The Simpsons: Hit & Run (PC)
Developed by: Radical
Published by: VU Games

The Simpsons franchise has been used and abused to death. With products ranging from poorly drawn comic books to cheaply made “don’t have a cow!” shirts that were always oversized and faded on the first wash, Simpsons video games also followed this same formula. Pretty much most of them came out of the same ass they were made… however there are exceptions, like The Simpsons arcade game and now Simpsons Hit and Run.

Strange wasp cameras start to show up in Springfield, and now you must investigate. Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, and Apu now must drive around spingfield to get to the bottom of these strange occurrences. The best way to describe this game is Simpsons Theft Auto (Grand Theft Auto)………well sort of. Take away the guns, gangs, blood, and boobs, throw in some Simpsons characters, scenery, cars and that pretty much describes this game. Even though it is a beaten rip off of GTA, the game is still pretty darn fun.

The most amazing thing about this game is the close attention to detail. The hardcore fans of the series will appreciate this much more. Everywhere you go you will find things like signs and famous landmarks and even really obscure things from the show will show up in the game. Things like Knight Boat (the talking boat), right down to boxes of Biclops man comics. It is truly amazing how much they managed to cram in. You can tell the developers are huge fans series themselves. It must have killed them having to do research for the game, watching episode after episode and getting paid to do it.

Simpsons Hit and Run is arguably the best Simpsons game made to date. It’s about time they put the license to good use, even though the TV series is getting crappier and crappier. Hopefully the games will get better and better. For every Simpsons fan this game is a must have.

7.8 on my ass kick meter.

– Chian