For almost twenty years now, the animated Simpsons family have been satirically sticking it to the man, the government and virtually every industry and hobby on the planet. Those loveable four-fingered characters have made an entire career out of taking the piss, and videogames haven't been spared their biting wit. But while the TV series can only be regarded as a massive success, the Simpson family's forays into game spinoffs haven't been quite so successful. In fact a lot of their games have been rubbish, and it makes it a little tougher to take the mickey when your game sucks. Now though, with the success of the Hit'n'Run game buoying their spirits, it's time for the Simpsons to do what they do best and turn their comedic and critical eye over our favourite pastime.

The Simpsons Game is like one of the show's self-contained episodes, with a plot that is both crazy and unrelated to the main Simpsons storylines. It all starts normally enough, with Homer dreaming about an edible chocolate world, and Marge crushing Bart's dream of playing the new Grand Theft Scratchy game. Dejected, the young rascal takes a shortcut through a dodgy alleyway when a manual for The Simpsons Videogame falls from the heavens, landing right at his feet. With newly discovered superpowers, the Bartman uses his abilities to defend the museum, while Homer turns his attentions to the Around The World in 80 Bites eating competition.

This is the basic premise of the Simpsons game, and as expected, the level of self-awareness is hilarious. Each of the main family members takes turns reading the magic manual to gain videogame powers. The early missions are purely about the Simpsons using their newfound skills to tackle their own personal fantasies or causes...Lisa saves the environment from loggers (putting 300 people out of work) and Marge cleans up a Springfield savaged by Grand Theft Scratchy mania. On its own this would be pretty funny, except in typical Simpsons tradition, this is only the beginning. Because what's the point of having superpowers if there isn't a super-villain and super-calamity to apply them to?

It is at this point that the Simpsons Game really comes into its own, and turns the videogame referencing up to 11. You can look forward to entering the Game Engine, meeting Will Wright, and tackling a series of themed missions based on games like Medal of Honour and Everquest, among others. Throw in hilarious mini-games based on arcade classics from yesteryear like Frogger and Space Invaders, and you've got a recipe for satirical success. But an amusing premise and snappy writing has never really been the problem for The Simpsons, it's the gameplay that has been the issue. So have they managed to rectify the problems in that department? Well, yes and no...

It falls to the Comic Book Guy to answer the question, because he has a series of "Worst Videogame Clichés Ever” running throughout the game. Pretty much every tired old gaming convention you could cram into a platform adventure is here: exploding barrels, invisible walls, double-jumps, the whole works. On the one hand, it's incredibly funny that the developers don't take themselves so seriously that they can't poke fun at their industry. But on the other hand, all thirty-one of the clichés listed are actually present in the game to some extent. It's an apt and ironic metaphor for the whole Simpsons Game experience, which is a pretty bog-standard platformer underneath the sarcastic Simpsons outer-shell.

And like every bog-standard platformer known to man, The Simpsons Game contains all the same irritating problems you would expect from such run-of-the-mill titles. The camera is garbage most of the time, the controls don't feel as precise as they should, some of the mini-games are unduly difficult and actually navigating the levels and making jumps can be a real pain. No doubt there are fans out there who will claim this was a deliberate and even more subtle jab at gaming, but even if that's true, it doesn't make it any less annoying.

However it isn't all just stock-standard stuff: both Marge and Lisa have some unique abilities that mix up the gameplay a bit. Lisa can call on the power of Buddha in certain spots to use a giant hand to move objects or smite enemies, and Marge can use her megaphone to persuade Springfield residents to rally to her call. When she does this, she can use them to beat up baddies, destroy obstacles, construct objects or even clean the place up. These abilities have pretty limited scope for use though, which is a shame, because these small innovations only cause the more traditional platforming action to look bland in comparison.

But if there's one thing EA knows how to do, it's make a game that is accessible to as much money...er, as many gamers as possible, and The Simpsons Game is no different. There's no lives to worry about or game-over screens to encounter...health regenerates automatically and since the Simpson family always roll in pairs or more, if one gets knocked down, you'll play as the other until the KO'd Simpson takes a leaf out of Chumbawamba's book and gets up again. The objective notes do a good job of letting you know what to do next, and it's pretty rare for you to ever not be sure of how to proceed.

Better yet, as you progress, you'll have the opportunity to pick which mission to tackle next, so if one particular level is giving you grief you can simply try another. And if you're really struggling, the game supports drop-in cooperative play, which allows you to rope in a real-life buddy to help tackle the occasionally tricky puzzle or horde of enemies. It's offline split-screen only which is a bit of a shame, and it only works in missions so you can't run around Springfield or the Game Engine areas as a duo. Still, it's a nice inclusion, and one that should be great for parents or older siblings to knuckle down and help younger kids out if necessary.

There are eighteen missions all up in The Simpsons Game, and while you'll be doing essentially the same thing all the way through, the wonderful level design and humour will always keep it fresh. The themed videogame missions are the highlight, but it would be a disservice to the game to reveal every aspect of the silly storyline. Suffice to say the final boss-battle is about as epic as you can get, and the way it goes down is, well, just see for yourself! The best thing about The Simpsons Game is that it *can* surprise you around every corner, and unexpected laughs are what makes the game so endearing.

The visuals really help too: boasting around forty minutes worth of new animated footage just for the game, and easily the most faithful reproduction of the show's style and settings to date, The Simpsons Game is as close as you'll ever get to playing an episode of the show. The transition from 2D into 3D – always the biggest problem for the games – is handled almost perfectly here, and while the simplistic style and limited colour-palette prevent the game from ever being what you might call "gorgeous”, it is every bit The Simpsons.

And when it comes to authenticity, perhaps the single most important element for a Simpsons game is having the voice talent from the show. Thankfully, The Simpsons Game has managed to snag not only the major players from the series, but also all the minor characters too...some of whom are even aware and quite pleased at how much more screen-time they're getting in the game, too! Coupled with appropriate sound effects and a perfect musical score, it's impossible to find any fault at all in the audio department here, and the whole thing is really a treat for fans of the show.

But as we all know, The Simpsons is a half-hour show, and stretching it out to movie-length and getting that right took them over a decade, so how does the game fare? Surprisingly well actually! It isn't the longest game in the world, weighing in at around 6-8 hours, but every minute of it is pure Simpsons quality, and there's plenty of scope for replay if you want to beat the insanely difficult time challenges or find all the collectible goodies. Sadly the game is pretty much bereft of bonus features and the like, aside from some unlockable costumes for the family to wear. Nevertheless, if you're a fan of The Simpsons or just a long-time gamer, you owe it to yourself to check out The Simpsons Game.