LO1 - Simpsons Hit and Run Game Analysis Sheet

Game title	Simpsons Hit and Run	Platform tested:	PS2
Genre What style of game is this? What genre does it belong to? How does it show stylistic conventions of the genre? How does it sit within the genre in comparison to others titles?	Simpsons hit and run is a sandbox open world game, which allows the player to explore the highly animated world of Springfield. You can tell that this is a typical convention of its genre as you can explore in a free roam mode where you don’t have to do the missions. This game stands out especially for its time as most users are probably familiar with the Simpsons franchise and therefor there is a novelty to the player as they can explore the world that they are pretty familiar with already. This game mainly focuses on driving, and you view your character from a third person viewpoint.
Narrative What story is being told through the game? How does the story inform the gameplay? How does the story affect your approach to the characters and your interaction with them? How does the story connect with the target audience?	The narrative within this starts off fairly simple surveillance vans have been loitering around Springfield. And it is your job as Homer to find out who they are, and why they are spying. You later discover that they are Pizza vans. Subsequently after this it turns out that the Cola drink that everyone has been drinking called ‘buzz’ Cola. You find out that this drink is turning everyone into zombies and it is your job to stop the alien invasion as they decided to turn everyone into zombies.
Production process How was this game produced? What elements of production are developed specifically to enhance the gameplay? How are elements such as game physics and mechanics managed to enhance gameplay?	This game was produced by John Melichoir and was funded by Vivendi Universal Games, he also helped produce The Simpsons Road Rage, so he was familiar with the Simpsons Franchise and what fans have come to expect from a Simpsons game. This game was also developed by Radical entertainment. The first thing they decided to do while creating this game was to come up with a narrative that would keep the essence of the Simpsons TV show with its narrative and humour. They then storyboarded and came up with what specific features they wanted the game to have including the driving. The people that had to come up with the narrative had to consult with the creators of Simpson’s, Matt Groening and James L Brookes, as they were too busy writing the television show. But there approval was obviously needed due to the fact that it is their franchise.
Characterisation How are characters relevant to the target audience? What appeal do the characters have to the target audience? How does the characterisation match the conventions of the genre? How strong do you feel the characters are?	The characters within this are specific to the television show as this is what people that bought the game would expect from a game like this. The characters that you get to play as all have costumes that you can buy with the coins that you acquire throughout the game as the narrative progresses. These costumes are all references to the TV show. These characters include Homer, you play as him on the first and last level. Bart, you play on him on the second and sixth level. On the third level you play as Lisa, Fourth you play as Marge and the fifth you play as Apu. The thing about each character is that they all have exclusive maps to them, and each level helps enhance the storyline from the perspective of your character. Also to stay true to the show they give the characters phrases they say while you are driving. Also when you drive around you occasionally see characters you will recognise from the television show.

Gameplay What challenge is present in the game? How does the level and type of challenge engage the player? What elements of the gameplay are key to the game’s success? How does the gameplay engage with the narrative? How is gameplay consistently evolving to keep the player’s attention?	This game challenges the player by having a selection of different missions on each level including Easter Eggs to discover and different things to collect and unlock with money found around the city. An example of a use of the money is that you need to buy the Plow King car from Barney to progress on the first mission. And due to the fact that you cant kill your character in this game means that failure to do certain things means that you lose coins, for example getting caught by the Police on this game results in a loss of 50 coins. The challenges engage the player due to the fact that they are interest3ed in how the narrative will progress. The gameplay evolves by getting more and more tough as the game progresses.
Target Audience Who are the target audience? What indicators are there that this game is produced for this target audience? How does the game appeal directly to the target audience? How does the game compare to other games targeting the same audience?	The target audience for this game are people that enjoyed watching the television show, which is quite a wide age group; I would say that the ages range from the age of 7 to 35. As the game is at a 7 plus rating due to moderate violence intertwined within the game. The game appeals to the target audience due to the fact of how true it stays to the television show itself.  This game is probably the most enjoyable Simpsons game released up to date, as it seems more like an actual video game rather than some mini game available on an arcade machine like Simpsons Road range was. This game is recognised as being the best Simpsons game available getting an 8.0/ 10 from IGN and 81% from metacritic.
Platform What platform is this game available for? Is the game more suited to any one of these platforms? How is the game suited to this platform?	PlayStation 2. This game is suited to the PlayStation 2 because it uses the conventional controls you would expect from a PlayStation 2 game. Its suited to this console as when it was released this console had the best graphics available. Xbox. Putting this game on the Xbox made complete sense because Xbox and PlayStation had two different audiences, as most people either owned one or the other. They were both similar so releasing it onto this console made sense in a financial way, rather than making it an exclusive to just one console. GameCube was suited to this the same way that the PlayStation 2 is and the Xbox. Microsoft Windows made sense based on the fact that this is a more powerful system than the other three, being released on this gave room for there to be more hacks available