Over the fourteen year history (now in it's 15th season) of the hugely popular animated TV series The Simpson's, many games for a variety of formats have been thrust at its fans. Up until now these games have been denounced by die-hard fans as shameless cash-ins on what should be a solid gold franchise. The Simpsons: Hit & Run (TSHR) breaks the mould set by countless movie/ TV show tie-in games and delivers a gaming experience worthy of such a rich and detailed universe. You will hear many comparisons of TSHR to the Grand Theft Auto series. While some stylistic devices and gameplay elements are quite similar (sometimes exactly the same) as those used in TSHR, the underlying gameplay is very different.

The Simpson's Hit & Run is essentially a racing game played out in a living city that players are encouraged to explore between races. The game is broken up into story missions that are essential for completing the game and number around seven per level. There are also side missions and a variety of other bonus earning tasks. These, while not essential for finishing the game, unlock new drivable vehicles and contribute towards gaining a 100% rating and unlocking tracks for the "multi-player” mini-game. The missions, around 50 in total can unfortunately be quite repetitive. In fact the last 3 missions are exactly the same and it's almost like the developers ran out of ideas and just wanted to finish the game with a nice round number of missions. Also, for those of you that hate games that force a time limit upon you, beware, as almost every mission in TSHR has this restriction.

During the game you will control Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge and Apu as well as get a few lifts from other key characters from the TV series. Missions consist of racing, following, destroying and bumping other vehicles or just driving/ running around collecting items before your time runs out. But while you are not completing missions, you are given free reign to explore the 3 huge areas of Springfield that are recreated in glorious 3D. Replay value is quite large, especially for fans, as once a level is unlocked it can be accessed at any time and completing every level with a 100% rating is quite a challenge and will take many hours.

The graphics in TSHR are clean and bright, but resemble Homers sortie into the 4th Dimension more than the cartoon itself. The game for the most part flies along at a steady frame-rate but does struggle when smoke effects are rendered on screen. The town of Springfield is recreated in three playable sections, Evergreen Terrace/ Power plant District, Downtown Springfield and the Springfield Docks. Each area is littered with landmarks and references from the TV show and fans will be constantly noticing new details and chuckling at in-jokes and gags the developers have hidden in the game. You will need to explore every square centimetre of each map in order to achieve a 100% rating with not all accessible areas being immediately obvious. The effort gone into recreating this world is quite impressive and the assistance of the team behind the TV series is quite obviously apparent. The graphics aren't perfect however as this is a multi-platform title, so don't expect many Xbox improvements other than a slightly more stable frame rate. The characters have animated mouths when speaking, however all must have taken lip-syncing lessons from dodgy kung-fu movies as it comes nowhere the quality of the tv series. Apart from the occasional strange respawning location or unusual object clipping the models and camera do a reasonable job of being in the right place in the right time.

Aurally, is clearly where TSHR shines. All of the original voice talent from the TV series have lent their voices to the game, and the dialog and the story have been written by the actual writers of the TV show. This adds a huge level of credibility to the game and helps to sell the illusion of living the show. The music is taken straight from the series or tends to be of a theme appropriate for the current playable character. Electric guitars riffs from Bart, Sitar plucks for Apu, all with a signature cooky Simpson's vibe. The one thing lacking that I would have liked to have seen to really drive the authenticity home, would have been the opening scene to the TV series rendered with the in-game engine.

Sadly, TSHR is primarily, a single player game only. There is a multiplayer option in the main menu that is unlockable during the game, but this definitely is a mini-game and not a dedicated multiplayer experience. It would have been nice to play against other players or even just race each other using the in-game graphics engine, but this is not supported. Likewise there is no Xbox live support at all.