Bart Simpson's Escape From Camp Deadly

"Just because it is Simpson related means nothing..."

You would think that seeing as how the Simpsons is one of the best and most successful animated televisions shows in history, that the video games made based on this game would be at least remotely good. However, after playing a few of the games based on the Simpsons television show, I have found that this is not at all the case. This game like most other Simpsons games are lacking good game play and good storylines, which makes this a pretty bad game.

Escape from Camp Deadly start Bart Simpson who is sent to summer camp along with his sister. When they get there, a mean relative of C. Montgomery Burns, who is their counselor, greets them. She promises to whip them into shape and basically ruin their lives. Bart and Lisa decide to take it into their own hands to wreak havoc in the camp and ultimately escape without being oppressed by the evil counselor.

This game is a two-dimensional side-scrolling action game. Your main weapon is a boomerang (go figure) and spitballs. You basically run through the levels that are poorly designed and spit spitballs at the cool kids and throw boomerangs at them. If you touch them or fall in water or get stung by bees or various other things happen, you will loose a life. These cool kids are basically the only enemy in the whole game save for a few bosses.

Graphics
The graphics were pretty terrible. The whole time that you are standing in front of Mr. Burns's nephew who is the counselor nothing happens at all. It is like staring at a portrait of him. Nothing moves. Not his lips, or face, or eyes, or anything else. The rest of the game is pretty much the same. Anything that moves absolutely must move in order for the game to be played. And any animations that are present aren't done very well and look bad. Drawings also weren't very impressive and weren't detailed at all.

Audio
The sounds in this game were bearable but nothing too great. The entire game was basically just The Simpsons theme music from the television show crappily made to the GameBoy's standards. Sound effects were very sparse and lack luster.

Storyline
It would be nice to have a Simpsons game not focused on Bart. Anyway, the storyline in this game was just horrible. It didn't make me want to play any more than if I had not seen a story at all. If you want good Simpsons storylines, just watch the television show.

Game Play
This game is more of a chore to play. The controls are terrible for one thing. It is very hard to turn around quickly to face enemies and to destroy them. The maps are terribly designed. They are mostly just flatlands with a few trees and a few rivers. The game play is very boring and repetitive throughout the entire game. All you do is turn and throw boomerangs at approaching enemies. Even the boss battles are quite annoying. This game is really frustrating and isn't very fun to play at all.

Replay Value
Would you play this game a lot if you bought it? Absolutely not. As far as platform games go, there are multiple better choices than this one. This game has very annoying game play that is repetitive and will bore you quickly, diminishing all replay value. I didn't even find this game worth playing to the end.

Final Words
It amazes me how terrible these Simpsons games can be considering how successful and popular the television show it. This game is definitely not worth buying, borrowing, or risking getting caught stealing. The game play is repetitive and monotonous, and the sound and graphics were nothing special. The storyline is incredibly lame and overall, this game is just terrible.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 02/08/06