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Good Clean Fun...Woo-hoo I Like It!
This is going to be short.

I RARELY play video games, but this one had a base conceptual appeal to me. I insisted on getting it when we ordered our Xbox.

I've hardly managed to get through much of it. As usual I'm flummoxed by the seemingly easiest of obstacles to overcome (How long did it take me to jump the donuts to the cake?? Don't ask).

Overall, it's a highly entertaining game and not too terribly frustrating for a cerebral but non-gaming person such as myself.

If you're looking for fun, I'd have to recommend this one.

Great effort, but missed the mark
After years of licensed shovelware, The Simpsons finally get a game made by people who obviously care. Pity the gameplay missed the mark.

For simpsons fans, the game is loaded with in-jokes, references, hand-animated scenes, and voice actors from the series. Unlike previous simpsons games, it feels carefully and meticulously put together. The plot is interesting, and the game is actually quite funny at times. It really feels like an event. Springfield has never been rendered with this much care.

That having been said, it is a pity the actual moment-to-moment gameplay varies between uninspired and frustrating. There were many moments where I had to resort to FAQs to figure out which button to press to get the character to do what they should know how to anyway. The basic beat-em-up formula is about as basic (and tedious) as you can get, and the platforming is fidgety with imprecise mechanics and a devil camera. Not only that, but the controlling-two-characters mechanic relies upon constantly going back to get your second character, all of whom walk as slow as slugs.

The whole thing is over in about six hours. Longevity is added through extensive collectibles, time trials, and other mechanics, but quite frankly six hours is about an hour too long.

I wanted to like The Simpsons Game as much as the creators had wanted me to, but in the end the bland gameplay just dragged down an otherwise impressive effort. Visit this Springfield to satiate your love of the Simpsons and video gaming, but don't expect to stay forever.

Has It's Ups And Downs
When I got this game, I was very excited because when I saw the commercial, I thought to myself, "Finally! A simpsons game that doesn't look crappy!". I started playing it and it was great the few first levels, but then I found out that this game is MUCH more fun with a second player. So if you don't have someone to play with you, this game will be kind of boring and dull. I then got my brother to play with me and it was a lot more fun. I thought the gameplay ws great and the lines were funny and original and brought out the simpsons humor we all know and love. The camera angles are really bad in my opinion, and take some time getting used to. I loved the idea of the levels making fun of other games such as Medal Of Honor and Everquest and re-naming them Medal Of Homer and Neverquest. The game takes a pretty short time to complete the main story. It took me and my brother about 8 hours to beat the story. If you want to beat the entire game 100% it will take a while. I reccomend you try before you buy. That is why I give this game 3/5 stars. Thanks!

Maybe the Joke's on Us...
When this game was announced, I added it to my Amazon wish list, but when the demo was released, I quickly removed the game from my wish list because of many of the problems associated with the game-play. As fate would have it, somebody decided to buy the game for me as a gift. The person saw it, knew I loved The Simpsons, and figured the game would be fun. It was actually a good idea.

Everything everybody else has already mentioned about the game is true. There is a terrible camera angle, and sometimes the camera is just "too big" for the area and other objects push the camera out of alignment with exactly what you need to see. So you end up making "leaps of faith". There is a crazy dizzying array of controls, and each character has a robust collection of powers. There are tons of "collect the item" quests, such as flags, coupons, etc. A lot of times, it is very difficult to judge depth and distance, and when you jump, you'll fail several times before you actually get it right. Add to all of this, a ton of "time challenges" tied to the Xbox 360 achievement system, which will force you to play the same part over and over and over again until you get it right to get the achievement. All of this can annoy you -- this game, at times, is a controller-twisting experience.

The game parodies every video game since the early Atari 2600. So I'm thinking that the "problems" described here by me and by others is perhaps the biggest joke ever...at our expense. It's almost as if the developers tried their best to put every possible video game "annoyance" into this one game. The reason why I say this is because things seem "frustrating" until you do it. Eventually, you'll have an "a-ha!" moment, and once you actually figure out what you need to do, the game doesn't seem that frustrating...it actually seems fun. In fact, I end up with a great sense of satisfaction after completing each level or time challenge. Overall, things are sometimes frustrating, but I don't feel the game is particularly difficult.

The game is well-polished. The visuals are great, the animations are superb, and the sound is dead-on "Simpsons". It feels like you're watching an actual episode, and there are tons of jokes to keep you smiling. And I think that's the true beauty of this game -- no matter how frustrating you think it might be, something is going to happen to make you smile.

Surprisingly good.
We thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. The teen rating is earned as there is a lot of "potty" language. For the most part it is minor, but one instance goes a little too far when Marge refers to some dogs as her "b!tches". The game parodies are great, spoofing both contemporary and classic video games. The writing was good with several laugh-out-loud moments, many inside jokes for young and old and a memorable (if not controversial and thought-provoking) ending.