Krusty's Super Fun House

"Sideshow Bob, where are you when we need you?!"

When I was younger, I remember renting this game, because I liked the Simpsons. It seemed like fun, but...it wasn't! It's a miracle for Fox and Matt Groening that this game didn't get people hating the Simpsons, and fortunately for them, this game didn't get me loathing America's favorite dysfunctional family.

STORY: 2/10
Krusty the clown has a Fun House! It's filled with rats! You have to get rid of them, or they'll ruin you! Oh, and even though the rats cannot hurt you, watch out for enemies who can (snakes, flying pigs, etc.). You can kill enemies with your weapons (Pies or a Bouncy ball). What makes no sense is that while you can kill the enemies in a mere whim, you MUST lead the rats to their doom, in a trap set up by one of the simpsons gang: Homer zaps 'em, Bart bops 'em with a boxing glove, Corporal Punishment eats them, Sideshow Mel makes them pop like a balloon, etc. It makes one think: WHY doesn't Krusty just use his weapons on the rats, instead of going all over each room to lead them to the simpsons characters?! I guess we need a plot, even if it is a crappy one...

CONTROLS: 7/10
You move fairly well and you jump a nice height. Picking up items is easy too. Weaponry is a whole different story. The pies you start out with fall in a slight arc when thrown.The bouncy ball item you can pick up bounces in a diagonal pattern, so to break a wall with it, you need to aim carefully until the wall is gone. You also have limited weapons.

GAMEPLAY: 3/10
You enter a room, avoid enemies, lead the rats to a Simpsons character, and they die. Repeat. Make it a huge pain as levels progress. Make it an even bigger pain as more levels pass. Repeat.

SOUND: 3/10
Every time Krusty jumps, an annoying BOING sounds. The rats squeak incessantly, and after a while it begins to get irritating (I guess they made it this way to make you want to kill them even more). Weapons make odd sounds, and enemies do too. You can mute the music but not the sounds. Even Krusty's digitalized "Hey hey!" and laugh aren't enough to save this score.

MUSIC: 5/10
A lot of it is catchy and fun, even neat, but the rest is boring and annoying. You can mute it, but not sound (which is far worse than the music.). If you're hopelessly stuck in a level (it WILL happen!!!), the music quickly becomes torturous to listen to, as if it's taunting and jeering at you for not being able to solve the puzzle.

REPLAY: 1/10
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! They're lucky I played it ONCE! Seriously though, the only reason anyone would replay it is with a code, but then again, why?

OVERALL: 4/10
Puzzle games are not for everyone, I know, but the only people who'd want this game are die-hard Simpsons fans or SNES game pak collectors. The game is so confusing and it makes a difficult situation even more difficult, up to the point where nobody wants to play it anymore, lest they lose their sanity!

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/04