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With the quality of The Simpsons show spiraling downward in a blazing inferno, hope for the franchise is progressively dwindling. Luckily, The Simpsons Game offers the comic relief of yesteryear with contemporary jokes.

With a meta theme and tons of references geeks will go ga-ga for, the title makes for a riotous laugh while playing. The problem arises with the physical playing with America’s favorite dysfunctional family of four.

Milktoast gameplay plagues The Simpsons Game, which is fortunately saved by its writing, voice acting and visual flair. The 3D world looks like a Simpsons episode is fun to run around in and whomp-’em-bad-guys as each of the Simpsons, but when the camera is caught on geometry, you’ll find yourself screaming more often than not. Fortunately, the game is legitimately funny. Video game references and homages abound, a boss fight against The Sims creator Will Wright and a ton of self-referential, breaking-the-fourth-wall jokes all help alleviate the bland one-button combat and ridiculous puzzles.

Levels are big and if you are in to it, you will be enjoying it throughout. Co-op is the only way to play this, considering the single player game demands constant switching of characters to solve the previously mentioned puzzles, which include saving Lenny and Carl from being thrown in to a wood-chopper and breaking in to God’s house. These are as funny, but equally as fun as the Space Invaders or Missile Command mini-games. That is to say, you’d rather be playing The Simpsons Game in its regular form. The game rewards players for finding clichés , like not being able to swim and standing on multiple pressure pads (again, save yourself the trouble and play co-op) to open doors.

What confuses me is, why didn’t they just fix these problems instead of joking about them? The game is still fun, and if you’re in to the franchise, there’s no reason not to play it. The Simpsons Game clocks in around six hours, but the completest crowd could clock in around double that time with token collecting, if they’re in to reward-free ventures. Expect to laugh at the jokes and scream at the flaws, but it’s definitely an enjoyable experience worthy of a weekend rental.

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