Game play is split into several worlds each with its own unique theme connected by the overall hub world of Springfield. The first few episodes are based within in the series reality, but as the game progresses things get a bit… existential. You’ll ascend from the world of Springfield to the Game Engine where all Simpsons’ games are manufactured and eventually destroyed, and then you go to the home of your creator.
Controls are a little on the loose side, especially when using Bartman’s Glide ability, but they’re not loose enough to cause frustration and are pretty much what you’d expect from a Simpsons game. The only notable issue I experienced was with the games’ DDR battle. It’s a royal bitch to hit the exact directions with the 360’s D-pad. It’s so bad in fact that I had to dig out my DOA4 Hori Stick in order to beat it. Though in all honesty since the 360 D-pad is notoriously inaccurate anyways it’s hard to fault EA for this error. Besides no matter how frustrating the D-pad is it pales in comparison to the game’s camera that was almost certainly forged in the deepest depths of the seventh circle of hell.
To say the camera is bad is to say the Holocaust was a footnote to World War II. It’s just plain terrible. Apparently one coder, most likely a bitter little man with a dried up rotten heart of coal, decided that the camera should be a physical object that can interact with the game world. This means when trying to move around in a tight corner you’ll be blinded because your camera has hit a wall and will not move through it or zoom in to go around it. It just sits there, hung up, eagerly watching as you get gang-raped by a horde of green aliens. It’s like the camera was designed for the director from Manhunt. It’s not fun and on more than one occasion it forced me to throw down my controller in disgust. Still despite the sore feeling I was left with after dealing with the camera, it’s still not bad enough to keep me from going back for more.
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