New Christmas event in The Simpsons: Tapped Out game app for Android and iOS!
The Simpsons is a global phenomenon and whether you’re a fan of the series or not, you can’t deny that obvious fact. Consequently, it comes with no surprise that EA collaborated with the official team behind the Simpsons series to create The Simpsons: Tapped Out, an amazing game app based on the life of the Springfield characters. While the game first came out during 2012, it has come a long way since then and it’s amazing that it still receives updates; this is a proof of the success and love it continues to get from the customers/players.
What motivated me to write this review is the most recent update that is featuring new Christmas-themed content. In this update Santa’s in trouble and the Christmas are in danger. The player is tasked with saving the season in Springfield. You have to gather presents and clear the challenges you are given by the elves in order to save Santa! Of course, for doing so, you are awarded with prizes because… as the game itself states, the true meaning of the holidays are prizes! The update also includes new characters, buildings, decorations and other surprises so if there are any players reading this who have tried the game in the past, definitely give it a try.
Game Description
Now, let's talk about the game itself. As one would expect from a Simpsons game, it’s extremely based on humor. The story goes like that: Homer, who as we know works at nuclear plant, caused “accidentally” a nuclear meltdown at the power plant, which resulted at the destruction of the whole town of Springfield. We see all this stuff happening in a video footage with sound and the official characters’ voice actors, feeling like you’re watching another episode of the Simpsons. After the blowup Homer finds himself alone in an empty town trying to figure out what to do with his hilarious way of thinking. The purpose of the game is to rebuild the town in any way you want, and bring back the disappeared characters. Initially, you are provided with a small part of land, and on it you start constructing buildings, decorating them as you find fit, complete missions with the series’ characters, and earn awards (i.e. cash and experience points). Just to make it clear, by cash I mean virtual money and not real money. The game does great a job in explaining the rules and you won’t find yourself wondering what to do next. The first thing that you are asked to build is of course the Simpson family’s house. By doing this, Homer’s daughter Lisa is unlocked and appears in front of us. Lisa acts as an assisting character. Lisa and Homer are the only characters that can remove all the debris that is scattered around. By cleaning the debris you receive XP and income (cash and donuts), but I’ll talk about the game’s currency later on. As the game progresses and the player reconstructs more buildings other characters are gradually unlocked. For instance, by building Moe's Tavern, you get Marge back, by building the Retirement Castle you get Grampa back, and by building Bart's Tree House you get… (make a wild guess)… yes, Bart! Same goes for all characters. Each of them has different and unique tasks that they complete in order to gain money. Needless to say, many of these tasks will make you burst with laughter.
As you build your second building, Kwik-E-Mart, a guy from an alternate Springfield in a parallel universe, appears and tells you that you can travel to alternate Springfields.
You can visit up to 3 different buildings in each Springfield. During your visit to an alternate Springfiled you are asked to “collect rewards and vandalize your friend’s buildings”. You also collect “Friend Points”, which brings us to the game’s currency. There are three main types of currency in The Simpsons: Tapped Out. Money is the first and most common, and you can earn it by the income you collect from buildings, clearing missions and from working. The game’s premium currency are donuts, which are hard to get and there are certain ways in which that can be achieved. For example you can earn donuts by logging into the game using your Origin account (if you have one), or by clearing debris, although finding a donut that way is very difficult. And then we have Friend Points that can be acquired by visiting different Springfields and performing actions. Please bear in mind that you'll need an Origin account to do this.
There are also Mystery boxes that you can get by exchanging donuts and include surprise items. Your first Mystery Box will most likely include many donuts but don’t expect that to happen every time. Also, every day (as long as you keep logging in) you are awarded with cash, and on Friday you are awarded with a Mystery Box.
One more thing that I find interesting is that the game has plenty of storylines with quests (trying to find out the location of some important characters, for example) so it’s obvious the developers did their best to keep the players entertained.
As it usually happens with freemium games that include construction and missions, in Tapped Out these actions require certain amounts of time each to complete. To speed things up you can sacrifice donuts. As a result, when you don’t have enough of these delicious looking treats, you have to buy more through the IAP system. You’re not surprised, are you? An interesting feature is that you can exchange donuts for money, and that way be able to buy land and items. There are buildings that cost way too much and gathering enough money will take a lot of time. The game, just like most freemiums really tries to push the IAP and that is frustrating. Leveling up only rewards you with a few donuts and that’s hardly enough to make things easier for the player. The good thing is that you don’t need the IAP to enjoy the game. It’s true that you’ll have to wait for buildings to complete etc., and there are some premium items that you won’t be able to buy but trust me there isn’t any important reason to purchase them in the first place.
The Simpsons: Tapped Out Screenshots
The graphics are absolutely amazing, with the image looking sharp and clear. Playing will make you feel like watching the show itself. Using the same team for the designs and of course the voice actors was the best thing that could happen to this game. The script is also in par with the show and the characters have the same personality as you know them.
On the whole, The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a game that although doesn’t give something new as a freemium, it has lots of Simpsons laughter and humor and will keep you playing until the end! On top of that, the chance to create your own Springfied is quite an important reason enough to try it out. I would definitely recommend this game to all Simpsons-lovers as well as those who seek endless hours of fun and entertainment, whether they are fans of the show or not.
