The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360, 2007)

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The Simpson's Game is yet another game starring America's beloved dysfunctional family. It is a licensed game that features all the voice actors (there's over 8,000 original lines for the game or something ridiculously high) and some animated segments/shorts. Basically, it's a really long episode of the Simpsons, as an episode it's spectacular....as a game, it's short.

Gameplay: 6/10
Pros: Each family member has a different skill set, the levels offer a great variety and reference many classic episodes.
Cons: Gameplay is a heavy copycat of 3rd person platformers and even includes a troublesome camera and resulting frustration.

Graphics: 8/10
Pros: Playing this game is like playing the TV show. The game captures Springfield and the look of the show better than any other Simpsons game before it.
Cons: The cartoon / cel-shaded look definitely doesn't push the PS3 or Xbox360 or is all that impressive up to other next gen games.

Sound/Music: 9.5/10
Pros: The Voicework and effort of the actual cast in this game pays off. The story is great and the quips during gameplay to the actual script itself is fantastic and hysterical.

Lasting Appeal: 3/10
Pros: You'll absolutely want to play through the story and enjoy the script/writing and humor. If you really care about collecting things...there's PLENTY of that.
Cons: I beat the main game in about 3 days and 8 hours (Great rental - terrible buy). Now that I've seen the story, the gameplay, collectibles, achievements, etc. will not bring me back to the game. I don't care about collecting Homer's bottle caps, Bart's posters, etc. (though the Video game cliche's are pretty funnY). I'm done and it was fun while it lasted...just not $60 of fun.

Average: 66.25%
Tilt: -1.25%

As a game, the Simpson's Game isn't very good. It is an amazing Simpsons Episode with a phenomenal script, excellent voicework and decent gameplay to get you through it all. It's a great licensed game, but unfortunately if this game wasn't the Simpson's and didn't have the money and quality voice work and humor, it would probably drop an additional 10 pts or so. If your a fan of the Simpsons, you gotta rent it. If you're only a gamer, forget it.

Verdict: 65%

Just like playing the TV show- Im not a gamer, but I steal time from my son on this! Split into 16 episodes - self-contained stories bound by their mutual desire to send up videogames - what we have here is a third-person platform game full of simple combat and puzzles, most of which is defensibly average, potentially stabilised by a lot of good jokes and the occasional moment of mild inspiration. The Simpsons have discovered that they are in a game, and have special powers to match, and each has different ideas about how to put them to use.

As with the show, Homer's the star - he can burp people to death and transform into Homerball to bowl them out of the way, and gets most of the best gags. Bart can fire his slingshot, or turn into Bartman and hover across gaps; Lisa can stun enemies with her saxophone, or use Buddha statues to assume an aerial view of the level and deploy a hand-of-God UFO-Catcher to move things around; and Marge can use a megaphone to rally NPCs to help her, or shove Maggie into vents where she can pull switches and uncover collectibles.

Pretty cool.

The Simpsons Game, where players assume the roles of all four members of the cartoon family that has been invading televisions since 1989. Fans were understandably concerned when they heard that the yellow-skinned, four-fingered quartet would be making their way not only into a full-length feature film but also into an EA-made videogame in the same year. While the movie didn't turn many heads with its humor, we're happy to report that the game certainly will, thanks to a sense of humor that can only be described as equal to Simpsons episodes of old. Heed the call, fans: this game is good.

The game brings the cartoon household knowingly into their own videogame when Bart stumbles upon a game manual that has seemingly dropped from the heavens. What's inside the manual? Why it's the guide on how to use the family's all-important powers against their captors, of course! Along the way they'll be pitted against villains from the show, EA higher ups (yes, you read that right), and their creator - in more ways than one. While the plot of the game is functional, the real star of The Simpsons Game is the hilarity that ensues.

This game, with it's episode style HD cut scenes and self mocking scenarios, is the most entertaining games you'll get this year. The multi-character gameplay makes each level different and exciting. The coolest thing is that you can start any level playing alone switching between characters as needed then your friend can join in at any time with a click of the control. There is no need to end the level to switch to a multi-player mode. You'll love this game!!

The Simpson's game is one giant parody of the video game industry. Using all the cliches possible, and thus is also it's downfall, whether the developer intentionally made the gameplay so generic as to parody the rest of the titles in this genre remains a mystery. Nevertheless some levels are a pain to just finish. If you do finish you are reward with what basically ends up as the player playing through a simpsons episode. The writing is clever and if you enjoy the simpsons and platformers you'll thoroughly enjoy this game. A couple camera issues some generic gameplay still can't take away from the charm of the script. Some unlockables and collectibles along with some great jokes for true Simpson's afficianod's will have you playing this game for awhile.
Just take it for what is a pretty good simpson's episode that you get to play which makes it pretty cool.