Just about every major and minor character is voiced by the same actor who does the voices for the show, and it's apparent from just how spot on every word throughout the game is delivered. Second only to the game's humor is the incredible sound and voice-acting of the title. Early on, the game reveals to the characters that they are in fact living within a video game, and this helps to keep things feeling unique and provides a vessel for the writers to go on an all out assault towards everything about the games industry and the Simpsons themselves. The humor and self-parody of The Simpsons Game is by far its greatest asset. You'll be shocked to see just how often this industry re-uses the same subject matter over and over. Even better are the Comic Book Guy 'video game cliches' - different moments where he will appear on screen and announce that you've found another cliché, with over 30 to collect throughout the game. The variety to the levels is wonderful, most levels parodying one or multiple different video game related subjects (I'll leave it at the as to not spoil anything). The gameplay is broken up into different levels, and each level has specific characters you must use to tackle it, each with different abilities, such as Bart using his Bartman cape to glide and Marge's ability to court town-goers to follow her and do her bidding.

From a distance the 3-D is beautiful, but zoom in and things take a nasty turn. This is painfully evident when the game attempts to provide cinematics using the in-game engine, as characters look awkward and disjointed upon close inspection, and it really takes you out of the experience. The hand drawn segments meant to be in the exact style of the show are beautifully done and really show that sometimes we do welcome being taken out of the game world for our cinemas. Everything looks clean and crisp, with animations that mimic those of the show. Graphically, the game is an impressive feat, managing to capture the look and feel of the cartoon and bringing the Simpsons to life on your screen. Would the game be able to succeed despite the limitations imposed by the handheld? Having quickly blazed through one of the console versions, I sat down to see if Springfield could be packed into portable form without losing some of its luster. Despite a few notable attempts, the Simpsons forays into gaming thus far have ranged from the enjoyable (The Simpsons Arcade) to the downright painful (Bart's Nightmare, I'm looking at you). I went in knowing my hopes could be dashed though. As a longtime Simpsons fan who had gone astray, only to be brought back into the fold by the very well written movie earlier this year, The Simpsons Game has been one of my most anticipated titles of the year.

The simpsons game review