Monday, June 22, 2009

NES Review #6:The Simpsons Bart vs. the Space Mutants

The Simpsons are one of the most bankable franchises in the history of TV.
They even lampoon their status as Cash Cows on many occasions, usually joking that Krusty the Klown will endorse anything, even products that are clearly not used by him or even in his target audience.
When a series such as the Simpsons constantly churns out T-Shirt after T-Shirt and Video Game after Video Game, there are going to be some clunkers.
Bart vs. The Space Mutants is one of those clunkers.
The objective of the game is to stop Space Mutants from taking over the world. Conveniently, the only one who knows about the hostile takeover is Bart Simpson.
Bart has to complete a certain number of tasks, picking up items before meeting up with a "boss" at the end of the level. The boss was always someone who was well-known to Simpsons fans. In fact, much of the jokes are familiar to Simpsons fans, most notably that Bart prank calls Moe, time after time.
Each level takes place in a place that will also be familiar to Simpsons fans. The first level is Springfield, which even the most pedestrian fan will notice. Subsequent levels are better known to the hardcore fans, especially the level that takes place at Krustyland, the site of one of the best Simpsons episode ever (in my opinion, of course.)
The main drawback for the game is that Kang and Kodos do not appear, despite the fact that they are the only space invaders to ever appear in an episode of the Simpsons. It would kind of be like having a Simpsons episode that didn't feature Homer. It could be good, but there will always be something missing.
This was the first in what has now reached 20 games in the Simpsons series. While this game is good for nostalgia sake, it's probably better to avoid this early one and seek out a game with a little more umph to it.

2 comments:

frank said...

frank...

excelent info, keep it coming...

robert said...

robert...

excelent post, keep it coming...