I'd rather eat my shorts

Author's Rating:

Pros: Kids might like it, actual voices of the Simpsons

Cons: not enough to it, graphically flawed

The Bottom Line: 
My son, age 7, liked it. I think anybody age 9 and up will find it lame to say the least.

Author's Review
This game is just AWFUL! The good part about being a reviewer on Epinions is you can warn people about this kind of drivel. The bad part is you actually have to buy (or in my case, fortunately, rent) the game and spend time playing it to warn people. I knew I'd wasted my money when I booted it up and there was no intro movie. No intro movie? Even Beavis and Butthead had an intro movie!

THE GOOD.

Surprisingly enough, there is SOME good in this game. Whoever did the research into this game obviously did a lot of it, because there are a LOT of characters - sixteen to be exact. You get Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Barney, Krusty, Apu and Groundskeeper Willie to start off with, and later on you can unlock Professor Frink, Ned Flanders, Bumblebee Man, Moe, Barney, Itchy/Scratchy, Mr. Burns/Waylon Smithers and Kang the Alien. That's a heck of a roster, and all are represented where they should be, like you fight Homer at The Nuclear Plant, Moe at his Tavern, Kang on his Spaceship, and Lisa outside the Simpsons' house.

The backgrounds are filled with lesser characters which would probably amuse people who are die hard Springfield fans. The Stonecutters, Cletus, and Doctor Hibbert all make cameos. Heck even the play by play is done by Kent Brockman!

And each character has the same voice he/she does on the series. So its really Dan Castellena doing Homer, Yeardly Smith doing Lisa, etc. etc. They speak a lot too! In fact every character has at least ONE specific line about another, and 2 or 3 victory lines. Willie, for example, makes fun of the Bumblebee man like this: "I can't stand someone who speaks in an accent!" And one of his victory lines is: "I haven't been this happy, since I stole my first pig!"

Each character also has attacks that fit the character. So Barney Burps beer at you, Homer Eats Donuts to make him stronger, Bart hits you with a Sling, Lisa plays her Saxophone, and Bumblebee Man throws a Chihuahua at you (Yo quiero Taco Bell!).

Unfortunately, that's where all the goodness ends...

THE BAD

Okay, so the game says Simpsons Wrestling, right? Well, ummm, WHERE IS THE WRESTLING? Every character can grab his opponent, but they get either a rope bounce or one particular throw. I may be mistaken, but if a wrestler went into one ring with just one move, and just punched and kicked all the time, he would get fired. Bouncing people off the ropes is also pointless, since there is no unique move for that either. You can't, for example, bounce off the rope for more momentum and clothesline or DDT the opponent.

The rest of the time, they have 3 moves and that is all. So, if you count the ability to jump, each character has a total of seven moves! Three in the air, three on the ground and one throw. Not exactly a prime example of variety, no matter how funny the moves are.

You can see where this game is heading, can't you? "He who mashes quicker wins the match," seems to be the rule of thumb for this game. There is hardly any strategy involved other than the rapid press of buttons.

THE UGLY

Graphics, if you want to call them that. I don't know what the person in charge with the graphics was on, but it wasn't healthy. I am sure if you squint really hard or drink a lot, you might think some of the characters are accurate, but they aren't.

Willie's head is out of proportion, his beard looks like yarn, and his chest can't be supported by his own legs. And that's just ONE guy. Bumblebee Man's sting vanishes at some angles, Barney loses weight, and Marge loses her frying pan weapon when she moves at certain angles. Detail lines also fade out so badly, that it sometimes looks like the characters don't have a mouth, nose, or ear.
Well at least they tried to give them a cartoony look (and not 3D polygons), and my 7-year-old son didn't notice all that much difference between them and the "real" cartoon characters.

Bottom line: if you're 12 years or older and want to buy a decent wrestling game for yourself, stay away from this one. If you're a parent and want to buy a fun game for your kid (who is a Simpsons fan), you might want to check this out; the controls aren't difficult to figure out and they'll have some fun at least with all the different characters.
I didn't though.