#60: Krusty's Super Fun House

Evil ratses!

Movie and TV tie in games tend to be very bad. I believe The Simpsons games in particular are widely seen as being terrible. Tie in games get to be so bad because people who don't play games see something they recognize and buy it regardless of how good it might be. For movie ones there also tends to be a pretty harsh deadline... No one wants to buy a tie in game two years after a movie comes out! I owned Krusty's Super Fun House as a kid. I'm pretty sure it was a gift from someone who recognized The Simpsons.

Whoa there Krusty, don't fall!

In this case that wasn't actually a problem. Krusty's Super Fun House is actually super fun. Back then, and now. It's essentially Lemmings with a different coat of paint. You have little rats that spawn and walk in a straight line until they die. Unlike in Lemmings, however, the goal is to kill all the rats. There are 'exit' locations on the map but instead of saving your rats, they kill them. Bart will smash them with a giant punching glove. Homer will zap them with a gigantic laser. Your goal is to make sure the rats make it to their doom by picking up and dropping different blocks. Krusty can only hold one block at a time, and the placement of the blocks needs to be precise, which is where the game finds it's challenge.

ZAP!

On top of the Lemmings game there's also a passable platformer pasted on top. Krusty needs to jump around and find all those blocks he needs. There are enemies to kill or avoid, points to collect, extra mans to earn. Puzzles are awesome, passable platformers are fine. Especially compared to some of the other drek I've played recently.

The Simpsons franchise actually adds to the game. Lemmings is a fine game, but it's pretty bland. Getting all the trappings of The Simpsons made the game more entertaining. There are signs in the background from various Simpsons characters. Unlike Super Soccer where the signs in the background are advertising other games these ones are just there for comic relief. The Simpsons world fits in well with a game designed around murdering a bunch of innocent and stupid rats.

Rating: S-