Friday, December 13, 2019

Eric Vs. 365 - Day 166 - The Simpsons Hit & Run

Man, The Simpsons is such a weird show to me. For years and years and years it was appointment viewing. I was always there for every new episode. Then I just sort of stopped. I was never one of those people who was all "The Simpsons sucks and has been bad for 10-years now" but at some point I just got bored of it. We're on Season 30-whatever now and I have basically no memories of anything from the past 15 seasons or so even though I was still watching. That's not a good sign. Anyway, today's video features The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Read all about it and watch gameplay here.

For as popular as The Simpsons has always been, it's weird that there hasn't ever really been a really great video game based on it. The early Acclaim 2D platformers were all absolutely putrid. The Konami arcade game, even as "beloved" as it is, totally sucks. Then they tried to branch out into different genres and had Simpsons Wrestling and Simpsons Skateboarding, which both absolutely suck. Then Electronic Arts got the license and pumped out an OK-ish, but still crap, game in 2007 and have been sitting on the license ever since.

There have been two reasonably acceptable Simpsons games, however. The Simpsons Hit & Run, and The Simpsons Road Rage. Today, though, we're talking about Hit & Run. This Grand Theft Auto clone let you explore (a fairly accurate) Springfield like never before and it was full of jokes and fan service and tons of great stuff. The gameplay was pretty spotty and it doesn't feel good to play, but you get to run around as the Simpson family and have a good ol' time. It had a lot of genuinely solid jokes and references, too, and for a fan of The Simpsons back in 2003 it was a treat. 


And it still holds up remarkably well in 2019, too. And the best part is that all of the jokes and references are from the show's glory days, and not the last 15 forgettable years. The Simpsons Hit & Run was, and still is, the best Simpsons game ever.