The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror

It's America's longest running prime time animation TV show, it's been going on for a little longer than 12 years, there have been 12 seasons, hundreds of episodes and it has more merchandise than popular religion. Yes, it's those yellow-skinned dysfunctional denizens of Springfield, The Simpsons! It has been a while since The Simpsons appeared on any major console but now they are back! There is already a Simpsons wrestling game out for the PlayStation but the Game Boy has been left wanting since Bart And The Beanstalk back in 1993. The wait is finally over though and now The Simpsons returns to the Game Boy in glorious colour. But has it been worth the effort?

Couch Trip

In a plot that is remarkably similar to Bart’s Nightmare on the Mega Drive, each of the Simpson family members is trapped inside a horrible dream that they can only escape from once they have completed a challenge. Each level features one of the Simpsons in whatever dreamscape they have created for themselves. So Maggie, for instance, has transformed into a fly and has to find some computer chips, while Marge gets to roam the streets blasting away zombies Evil Dead-style! Each stage, and indeed each character, has been carefully recreated from the cartoon and because of this attention to detail the graphics look wonderful. Sadly, that is possibly the greatest compliment that this game deserves because it falls down in all other areas!

One of the biggest problems with this game is its lack of speed. Everything, apart from the character that you’re controlling, is quite nippy. This means you soon notice how sluggish the controls are. Every button press looks like it is being carried out in slow motion. Using a weapon, jumping or even simply moving left and right is so slow that an enemy attack is near impossible to avoid and this, ultimately, can be very frustrating. The levels are pretty damn hard, but this is mainly because some of the objectives involved seem too obscure to make sense of! Even though you are given a brief at the start of each level, it isn’t really enough information for you to make sense of the task ahead. Ultimately the game is not impossible to finish (not unlike Bart Vs The Juggernauts which had similar problems) but because of the high frustration factor, it means there could be a good chance that you won’t want to put in the time and effort required to complete it!

Mmmm... Free Goo!

Possibly the most annoying thing about this game is that the password system really sucks. Considering that there aren't that many levels to it, it seems absolutely ridiculous to make each password longer than the name of your average Welsh town. Wouldn't a simple couple of images have sufficed? Or what about a battery back-up?

Once again a great licence has been treated very poorly. Although it boasts great graphics and funky music, these aesthetics are no substitute for great gameplay. In this case, Treehouse Of Horror has confused a challenging game with a difficult one. The younger audiences who might be drawn to this title will be especially upset by the difficulty of this game and that is just sad. Along with others like Power Rangers, Scooby Doo and Buzz Lightyear, another promising children's title has fallen short of its promise. And that's a real pity for us because we all absolutely love The Simpsons television series. Bah!