Virtual Bart

"The Simpsons should definitely stick to television, their video game resume isn't too promising!"

The Simpsons has been the longest cartoon ever aired on prime time television, with quite a large following from numerous amount of fans. A few years ago, Simpsons was starting to get recognized heavily for being a funny, original and entertaining cartoon, so it was no surprise that long time fans wanted to see a video game version of the Simpsons. A game was in the cards, but unfortunately at the time, games of popular television shows and hit movies were simple rehashes on. Simpsons was no exception, On the Nintendo Entertainment System, fans got Bart vs the World, a horrible game. Arcade goers were treated to a very good Simpsons action game, but unfortunately it never hit the consoles. The bad luck on consoles didn't end at Bart vs the World, the Super Nintendo(SNES) game, Bart's Nightmare was just as horrible, with you seeking Bart's paper for his school, and getting wound up in several scenarios.

Around 1994, the developers gave it one more try, with a game on the Sega Genesis and the SNES. Virtual Bart... The game took you to Springfield Elementary School at the science fair, Bart finds a machine, and gets hooked up to it. After being spun, you land on a scenario, and are taken to it...

While the game's story is very Simpsons-esque, the developers could've gave more effort to it with the scenarios. Such scenarios were being a pig, being a Dinosaur in the prehistoric age, motorcycle Bart, tomato throwing Bart, going watersliding, baby Bart, etc, etc. ...

Most of the games were bland, boring and not very creative. The prehistoric one was pretty okay at the beginning, but it got boring, and the enemies got far too annoying. Watersliding was fun, but not much depth to it, seeing Homer's butt stuck in the waterslide eight times during one play doesn't seem very funny... The pig one, I thought was going to be original, but the unresponsive controls, and limited movements of your character and the fast nature of your enemies made this my most hated mini game yet.

To be fair, the only fun game worth playing was the tomato throwing one. Seeing who can hit the most, who can hit the fastest, added some more depth, and if you're playing story mode, seeing the class picture after, and seeing who got tomatoed or not, made you go out and achieve the goal of hitting everyone. The motorycle game was pretty fun, but once again, it got very tedious, collecting Nitro powerups, and attempting to avoid Jimbo and Kerney from wounding you on the rough streets.

The game was an effort from their previous game, but after a game like Bart's Nightmare, anything compared to it is good. I felt the Simpsons didn't get their justice in the console world, and it still continues today with games like Simpsons Wrestling, and Simpsons Road Rage. The cartoonish nature, and the characters are down pat, but maybe tweaking the gameplay big time would help.

Virtual Bart, a little effort was put in, not enough, it warrants a 3.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/02, Updated 10/18/02