I just finished playing The Simpsons Game on the 360. Overall, I enjoyed it.
Good Points
The graphics are very good, there are a few times when you could mistake some of the real-time cutscenes for animation. A few more polygons to smooth out the lines and things would work very well. A few of the large high polygon characters (like the Lard Lad Doughnut Boy) look fantastic. The “pre-rendered” cutscenes are actually animation in HD, which looks great. The real shine of this game is the writing and voice acting. Everyone from the show is there, and it was written by some of the same writers. There are some gags or one off lines reused (which works well), and many new lines (like Comic Book Guy telling “Tetsou!” in the Japanese level, or the radio station you fix in Grand Theft Scratchy) There are many great video game references, both overt and slightly hidden.
Bad Points
Unfortunately, the game, on the whole, would get a thoroughly average rating from me. Everything is pretty well done, but the gameplay. The gameplay ranged from a hair above average to frustrating. The camera can be iffy, but that is sadly common even though Mario 64 came out over a decade ago. The platforming is often tricky. The player’s shadows don’t show very well making jumps often hard to judge or get right. The combat is very repudiative, and there are a couple of places later in the game where your characters are seemingly too weak and unable to take enough damage.
Now there is a fix for this. By collecting enough stuff, you can sort of power up your characters in both their health and their special ability meters. The problem is that this is a collection quest on a grand scale. It would just be very boring to do. The frustrating camera really compounds this, taking fun out of areas that may otherwise be enjoyable to replay. The game also has ideas about how fast you should be able to complete the levels (for more achievements), but they often seem unrealistic and numbers that you could only achieve on a second or later play-though when you already know exactly what you are doing.
Warning
I’m glad I played the game. The ending was great. There were quite a few good laughs. But if this was any other game, I would have never completed it. As it was, I nearly gave up probably three or four times due to the difficulty of a few sections (mostly fighting controls). This occurred even at the very end of the game when I knew I was just about done.
Mechanic Comment
The system of having two characters in each level (until the very end, when you get four) worked pretty well. Most tasks could be completed by either one (just beating people up, pushing this button, etc.) but there are sections in each level that require one specific character to complete. At times this seemed pointless, with sections designed seemingly just to make you use one character in one level. At other times, the switch off works very well and feels quite natural. I could see this kind of system being used in other games. The biggest problem I had was in the final level when you have control of all four characters: you can’t see their health bars. There is always one or two health bars on the screen… one for you, and one for your partner. The problem is that when you have four characters in the final level you still only see one or two health bars. To know how the other two are doing, you have to switch to one of them. This can get annoying.
It seems like (based on “please connect controller” flashing at times on the screen) that you can do a co-op mode in this game, and that may improve things. As it is, I only have one controller for my 360 so this wouldn’t have been an option for me. Being able to move in and out of the game would be a great boon though. Always having a second person to play with doesn’t always work well, as it can be hard to find free time when you both want to play the game.
Luckily, this isn’t too big of a problem. Unlike many games, your partner isn’t a moron. They fight enemies. They get on a second switch when you have to press two at a time. They can find their way and tag along with you very well. This even works with many people (like Marge’s mobs in some levels). They don’t need to be babysat. They don’t seem to use their special powers at all, which is a bit of a shame. This would make they more effective in the sections of the game where you get swamped with enemies (which can be some of the worst parts), but at the same time those powers use up your special power quota (sort of like a magic meter) which could mean you wouldn’t be able to pull off a move you needed to move forward in a level. If this happened, you’d either have to wait around for enough to regenerate (30-60 seconds) or go break things (if they are around) to get pickups to refill that energy. This could be annoying and take you right out of the game, so I understand the choice.
Interesting Omission
There is one thing that is absent from the game: vehicles. There is a level involving planes, but you never fly one. That same lever at a different part includes tanks, but you never pilot those either. You are never out of the Simpson’s bodies. Even when things shift to an overhead perspective for some kind of mini-game, you still play the same way. You can still run around and beat people up. Or you can use a specific power (like Lisa’s) to play the game. But things never change radically. This is a bit of a disappointment at times. You’ll see something (like when I thought I was about to pilot a plane for a short bit) and miss a chance to try something different and fresh. I think the escort mission in the game is hurt by this (it’s one of the more frustrating sequences due to controls not fitting well). But so many games just smash mini-games in there today. More importantly mini-games are often frustrating, obnoxious, or have terrible controls. By not creating these little on-off experiences, they didn’t need to tweak them and could spend more time on the gameplay that would make up the other 90% of the game. I’d rather have sections that work OK like the rest of the game then be dropped into small sections that don’t control well at all and just take you out of the experience.
