The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield

Review by Orb
January 2003

The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield is a game made to pay homage to the series, and players likely will enjoy it best if they've enjoyed the series first. It's not that the game cannot be played on its own terms—it's just that there are quite a few years' worth of inside jokes that would leave one out in the cold if she hasn't got several hundred hours of mainstream nighttime animation under her belt.

The game is mostly a virtual walkabout of the locations from the Fox series. In most locations, there are some things that can be done, but these are pretty minor actions. Anyone who has played any kind of game with any regularity will find himself clicking wildly on the picture on the screen looking for "the rest of it." Well, there isn't any. Which takes Virtual Springfield out of the realm of "game" and puts it squarely in the category of twiddleware.

Not that twiddleware is bad, mind you. There are more than a couple of titles to which I have given excellent scores that require nothing more than clicking though some entertaining graphics and stories. But Virtual Springfield is no-good twiddleware. I guess the premise is that the player should be thrilled to move around the streets of the city under his own steam after spending years staring at it via his living room television.

The interactions with characters from the series are limited to some short animations and sight gags. Gameplay is from a first-person perspective with some character interaction. There is an arcade gallery with some game takeoffs that can be played, and this area probably has more gameplay than any other location in the game. There is no real cohesive story, despite all the funny stories and sparkling written dialogue in the series proper. What jokes there are repeat each time you enter the same place. And the player must enter these areas over and over and over. Why? Keep reading.

The game does have a minor goal of collecting a monumentally huge number of cards. These cards can be found in fixed locations around the game that are entertaining at first but quickly become tiresome. Why do they become tiresome? Because the player must collect over one hundred of the little suckers before she is rewarded with her lab rat pellet. And what is that pellet reward after all that work? Why, another stupid card, of course. I guess we can retitle that portion of Virtual Springfield the "Expletives Game."

Other than the cards, the game requires the player to collect 10 items from the 16 available locations in the game. This is the primary game goal.

Not all of this is pure rot. The cartoony aspect of the game is fun, and Groening is a great cartoonist with an often wicked wit. And we get the cool Danny Elfman music, always a plus. But all of this is mired in the nasty non-gameplay, as though no one was in charge at all. I cannot even imagine who the heck they were marketing it to. Can you imagine the population segment determined in the marketing surveys that were done (that is, if any were done)? "Okay, we're going to sell this to the 19-to-45 crowd, but only the ones that have computers and buy software, but not software that requires anything but a bit of halfhearted clicking, and they also have to be Fox viewers, and also Sunday night Fox viewers." Yawn. Think all seven of those people signed up?

As far as I'm concerned, The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield is everyone-gets-an-extra-paycheck-ware. It must have been payday deluxe for Fox, Matt Groening and all of the voice actors, who must not be getting enough face-on-camera jobs. If you are interested in getting a cartoon game that ties into a television series, my vote is for Daria's Inferno, which has a tremendous amount of gameplay and is much funnier. Even the edutainment title Peanuts: Where's the Blanket Charlie Brown? has more gameplay and things to do. Either is a better bet for fun. 

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Digital Evolution
Publisher: Fox Interactive
Release Date: 1997

Available for:  

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System Requirements

PC:
Pentium 75 MHz with 8 MB RAM (16 MB recommended)
Windows 95
Direct X compatible graphics and sound cards
1 MB free hard drive space
4X CD ROM drive

Mac:
Power PC 66 MHz with 16 MB RAM
System 7.0 or greater
1 MB free hard drive space
4X CD ROM drive

Where to Find It

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