The Simpsons Tapped Out by Electronic Arts offers little that is not already found in hundreds of other social games. In fact, the game follows a rule about which EA games are good and which games are bad. The company makes good sports games and bad games otherwise, although there are exceptions to this rule. Tapped Out is not one of those exceptions.
Tapped Out begins after Homer causes a meltdown at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. The meltdown destroys the town, and the Sector 7G worker as the sole survivor. The beloved American slacker must rebuild the city. He starts by building his hometown, and the next buildings he adds are the Kwik-E-Mart and the Flanders' House.
The buildings offer another feature. New characters appear when the player constructs the appropriate building. Each character has a list of tasks taken from the show. Homer can play with his myPad, Lisa can read a book, Ned Flanders can condemn science, and Apu can pray to Ganesh or work at the Kwik-E-Mart.
Electronic Arts, which has experience with city simulation games, put none of this to use in Tapped Out. Developers chose to use the experience grind used by other social games and MMORPGs. The user flies through the first few levels quickly, but the game starts moving at a slow pace around level 7.
Tapped Out provides much of the charm of Springfield. Characters even make jokes about continuity gaffs. Although the graphics, sound and humor are all acceptable, this game is not fun to play. Electronic Arts could change this by increasing the experience per task or reducing the experience required to reach higher levels. The Simpsons Tapped Out earns 2 out of 5 stars.
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