This game is nothing if not simple in premise. Like many driving games, you receive missions, do them in a certain amount of time, and then return home for another mission. Same thing in Hit and Run. Some sort of evil has begun populating the town of Springfield with robotic wasps, and it falls to the Simpson family to find out why and stop the evil plan in its tracks. Each level consists of 7 or 8 missions, with each level requiring you to use a different character from the family. Within each level, there are multiple submissions, 50 in total, that can allow you to collect coins and cards. The coins allow you to purchase new vehicles (40 in all, such as Mr. Plow), or clothing (Fat Homer in his Muumuu, or Lisa dressed like the state of Florida); and the cards allow you to unlock special races. Some cards are easy to find, but some are quite difficult and require a lot of time to find. Fortunately, there's no time limit between missions, so you're free to roam about the city tracking them down. There's even a multiplayer level that can be unlocked, presumably if you collect all the cards on every level (I didn't get that far). As well, the levels contain many side-races you can engage in by finding the characters with the money sign symbols over their heads.

Now the part I absolutely love about this title is the trademark wit the writers have injected into the game. Dialogue is entirely the selling point of this title, as every speaking character has something funny to say. And best of all, they used the actual cast from the TV series to do it. Bart is constantly going off about how much videogames don't influence kids, and that they aren't as good as real violence anyways. But the best has to be the nonstop banter that takes place when there are two people in the car. Comic Book Guy races with Bart and Lisa to beat other internet dorks to various spots, all the while yelling about his car not being equipped with deflector shields. Constant references to old episodes are all over the place, mainly in the environment. While it's sometimes hard to look around while you're driving, it's definitely worth it to take a cruise around any level and see what's there. Old reference include the Springfield Tire Fire, Jebediah's monument in the square (with head intact) with his quote about 'embiggening us all'. Make sure you stop by Springfield Elementary and talk to Willy; he's always good for a laugh.

But if one looks past the Simpson's logos all over everything, you'll see what most of us saw by 1993 - just a name on a crappy product. The game itself leaves a lot to be desired. The graphics are very dated looking, using weird balloon 3-D characters that would look more in place on an older console system then a modern PC game. Controls also leave a lot to be desired. While driving the car isn't much of a problem, since it's locked to one view, getting out and moving around is. The controls aren't very sensitive, and you have to move to make the camera move. This can be a big problem in a tight spot, where the camera may not frame you at all, and you can't move without falling off a ledge or beam. The addition of a mouse-look, whereby you could move the camera with the mouse would have made a big difference. The levels themselves are all very repetitious - go get something, or beat someone to a goal within a time frame - and that gets old fast. While the developers have tried to curb the repetition by making you play with different characters that have different things you can buy, each level is more or less the same. A little more level/mission variety and out of the car action would have added to the gameplay value a lot.

So Simpson's fans: you have a choice. Buy the game now, and be thrilled with all the great one-liners, silly references to old episodes, and generally wacky stuff you'd expect from some of the more bizarre shows, but run the risk of getting bored fast and feel like you wasted your money; or, wait and buy it when it goes on sale. There isn't much beyond the dialogue to keep this game interesting, so I'd save a few bucks and wait it out. The Simpson's Hit and Run is on sale now.