Review: The Simpsons Hit and Run

A couple of blog entries below, I expressed my love for the Grand Theft Auto series of games by Rockstar Games. It was free-form entertainment and one could choose a non-linear path of the game and do side tasks, explore the city...and basically do whatever the hell you wanted to!

But what if there was a game in the vein of GTA but based on another favourite city of mine, with characters that are already part of pop culture and Americana? What if there was a game that could make you fall in love even MORE with said characters and give you a chance to live and breathe in that city?

Of course I'm going to have to buy it and play it. Cue: The Simpsons Hit and Run!


Now, this game has actually been out for several years now. It was originally released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2003, and then on PC later that year. The PS2 released it in 2004 and even the Xbox (original, not the new Xbox360) had it in 2006, so popular was the game!

I had a choice between the GameCube and PC versions a couple of weeks ago when trawling through the collection of games at the Cash Converters in Forest Hill and I decided to get the GameCube version, since I knew that GameCube games could be played on the Nintendo Wii. On hindsight, I probably should have gotten the PS2 version, but ah well.

The problem with the GameCube version, which I learned firsthand only a few days ago when I tried playing the game on my Wii, is not only did you need an original GameCube controller (the Wiimote and even the Wii classic controller doesn't work with the game), but you needed a GameCube memory card to save the game. What a bummer...additional costs I never factored in!

So I had to get a GameCube controller off eBay because it seemed impossible to find in a Cash Converters! EB Games and Game and other gaming stores did have non-official controllers, but I was a bit wary of those, not knowing whether they could actually be used or recognised by the Wii as a GameCube controller.

It was even harder finding a GameCube memory card! But as luck would have it, the Cash Converters at Knox City had the single memory card and I quickly purchased it...none of the game shops I went to had any at all!

So I could now play The Simpsons Hit and Run and boy, it was well worth the wait! It's not as free-roaming as GTA...you could decide to just drive around Springfield knocking things down and crashing into people and getting the cops to chase you if you had too high a "wanted" rating. And there are side missions where you could do favours and tasks for other Springfield-ians to get rewards and even participate in a race to unlock bonus cars. But those numbers pale in comparison to the non-linear side missions that is available in the GTA universe.

Nevertheless, you get to explore Springfield! Be it the Kwik-E-Mart or the Nuclear Power Plant, Springfield is brought to life in vivid detail. While you can't interact with every single person or every single location in the game, just seeing Springfield in 3D is a Simpsons fanatic's dream.

What's really awesome about the game is that when you CAN interact with other Springfield-ians, you get witty quips and memorable one-liners from the show. Once again, a Simpsons fanatics' wet dream. I spent much time just driving around familiarising myself with Springfield...and running down as many pedestrians as I could. Absolutely loved it when you knock someone down and Homer starts singing: "I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer!"

The Simpsons Hit and Run is simply awesome. If you're a fan of The Simpsons, there really shouldn't be any reason why this game isn't part of your collection.

Alan Moore gets animated

Damn you Alan Moore, when the hell is The Black Dossier going to be published already!? It's over a year late, dammit!

Wizard Universe conducted an interview with Moore about his animated stint on The Simpsons as well as some tidbit info on his new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book:


ALAN MOORE GETS ANIMATED
The acclaimed writer discusses his upcoming turn on ‘The Simpsons’ and teases a bit about The Black Dossier

By Kiel Phegley

Posted November 16, 2007 1:00 PM

After creating a body of work that’s illuminated comics fans on topics from the darker side of Victorian literature to how to be a practicing magician, Alan Moore has discovered a new path to happiness he’s more than willing to share with his fans.

“It is quite nice to see yourself with three fingers and yellow,” laughs the legendary writer. “It’s probably something that everybody should try to do once in their life.”

Moore is, of course, talking about his impending guest spot on Fox’s long-running animated series “The Simpsons,” which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday. In the episode “Husbands & Knives” the writer of comics classics from Watchmen to Lost Girls plays himself arriving in Springfield in the company of fellow renowned comics creators Art Spiegelman and Daniel Clowes when a new, high-end comics shop (run by a character voiced by actor Jack Black) springs up to compete with longstanding shop The Android’s Dungeon.

“I met Art Spiegelman once, but that’s it,” notes Moore of his onscreen chum. “I’ve not actually met Dan Clowes. I guess that, for what it’s worth, that would be some sort of virtual meeting.”

Moore did have an actual meeting with producers from the show when it came time to record the episode’s dialogue in his hometown of Northampton, England. “We’ve got a local recording studio here which I used for two or three of the CDs that I recorded my performances on a few years ago. It’s a little tiny studio that’s been useful for shooting little television interviews and things like that. So I think that I suggested it to the ‘Simpsons’ people when they got in touch with me. We went down there with Tim Long, who’s one of the writers, a very, very nice engaging chap. I’d been sent the script sometime before that and so we just went down to the recording studio and I ran through my lines, and they seemed to be quite pleased with the performance.”

And although the writer has yet to see the final product, he did give approval for his animated counterpart’s look. “I saw the character sketches that they had done of me,” he says with a chuckle. “I think that they showed me my printout on the Net. Yeah, I looked very good. They probably caught my essence, and I shall probably have to get one of those coats that they’ve dressed me in—otherwise my audience will be disappointed when they see me on the streets.”

It’s a busy week for Moore, at least in terms of releases bearing his name and/or likeness: Wednesday finally saw the release of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier—the long-delayed new entry in he and Kevin O’Neill’s series of “Victorian Literature Adventure Comics” although as with anything the writer works on, there’s much more to the book than the base description.

“With The Black Dossier, which is a very bittersweet book for both me and Kevin, in some ways it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done,” explains Moore. “It’s a completely new form. It manages to take the elements that have always been there—the text features and the comic strip sequences—and it adds a few more things to the mix, then puts them together in what I believe is a fairly unique way.”

Despite the complications leading to its release, both Moore and O’Neill are excited at the prospect of the book reaching audiences, particularly so they can show it off. “I suspect that it does make a lot of the other product being put out look a little bit lazy and perhaps a little tiny bit illiterate. But you have to judge for yourself. I might be blowing my own trumpet too much.”

As for his own future and the future of the League, both will be moving to indie publisher Top Shelf in 2008, a move which Moore believes synchs up well with modern trends of publishing comics for a broader audience. “A lot of the big-time, serious, legitimate book publishers are getting in on the act and bringing out a huge number of really entertaining books,” he says. “Increasingly, there’s interesting books in the graphic novel section of the chain bookstores over here along with all the superhero collections. I hope that this signals a general absorption of comic book material into mainstream culture, which would take it away from these little enclaves that have controlled the destiny of comics for the past…goodness, man, can it really be 70 years?

“It would be nice to think that the basic structure of the industry is changing, that the traditional comics industry is perhaps withering and dying. I, for one, am quite interested in seeing what springs up to take its place.”

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For more on The Black Dossier, check out Wizard #195, on sale in comic shops Nov. 21.

Alan Moore on The Simpsons

Omigod! Comic book legend Alan Moore is set to appear on a comics-related episode of The Simpsons on 7 October in America!

Best. Episode. Ever?

And believe it or not, I STILL haven't watched The Simpsons movie yet.

This should be an awesome episode...I can't wait until it reaches Australia!

FALL TV PREVIEW: ALAN MOORE ON ‘THE SIMPSONS’
Watchmen writer to appear on hit series along with Jack Black and others in special comics-themed episode

By Kiel Phegley

Posted September 23, 2007 4:30 PM

Fanboys still feeling the effects of the famous yellow cartoon family’s summer foray onto the big screen should brace themselves this fall for another assault of pop culture comedy. Season 19 of “The Simpsons” invites longtime fan Alan Moore as well as legendary cartoonist (and former Matt Groening co-worker) Art Spiegelman (Maus) and graphic novelist Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) onto the streets of Springfield.

In the Oct. 7 episode “Husbands and Knives,” a new high-class comic book shop called Coolsville Comics & Toys opens up across the street from The Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop, home to the ever-sarcastic Jeff “Comic Book Guy” Albertson. If the increased competition wasn’t enough for the rotund shopkeep, Coolville’s owner Milo (voiced by Jack Black) holds a signing with the guest stars, making for the kind of four-color faceoff not seen since Stan Lee destroyed Ralph Wiggum’s Batmobile.