The Simpsons: Hit & Run is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games. It is based on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and is the twenty-second installment in The Simpsons series of video games.
It follows the Simpson family and their friend Apu Nahasapeemapetilon as they witness many strange incidents that occur in Springfield; security cameras, mysterious vans, crop circles, and a "new and improved" flavour of the popular soft drink Buzz Cola that causes insanity. Taking matters into their own hands, they discover numerous shocking secrets, and soon realise these incidents are part of a larger alien conspiracy, caused by Kang and Kodos. The gameplay largely focuses on varied missions; players often race enemies and interact with supporting characters on timed quests. It also features explorable worlds and side tasks, not unlike 3D Grand Theft Auto titles.
Development of The Simpsons: Hit & Run began in late 2001 as a spiritual successor to Radical Entertainment's previous game The Simpsons: Road Rage. Production was extensive, as the team sought to differentiate it from Road Rage, deeming that their new entry in the franchise required a different direction. It was heavily inspired by the Grand Theft Auto series, and the development team re-purposed the open-world design and nuanced character development for the game. This encouraged collaboration with the show's writers and its cast, who helped to craft the story and dialogue. It was released in North America on September 16, 2003, and in Europe on October 21, 2003, for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was ported to Windows in North America on November 11, 2003, and in Europe on November 21, 2003.
It received positive reviews from critics. Praise particularly focused on the interpretation of The Simpsons as a video game, its parodical take on Grand Theft Auto III (2001), and graphics, while criticism mostly surrounded some aspects of gameplay, such as bugs and glitches. It is often considered to be the best Simpsons tie-in game. It was also a commercial success, with recorded sales of over 3 million worldwide by June 2007. It received the award for Fave Video Game at the 2004 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards. On the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, it earned Greatest Hits, Player's Choice, and Platinum Hits respectively.
Gameplay
left|thumb|Hit & Run (top) and [[Grand Theft Auto III (bottom). Hit & Run, inspired by the Grand Theft Auto series, shares some similarities with the games, including the radar, and a strong focus on their driving aspect.]]
The Simpsons: Hit & Run features seven levels over three separate maps, each with missions and a sub-plot. Several hidden vehicles are present in each level and can also be used by the player if found. The game's driving missions are also similar to those of Grand Theft Auto III (2001). In both games, the player races against other characters, collects items before a timer runs out, and wrecks other cars.
The game has a sandbox-style format that emphasises driving, and the player controls their character from a third-person view. The character can perform certain acts of violence, punching, such as attacking pedestrians, blowing up vehicles, and destroying the environment.
Plot
In the week leading up to Halloween, mysterious happenings are occurring in Springfield; a horde of wasp cameras descend upon the city, a "new and improved" brand of Buzz Cola is launched by the television personality Krusty the Clown and introduced to store shelves, and black vans begin appearing around town. Homer suspects that a black van outside his house is spying on his family, and he takes it upon himself to investigate who it belongs to, with the van eventually stopping in front of Mr. Burns' mansion. After helping Marge destroy several copies of a new video game, Homer accuses Burns of spying on Springfield, to which Burns reveals to Homer that the black vans were simply pizza vans and fires Homer for the accusation.
The next day, Bart tries to get a copy of the video game Bonestorm 2, only to find that it is sold out (with many of the other copies having been destroyed by Marge and Homer). After doing odd chores in the hopes of obtaining a copy, Bart eventually learns that Professor Frink is using many copies of video games to help power the Truckasaurus, and Bart agrees to help him build it, as well as set up a safe environment for it to operate in. After escaping Truckasaurus' wrath, a tractor beam abducts Bart outside the stadium. Lisa attempts to find Bart by exploring the town for clues. She learns that black sedans, which have been appearing around town, are connected to Bart's disappearance. Lisa eventually finds Bart on a ship in Springfield harbor, albeit with amnesia and mumbling unintelligibly while occasionally mentioning the sedans and cola.
Marge tries to figure out what has happened to Bart. As she investigates a crop circle that recently appeared in Cletus Spuckler's field, Grampa Simpson gives a description of a crop circle that matches that of the Buzz Cola logo. Marge shows a can of the cola to Bart, which snaps him out of his stupor. Bart reveals that Buzz Cola is a mind-control cola produced by aliens to make the townspeople insane. Marge attempts to purge Springfield of the cola, but despite her valiant efforts, the drink maintains its presence and popularity amongst the public.
Wracked with guilt over selling a tainted product, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon sets out to find the owner of the Buzz Cola trucks. After helping Snake with his community service, Apu learns that the cola trucks are registered to the Springfield Museum of Natural History. Apu and Bart go into the museum and discover that a meteor is the source of the cola. They then eavesdrop on a conversation between aliens Kang and Kodos, who are masterminding a scheme. Apu and Bart learn that the wasp cameras are filming the antics of Springfield for Kang and Kodos' struggling intergalactic reality show, Foolish Earthlings. The aliens intend to boost ratings to their show by spreading the cola into the town's water supply and distributing laser guns among the populace to drive the town to a violent massacre. for Hit & Run decided not to create a direct sequel to Road Rage; instead, Radical wanted to steer the franchise's video game series in a different direction by giving the game engine a complete overhaul. The developers felt that everything else needed a new approach, while only the driving portion of Road Rage was worth keeping; They also decided to add an exploration element to the game to make players get out of the car and navigate the area on foot, so that the game offered a better experience of Springfield. Lead designer Joe McGinn said the game was pitched as "GTA for kids"; in addition to the exploration and freedom of Grand Theft Auto III (2001), the team was also influenced by the "action-movie-style" drifting and car physics of Driver (1999), and the platforming, character control and camera of Super Mario 64 (1996). Lead programmer Cary Brisebois considered the GameCube version the hardest to develop, with its 24MB of RAM necessitating tricks such as loading animations into audio memory. The soundtrack includes various arrangements of the original "The Simpsons Theme" by Danny Elfman, and features specific melodies for each playable character; for example, Bart's gameplay is accompanied by hard rock, while Lisa has laid-back motifs that Steven Hopper of GameZone compared to beach party films.
Reception
The Simpsons: Hit & Run received "generally favorable" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic,
Over one million copies of the game were sold as of June 2004, and three million as of July 2007. It had sold 500,000 copies in the United Kingdom by January 2004. The game's PlayStation 2 version received a "Diamond" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 1 million copies in the United Kingdom. According to the Fox executive producer John Melchior, Hit & Run sold 8-10 million units in its lifetime.
A number of reviews complimented the transposition of The Simpsons television series to a video game. Justin Leeper of Game Informer and Alex Navarro of GameSpot commented on how well the game depicted the fictional city of Springfield from the television series, and called it the most accurate representation of Springfield ever put into a game. Navarro thought that the humour that the game offered included many excellent self-referential jokes, Entertainment magazine Variety surmised that Hit & Run was the first Simpsons game to include humor comparable to what was in the television series.
Hit & Runs parodical take on the Grand Theft Auto III video game was praised by several reviewers. Zach Meston of GameSpy considered it to "deftly satirize Grand Theft Auto while being almost as entertaining", and suggested that Hit & Run improved several gameplay aspects that it borrowed from Grand Theft Auto, including instant mission restarts, a superior guidance system, and an easily accessible collection of vehicles. Marc Saltzman of The Cincinnati Enquirer gave the game four stars out of five and said that "What it lacks in originality it more than makes up for with its fun and easy-to-pick-up game play that will appeal to fans of the long-running comedy."
Legacy
Cancelled sequel
After release, Radical immediately began work on a sequel, but had to cancel it when Vivendi chose not to reobtain The Simpsons license. According to the lead designer Joe McGinn, multiple sequels were planned but were denied by a representative at Vivendi.
Potential revival
In a 2026 interview, showrunner Matt Selman stated that a sequel or remake are not ruled out as possibilities.
Modifications
In August 2021, the source code and asset files for Hit & Run were leaked on 4chan. The leak resulted in creation of various mods and unofficial patches to the game. Notable examples include the Fully Connected Map Mod that stitches together the game locations into one big level and the total conversion mod Futurama: Hit & Run that replaces the world and characters with the ones from creator Matt Groening's other animated show Futurama while also adding brand new missions, with the latter mod receiving praise from McGinn. A fan-made Unreal Engine 5 remake of the game by Reuben "Reubs" Ward emerged in 2021, but was quickly shelved to avoid potential takedown notices. The remake resumed development in 2022 with no download links being provided.
Speedrunning
The Simpsons: Hit & Run has a dedicated speedrunning community with various competitions and events being held. The community received praise from McGinn, who stated "this is incredibly fun and heartwarming to see."