Watching Simpsons

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