I think nostalgia has blinded a lot of people on this one, but I understand why. It's a tale as old as time that The Simpsons Hit & Run was the Grand Theft Auto game for those too young to play the game, which made this a significant game for many in their early years.
Taking a critical eye to The Simpsons Hit & Run so many years later does highlight a few nagging issues that make it quite surprising why it's still held in such high regard. I'm going to try and pitch an article to the website I write to about a potential breakdown of these issues, but to put it simply: Hit & Run is an extraordinarily repetitive game that hinges all of its enjoyment off of references to episodes of The Simpsons, rather than creating interesting gameplay mechanics; that's the easiest way to summarize this before I do a bigger breakdown at a later date.
I would highly urge those who are rather nostalgic about this release to give it another playthrough. The Simpsons: Hit & Run certainly has its merits, but it's a pretty mediocre racing game, pinned with equally "meh" open-world elements, all coated in a Simpsons paint job.
Taking a critical eye to The Simpsons Hit & Run so many years later does highlight a few nagging issues that make it quite surprising why it's still held in such high regard. I'm going to try and pitch an article to the website I write to about a potential breakdown of these issues, but to put it simply: Hit & Run is an extraordinarily repetitive game that hinges all of its enjoyment off of references to episodes of The Simpsons, rather than creating interesting gameplay mechanics; that's the easiest way to summarize this before I do a bigger breakdown at a later date.
I would highly urge those who are rather nostalgic about this release to give it another playthrough. The Simpsons: Hit & Run certainly has its merits, but it's a pretty mediocre racing game, pinned with equally "meh" open-world elements, all coated in a Simpsons paint job.
2 Comments
Most definitely. There's a lot of fun to be had with Hit & Run, but it also lags behind the curve in many ways where its predecessors even succeeded. Nevertheless, it's a perfect 6-7/10 game to kick back to and re-live some nostalgia with, especially with friends who feel the same.
There's nothing wrong with looking at this game with rose-tinted glasses; I still certainly do. I just find it a bit eyebrow-raising when people say this game goes toe-to-toe with newer, more refined (non-Ubisoft) open-world/driving games when they clearly haven't played it since they were 12 years old.
There's nothing wrong with looking at this game with rose-tinted glasses; I still certainly do. I just find it a bit eyebrow-raising when people say this game goes toe-to-toe with newer, more refined (non-Ubisoft) open-world/driving games when they clearly haven't played it since they were 12 years old.
Gelatart
3 years ago