As it's so popular and such a wonderful source of material, it's no big surprise that The Simpsons regularly gets the videogame treatment - and if you've played any of the many previous ones then you'll probably agree that a decent Simpsons game is long overdue.

The game is set in sprawling virtual districts of the Simpson's home town Springfield. The evil Monty Burns has deployed secret wasp surveillance cameras all around Springfield, and Homer sets out to investigate… Homey is the playable character to start off with, but when you complete Homer's missions you move to another area and take control of Bart, then Lisa, Marge, Apu and so on… It's not the first and it certainly won't be the last, but SH&R steals from GTA 3's vehicular race/time trial/mission-based gameplay, and does the job rather well. The huge selection of vehicles all handle differently, and you'll get to drive allsorts including L'il Bandit, The Honor Roller, a quad bike, a Duff truck and even the remarkable car that Homer designed (a car so ugly that it bankrupted his brother Herb's company).

   

The game has very tidy graphics with instantly recognisable characters, and the large play areas are impressively populated with lots of vehicular traffic and pedestrians. Unlike the frame rate-troubled PS2 version, the Xbox game stays smooth throughout, and this really does make the game easier to play and more enjoyable - especially when you get to the tougher races and chases.

Excellent dialogue (all done by the original cast) and lots of in-jokes give the game the proper Simpsons atmosphere, but like all games the soundbites soon repeat, and although you'll titter the first few times, they do start to grate after a while - for instance: Homer says "ohh, now I've got a wedgie" after almost every crash… Doh!

   

So it's GTA: Springfield then? - Yep it's not a bad way to describe it. No weapons (other than the vehicles) or killing, but you basically drive from place to place, from person to person collecting coins to buy new cars or outfits. On foot there are lots of locations you can enter and explore, and there are a few simple platforming sections that mimic Mario 64. You can smash things or hit people with a sort of karate attack, but wreck too much stuff or run too many people over as you zoom around and Chief Wiggum & Co will soon be on your tail - and they're a lot more efficient in this game than they are in the TV series. The mix of gameplay is fun but soon becomes tiresome - played in shortish bursts Hit & Run will occupy you and give you some smiles, but play it for too long and it'll drive you nuts with its repetitive nature and occasional frustratingly tough difficulty. Definitely a justifiable purchase for fans because of the sheer attention to detail and authenticity, but The Simpsons still hasn't got the top-notch game it deserves.