We've come to the point where we don't expect Toys R Us to have anything in stock within a week of the release date... much less when the week includes a hyped-up hurricane. But mysteriously and happily, we found Simpsons: Hit & Run; in fact, the last GameCube copy available.
That's not to say it wasn't a Geoffrey-sponsored scavenger hunt. My first pass of the racks came up empty, so I checked the PS2 side of the aisle. The PS2 stock is much better organized. Alphabetized, even. When Hit & Run appeared in PlayStation format, we figured the Nintendo edition must just be well-hid.
It was. The slips were part of a spastic mess of identified tickets attached to a support pillar in the middle of the GameCube display. I was so excited I completely forgot to look for Boktai, that GBA game with a built-in sunlight sensor.
The second surprise of the day came when the game didn't suck. It's GTA-lite, a weapons-free driving and exploring game set in a fully-realized Springfield. It's a shame that Simpsons: Road Rage was ever released (now more than ever), because having played RR steals a lot of the visual thunder from Hit & Run. In both games, you drive around Springfield, so lots of settings and sight gags necessarily appear in both. Kind of a shame. If RR had never been existed, Hit & Run would come off a lot funnier and fresher. So if you've never played Road Rage, you have no excuse to do so now. Hit & Run trumps it on every level. If you have played Road Rage, hopefully you'll find driving Marge's vaunted Canyonero just as amusing... again.
In other car game news, Rhonda and I are playing the heck out of Starsky & Hutch, a PS2 driving/shooting game based on a license that has no right to shelf space these days. If you'll recall, this game was the reason I bought a light gun a month ago.
You would expect that a Starsky & Hutch game would get a lot of bad reviews, and you'd be correct. But I'm here to say that the game isn't all that bad, and it has one huge mitigating factor: $20. For some reason, this game is $20 brand new (I saw it for $20 at both EB and TRU, so don't assume it's a retailer-specific deal. Plus, at EB you got a soundtrack record. Yes, a record. While supplies last, I'm sure.)
I've already leaped to the game's defense on GameGirlAdvance.com and I'll continue to do so here. This is a mediocre-looking game that is perfectly playable. There's some slowdown, average graphics, indistinguishable cartoon voices for the leads, and an unforgivable amount of Huggy Bear lionizing. But it's fun regardless. Let me paint you a picture: I'm sitting on the couch in the driver's seat, controlling the Striped/Red Tomato with the Dual Shock. Rhonda is in shotgun position, armed with, well, a shotgun... in the form of the GunCon2, anyway. I drive like a madman through the streets of Bay City, chasing and ramming whatever vehicle I'm told to chase and ram. (It's all very Grand Theft Auto at this point.) Rhonda then acts as the muscle, shooting powerups in the sky and peppering the enemy cars with lead. She even gets to peg gun-toting baddies along the sidewalks or leaning out of the car. As if to emphasize the game's quick, dirty style, she doesn't even need to reload! ...which in most games turns into a request for carpal-tunnel anyway.
See, that's just great. Easy, cooperative fun. When these sorts of multiplayer console games were discussed five years ago, the standard line was "Gaming is a solo activity. You can't expect people to buy games that require two or more people to play." Well, Adventures of Cookie & Cream did it. Starsky & Hutch did it (for $20.) And the forthcoming Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles will do it with a cherry on top.
