The Simpsons: Hit & Run

There are literally 3 Simpsons games that are good. The Simpsons Arcade Game, Hit & Run, and the Simpsons Game. The arcade game might not hold up so well these and some may argue that Road Rage is pretty good but it's so forgettable and such a shameless clone of Crazy Taxi that it's not even really worth mentioning. And the Simpsons Game was too focused on parodying various video games that it forgot that it needed to tell a Simpsons story and be a good Simpsons game. So we're left with Hit & Run and you know what? It's illegitimately good.

The first thing that Hit & Run does right (and perhaps most importantly) is the humor. The game is hilarious, and while the lines when driving may repeat a little too often the excellent writing throughout more than makes up for it. There are many moments that had be laughing out loud with the standout moment being Homer saying "I keep making God madder and madder" when I accidentally ran over Marge. It's great stuff.

The game's story is surprisingly compelling. It begins with Homer doing mundane chores for Marge and Flanders and having to make it to work on time, but as it goes on he starts to notice black vans are spying on the citizens of Springfield. From here a vast conspiracy unfolds as Bart is abducted by aliens and a new cola is taking over the minds of Springfieldians. It gets crazy and has a satisfying ending.

There are five playable characters in Hit and Run: Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Apu though each character is only playable in his or her designated level. Thankfully there is a mission select that allows you to jump between levels at any time granted you've played through them. There are also three different areas you'll visit in the seven levels: Suburban Springfield, Downtown Springfield, and the Docks. Each one changes it up by either being at night or sunset while playing as the different characters. Each level has six main missions with one bonus level that unlocks a car and there are three different races to participate in as well as a replayable betting mission that you can continuously play to earn coins, which are the only form of currency in the game. You can also collect these by breaking boxes, vending machines, or just running everything over. Though doing too much running over will result in a Hit & Run and the cops will come after you and fine you 50 coins if caught. These coins are spent on different costumes and cars such as Homer in a Mumu while wearing his “fat guy hat” and Otto’s schoolbus.

The game has garnered many comparisons to GTA for being open world and all. But instead of taking on missions where you have to tail someone without being seen or killing a gang of enemies you instead do more arcade-like missions. These missions include escaping a car chase, a one on one race to an area, hitting a car and collecting the contents that it drops, or getting to an area in a time limit, all while being behind the wheel. There are no combat missions to speak of and your only form of attack is a simple kick which is really only used to break objects. The missions tend to repeat and around the halfway point you'll have seen most, if not all, of the mission types with the only variables being that they are harder to complete due to a shorter time limit or having more things to collect.

All of the levels are filled with references and call backs to classic Simpsons episodes through landmarks, interactive objects, and collectible cards. They range from simple references to the more obscure like being able to drive the monorail from the Marge vs the Monorail episode. Some of the most fun you’ll have is finding these references and being able to drive vehicles from the show, such as the pink family sedan, and it really adds to the experience.

Visually the game holds of extremely well. Characters don’t exactly animate very well and the lip syncing is nonexistent as the characters mouths just flap up and down on their own terms. But none of this really matters in the big picture and the big picture is the world you get to explore. Being able to drive around a virtual suburban Springfield is a site to behold, and while the area’s themselves are fairly linear in scope you’ll learn where the major landmarks are as you play through the game. Being able to visit Flanders home and hear Rod and Todd call from the bomb shelter in the backyard is hilarious, as is jumping the great Tire Fire while Homer screams like a little girl.

If you want to go back and replay the Simpsons Hit & Run I’d recommend playing it on PC. It offers many higher resolutions to play in than the console versions and looks much better. And at this point almost everyone has a PC that is capable of running the game with no problem. It even has gamepad support so you can play with a 360 controller if you so desire and it works very well after you've configured the controls yourself.

The Simpsons Hit & Run is a standout in the Simpsons game pantheon. It’s not only a great Simpsons game but it’s a great game in general and any die hard Simpsons fan should by all means play it. It’s a game that has stuck out to me for many years and I find that I go back and play it over and over again as the years go on. I’d love a sequel, though sadly that may never happen.