When comedians or middle school kids find themselves at a disadvantage against an audiance or a bully, with the bully or audience having an overabundance of ammunition against them, there is only one truly affective thing they can do. Draw attention to that flaw and make it work for them.

Phyllis Diller is old, wrinkled and worked on. Carlos Mencia is a thief and also the worst comedian alive. My friend Joe has one testicle. We all know these things. So these aforementioned people make quite a good living bringing them up in their sets or among their group of friends in order to take away that advantage and to force the audience to look for something else to judge them on. And they hope that new thing they will be judged on will take the focus away from what they cannot change.


And so it is that when EA was tasked with creating a new Simpson's title that they understood the limitations of video games and knew the climate that they were sending this game out to. After all, just one play through of a few levels of the game will show that the devs understood the game making process(check the QA level. Spot on.) Or check any of the mini games that serve as homages to a game players childhood(Missie Commander, anyone?)

But the problem in the title arises in the Cliches that they provide as in game collectibles. Sure they are funny. I know that being able to hang from a ledge indefinitely is impossible unless you last name is Norris. I understand that it is funny when AI pathing is so bad that npc's are constantly running into walls. And pointing these things out in a game is a great way to show that you know it too and understand the frustrations associated in it.


But here is the thing. If you are going to go that route, pointing out flaws in games in general, and satarising the creations of others and such, you better make damn sure that your game is polished enough that its own problems do not overshadow the ones that you have pointed out in other titles.

Here is a short list of cliches that the Simpson's game may have missed if only because they were in the game itself. It is cliche when a character gets a power up and is unable to deactivate that power up on their own, especially when it is necessary for that character to be in their normal state to interact with objects in the game world. This is evidenced when Lisa is in her "Super Lisa" mode but it is unable to activate her "Bhudda Hand" special ability while still powered up.


Another. While in a Sandbox style game, it is cliche to have the WORST FUCKING CAMERA EVER. A camera that forces you to go left when next to buildings.A camera that battles you harder than a boss in Contra. It wants you dead. And it also wants you to not enjoy this game. I did not see that collectible on the list, guys.

How about another? Co-op mode as an afterthought in a game that features multiple protagonists. The Simpson's game only offers a vertical splitscreen, only allows the second user to enter play in the town and in story mode. No time trial for two. Sorry.

Ok, I could go on, but as exhibit D I would like to present the overlapping of button uses for multiple action functions. Am I shooting a slingshot? Am I putting it away? Why is my auto target on now? Crap, this is very confusing.


Listen, because this is the part where I tell you that the Simpson's game, for all of its flaws is by far and away the funniest and most entertaining title I have played in a long time. The story is well thought out and extremely well written, to the point where even the ancillary characters feel like normal extensions of the show itself. And the whole package is well worth the price of admission. But if you are a franchise that makes its bread and butter on making fun of the flaws in something, and then you decide to create that something, you will automatically be held to a higher standard if only because it has been established that you know better( I am looking at you, Gabe and Tyco).