Brace yourselves, because we’re about to get philosophical on your ass! What is it that you expect from a videogame? Is it stellar gameplay combined with an excellent narrative and the overall immersive nature of the experience, or do you just want to mash some buttons, unlock Achievements and go away thinking ‘damn, I had a good time with that!’? Unsurprisingly, both statements are correct depending on the individual, but the overwhelming factor – regardless of your approach – is that you’re entertained. Otherwise, what’s the point? Before you start to wonder what the hell this has to do with The Simpsons, let’s shift gears and tell you just that.

To be blunt, as a game, The Simpsons is as generic as they come. You take control of two members of the family and then punch and jump your way through a level. There’s little to no originality or innovation, and even a dog could manage to get through a portion of it. Granted, the dog would have to be superior to all other dogs, but that defeats our point… let’s move on.

The beauty of EA’s take on the family of five is that it never takes itself too seriously and is genuinely hilarious. Clearly, the numerous clichés (which are pointed out continuously by Comic Book Guy) and generic structure have been inserted simply to be torn back down again. Sure, many will claim this is a waste of time. It may be funny to take the mick out of how hackneyed getting two characters to stand on different switches to open a door is, but it’s not fun to play through. While there’s an argument to be made, we see it in a very different fashion. The millions of people who tune into The Simpsons each week do so to laugh. If the brains behind the cartoon can translate this into a videogame, then no matter how passé it may be, that same feeling will be brought forth. It’s called fun, people, and it’s only enhanced further because EA rips it out of numerous wellknown franchises throughout. Marge rounding up a gang of hoodlums to try to convince Mayor Quimby and an EA executive that ’Grand Theft Scratchy’ is too violent for Springfield is brilliant! Again, when you actually play through the mission it’s just a case of switching between Marge and Lisa, recruiting gang members and making your way towards the town hall, but the premise combined with the dialogue will have you smiling.

Unfortunately, no matter how much humour The Simpsons Game spouts at you, nothing can combat the vicious, tiresome rage that comes with having to replay a level over and over again. A select few just aren’t designed very well and will see you having to restart them far more often than you’d like. This, coupled with the fact that the same jokes are uttered as you constantly start again, means you can, and probably will, get slightly frustrated. It’ll never get to the stage where you’ll have the urge to rip the arms off the next person you see, but it’s testing nonetheless.

However, the varied settings that prey on popular videogames are a treat in themselves. It’s slightly odd that the gameplay follows the same exact trend regardless of the environment you find yourself in – ‘Medal Of Homer’ is based on the FPS Medal Of Honor series, but is actually a collect-’em-up; to reach the true upper echelons of gaming lore it should have completely parodied the title in question in our eyes. Such a move would have largely increased the overall variety and also allowed the development team to have a lot more fun with the tools at their disposal. The path taken is still a witty one, but the question must be raised!

And so, The Simpsons Game is somewhat of an anomaly. On the one hand it’s masterful because it kept a huge smile on our mugs from start to finish and, when we weren’t drinking tea, even managed to make us grin too – on more than one occasion, we even laughed out loud. But, if we look at the other hand, it’s hard not to draw attention to how basic and straightforward the gameplay is, although surprisingly this isn’t a problem! Obviously it can get quite tedious, but considering you’ll be laughing your way through it – which is the point, remember – the overriding emotion stemming from your stomach will be one of joy!

To give credit where it’s definitely deserved, The Simpsons Game is one damn funny experience and one we recommend to everyone that possesses the gift of laughter. If you subscribe to the more silent and moody side of human existence then you won’t want to bother, but then again, you probably don’t even know who the Simpsons are. For shame….

Simon Miller