3.5/5 ★ – vertigo's review of The Simpsons: Hit & Run.

13 years in the making, I finally finished it. Goddamn. When I started this game in 2007 I thought it was the greatest thing ever. It was like GTA Vice City....... but with the Simpsons. I never did beat my PS2 copy, leaving only the final mission incomplete. Last year I managed to find a PC CD copy for £1 so I replayed the game from start to finish, finally beating it. This game is really, really good. It's also pretty terrible. There are 5 playable characters, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Apu for some reason. Each character has its own stage made up of 3 variations of an open world map of Springfield. You progress through the campaign by carrying out a series of missions, including following cars, racing cars and hitting the backs of cars. Yeah... pretty repetitive. What makes up for it is a story that feels just like an extended Treehouse of Horror episode, with all the original voice actors reprising their roles. The 2 modes of movement in the game are on foot and driving vehicles. On foot is pretty standard, think GTA movement but without guns and with the inclusion of a ground pound. There are a few areas in the game where you will need to complete some platforming on foot. I have to be real, I hate the platforming in this game. The limiting camera angles and lack of accurate movement make these sequences very frustrating. Luckily there aren't too many. Driving is the focus of this game. There is a selection of many iconic vehicles featured in the show, including Plow King, the "Homer Car" and Chester Lampwick's rocket car. Personally, I really enjoy the driving in this game. It's far from realistic and can be pretty slippy at times, but that's kinda exactly what makes it so fun. Hit & Run's soundtrack is surprisingly incredible. Each track instantly fits the show and specific characters. This is genuinely my favourite video game soundtrack. Difficulty wise, this game is hard. Really, really, really hard. Too hard, even. Many missions rely upon collecting a certain number of items within a short time limit. If you don't make it on time, you are forced to restart the entire mission. All in all, regardless of my critiques, I would highly recommend this game to anyone. It's gradually becoming more and more expensive to buy a copy, and due to recent changes to the show the possibility of a remaster is very unlikely. Besides its age, I had a lot of fun replying it. I might even try to 100% it by finding all the collectables. Speedrun: 13 years [WR]