the game and if they are totally destroyed, for a small fee you can repair them at the telephone stations that are everywhere.
All the controls used are really simple, as when guiding a character all you really have to do is press the the contol pad to make them jump or run and when you are controlling the car, all you do is use the analog stick to guide it down the streets. There is also the helpful option of pressing a button on the controller if you get stuck, and this releases the car and sets you in the right direction.
The graphics do resemble the well drawn cartoony style of the Simpsons, and all the characters look as they are in their television show. They are extremely well done for PS2 graphics, as they are really bright colourful and detailed extremely well. I've never had a glitch while owning this game, so it's clear the developers spent a lot of time working on it. My favourite part is that now you can actually explore Springfield in 3D and look at the town as it has been imagined on the television show!
These excellent graphics are well combined with the sounds in the game, as whenever you break down an object, it makes the sound that corresponds with this. The best part about the sounds however, has to the characters catchphrases, with each saying a variety of them throughout their level e.g. my favourite of Homers being "I'm A Lean Mean Speed Thingy"
I'm A Lean Mean Speed Thingy 
