Watching Simpsons

The Simpsons Game has met with largely mixed results. Fans of the show love or like the game’s humor, but serious gamers are largely unimpressed with the quality of game play, not seemingly impressed with the Neverquest or Grand Theft Scratchy gags. It would be easy to say that the expectations for the game were pretty high – the game got a lot of press, whether it stemmed from the jokes itself, or from the fact that one of the companies that got ribbed – Rockstar – took offense. The level of press and attention is actually quite informally easy to monitor, if one does a Google news search for “The Simpsons.” Most of the results, lately, are either about the game, or about Britney Spears. Other Simpsons related news, like the Testify CD, the mobile game, or just info about the show kind of gets drowned out.

At any rate, when one’s thinking about the Simpsons Game, or anything else about that show, for that matter, it’s always interesting to get Matt Groening’s take. After all, while the merchandising of The Simpsons seems vast and endless at times, he’s still the creator, so to speak. The following interview, while plucked off of YouTube was initially conducted by Robert Summa of Epileptic Gaming. The event is the actual premiere of the game, and yes, if you look closely, it has a yellow carpet, not a red one. It seems that most premieres regarding the Simpsons, like the one with the recent movie, always have that quirky touch.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Game, Gaming, Matt Groening

With the new game out there, it’s interesting to take a quick, ramdom sampling of the reactions found on technorati:

at Gosu 7, there’s a sharply critical take. This is the intro, followed by bullet points:

While The Simpsons has enjoyed a fairly healthy video-game franchise- from its early arcade roots to Hit and Run and Road Rage, the formula has finally started to become stale. Knowing that, The Simpsons Game is a parody on video games itself, with the comic book storekeep calling attention to blatant cliches…the only problem? The game itself is a cliche.

Over on Loot Ninja, there’s this more positive take:

This game is made for Simpsons fans to enjoy the humor, the gameplay could have used some work from what I have seen so far, but for the parts I got to play with my friend (before my Xbox died!) was pretty fun. It is the equivalent of watching a Simpson’s episode.

Variety has the following to say:

There’s nothing groundbreaking in the gameplay, which involves a lot of puzzle-solving and simple fighting, but it works well enough in service to the comedy, which is the point. Offline co-op play is an option, but hardly necessary, as the game is quite easy. On the rare occasions when players die, they’re greeted by Nelson’s trademark “Ha ha!”

Graphics are excellent, and all of the characters feature authentic voices. Oddly, however, half the pre-animated cut-scenes look like rough drafts that were never completed.

The only other serious complaint that can be lodged against “The Simpsons Game” is the number of targets it didn’t get around to parodying. Where’s “Halo”? Or “Guitar Hero”? One can only hope the Simpsons will live half as long in interactive form as they have on TV, so they can get around to skewering those games and all the deserving ones yet to come.

The AV Club is also critical:

Early hype for The Simpsons Game promised it would be a clever, Simpsons-style satire-from-within about the game industry. Instead, it’s blunt, dumb, ridiculous, and almost never funny. Never mind that this action platformer is buggy, dull, and handles like wet cardboard, or that the faces look like they were drawn on an Etch-A-Sketch. A weak game could pass, if only it had some good laughs.

At anyrate, a consensus seems that the game is a little lackluster. I must admit though, the concept of satire itself was funny, at least.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Game, Games, Consoles

While this clip is fairly long, it gives the viewer a sense of the game. I suggest turning the volume down, has the cell-phone-techno is a bit annoying. (I hope that’s not that actual game track, and if it is, it could be muted). It’s likely that the clip contains game spoilers, so be wary. While the clip was found on YouTube, it likely originates from Project Next.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons: Minutes to Meltdown, Mobile, Mobile Games, Games