The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror

The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror is a platforming video game developed by Software Creations, who are also responsible for developing Bart & the Beanstalk, and released by THQ on March 26, 2001 for the Game Boy Color. The game is based on the Treehouse of Horror series. It has received average reviews from game critics, with praise focused on the design.
== Gameplay ==
The game is a side-scrolling platformer. It features seven levels, each one of them is a recreation of a segment from the show's THOH series.
== Levels ==
* Level 1 - Bad Dream House (based on the segment of the same name from Treehouse of Horror)
Bart Simpson must rescue Santa's Little Helper from a haunted house.
* Level 2 - Flying Tonight (based on the segment "Fly Vs. Fly" from Treehouse of Horror VIII, despite the different main character)
Maggie Simpson has been turned into a fly, and the player must guide her to the other transporter in order to get her body back.
* Level 3 - Plan 9 From Outer Springfield (based on the segment "Dial 'Z' For Zombies" from Treehouse of Horror III)
Everyone in Springfield has been turned into flesh-eating zombies, and Marge Simpson must make it home to save her family from them.
* Level 4 - Vlad All Over (based on the segment "Bart Simpson's Dracula" from Treehouse of Horror IV)
Mr. Burns has become a vampire, so Homer Simpson must find the coffin in Burns' basement in order to expunge him.
* Level 5 - If I Only Had A Body (based on the segment "If I Only Had A Brain" from Treehouse of Horror II)
Mr. Burns has built a robot using Homer as its head, and also hid the rest of Homer's body parts throughout the nuclear plant. It's up to Robot Homer to find these body parts before angry employees destroy him.
* Level 6 - Nightmare Cafeteria (based on the segment of the same name from Treehouse of Horror V)
Principal Skinner is planning to cook the students at Springfield Elementary. Lisa Simpson must free all the children before Skinner can cook and eat them.
* Level 7 - King Homer (based on the segment of the same name from Treehouse of Horror III)
King Homer would like to find Marge Simpson, but he is being restrained. He must find her before time runs out.
==Development==
The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror was developed by Software Creations and published by THQ. Software Creations began developing the game prior to E3 May 2000, but it was not displayed there since the game was only in its earlier stages when the expo was running.
==Reception==
The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror has received generally average reviews from game critics.
Craig Harris of IGN gave the game a 6 out of 10 "Passable" rating, commenting that it "it a better-than-average platformer for the Game Boy Color" and has "some decent design elements". However, he added that he thought the game got boring towards the end: "The difficulty is certainly there - it's not an easy game to play, and you won't be whisking through this title in an afternoon. It starts out clever and decent enough, as the first few levels are a good and fun challenge. Most of the levels, though, are based on the first level's side-scroller, and by the time I got to the first Homer level, I was getting quite bored."
Frank Provo of GameSpot, on the other hand, wrote that "each level is a game unto itself, which makes for a rather pleasing and varied experience." He gave The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror a 7.8 out of 10 "Good" rating, praising it for being "colorfully drawn, highly detailed, and smoothly animated", and for the video game references featured in it. However, he disliked that it "uses an unwieldy password system, making it unnecessarily tedious to continue a game."
Category:Video games
Category:Real World Articles