Conspiracy
Strange events have been happening across the city of Springfield. People have gone missing. Mysterious crop circles have been appearing. Weird bee like robots with cameras have been popping up. When Homer notices an odd looking black van parked outside the Simpsons' home, he decides to take a more in-depth look into the strange phenomena happening in the city.
Grand Theft Auto: Springfield
Hit and Run boasts freeform gameplay much like the smash hit Grand Theft Auto series, as putting freeform elements into your game is now the popular thing to do. Unfortunately, Hit and Run lacks the variety and polish of the Grand Theft Auto games. There are seven levels in Hit and Run, and you control a different character from the TV series for five of the seven. Each stage has seven (they like that number) compulsory story missions, a few bonus missions, some bonus cards, and several "gags" - that is, easter egg-like jokes from previous episodes of the Simpsons, such as the Iceman in the Kwik-E-Mart. Writers from the show had a hand in the creation of the game, and their brand of humour can be found throughout the game - from billboards, to the hidden games, to little jokes on the newspapers in the loading screen.
Missions in Hit and Run usually chain together - your next mission will be related in some way to the one you just did, as they all tie into the story. These story missions are rather lacking in variety, due to the fact they mainly involve collecting a number of objects within a time limit, smashing cars, racing people or getting to a certain destination in a certain time limit. There is the occasional different mission, but these do very little to break up the overall monotony that Hit and Run offers.
The gameplay mechanics of Hit and Run make it feel more like a GTA-lite. First of all, there are no guns. Your character's only attack capabilities extend from a rather odd looking and poorly functioning kick attack, to running people down. Beware; this sort of violence isn't tolerated, as it will increase your Hit & Run meter, causing the police to chase after you. Driving feels quite weird at first, with cars either understeering or oversteering, and moving quite slowly. Each character has their own specific car, but you can also purchase cars from Gill at the phone booth, or "get a lift" (see: commandeer the vehicle, but not steal it) from one of the many citizens around Springfield. General movement of your character is almost as sluggish as the driving controls - characters get stuck on objects, are hard to control while they run and their jumping stinks.
You can expect to get a decent 10-12 hours out of Hit and Run, and possibly more if you and your friends like the no frills checkpoint racer multiplayer game that's on offer, or if you decide to seek out all of the gags and bonus missions in a level. We'd imagine that players would have gotten a lot more enjoyment out of the game if there was a lot more variety contained within the missions that are on offer.
Homer³
Radical Entertainment have chosen to go with a graphical styling reminiscent of the "Treehouse of Horror" episode "Homer³", as the characters and environments featured in the game represent a 3D version of Springfield. While this graphical style seems relatively effective, it would have been interesting to see the developer look into the possibility of using cel-shaded characters, though it may not have been possible on all of the formats that Hit and Run is available on. There are numerous graphical glitches in the game, such as significant slowdown and model clipping. The environments are riddled with inconsistent texturing - one building may have muddy, blurry textures, while another will look immaculate. The animations of characters featured in the game are of a questionable quality with most actions suffering from stiff execution. Hit and Run offers nothing in the way of 60 Hz or widescreen modes, which is quite disappointing.
Sound is probably the high point of the entire Hit and Run experience, with all of the actors from the Simpsons providing voices for their respective characters. This is much better than having sound-a-likes, and shows that the developer and publisher have at least gone to some trouble to make the game a more accurate depiction of the cartoon. Music seems quite generic in places, but you may eventually hear a few familiar tunes from the TV show. Sound effects are clear and boosted by surround sound support.
Change the channel, Marge
The Simpsons: Hit and Run shows that there has been progress made in the quest to make a good Simpsons game, but ultimately fails by offering a dull and repetitive experience, using a game style that can be better experienced in other recent titles. A greater number of more varied missions, and a more intuitive and in-depth control system would have gone a long way towards making Hit and Run a better game. It's a rental at best for everyone, including the most hardcore of Simpsons fans.
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