The Simpsons Arcade Game (Xbox 360) review"Certainly, you’ll see a large number of recycled goons, but the variety is still impressive considering the game’s era. There are pot-bellied businessmen, women with afros, ninja warriors, ghosts and lanky janitors, among others. New stages always have a new threat or two, and even familiar adversaries will mix things up by bringing weapons to the brawl. You can do the same thing yourself." |
Even if you’ve been playing games based on The Simpsons cartoon for as long as they’ve been available, a span of time that includes more than two decades, you can probably count the number of good experiences the license has produced on one four-fingered hand. You might even have a digit or two remaining. Matt Groenig’s fictional Springfield has often been the victim of crippling play control, unimaginative and repetitive levels, insane difficulty and just plain bad design. Yet there have been a few exceptions to that well-documented rule, cases where nearly everything went right. The most well-known of those exceptions is The Simpsons Arcade Game.
Until this week, you had to drop quarters if you wanted to experience that classic gameplay. You had to find a bulky arcade cabinet if you and up to three friends wanted to terrorize Springfield on the way to rescue Maggie from her nefarious abductors, Smithers and Mr. Burns. With the game’s release this week on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points, though, it’s much easier to relive the arcade glory days. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, you and your friends no longer even need to occupy the same building.
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Staff review by Jason Venter (February 04, 2012)
Jason Venter has been playing games for 30 years, since discovering the Apple IIe version of Mario Bros. in his elementary school days. Now he writes about them, here at HonestGamers and also at other sites that agree to pay him for his words. |
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