From Fox Interactive Games, Virtual Springfield is a fun game for all ages meant to be played on your PC or Mac. While it can be used on both systems, this review is mostly for those with a PC.
All the help files will point you to the Fox Interactive web site which is no longer running. If you complete one part of the game where you collect the cards, the reward would take you to a web page on the Fox Interactive web site with Professor Frink, but that page is no longer there.
System Requirements are:
- For Windows:
- Pentium 75 MHz with 8 MB RAM (16 MB recommended)
- Windows 95
- DirectX-compatible graphics and sound cards
- 1 MB free hard drive space (6 MB if DirectX is not already installed)
- 4x CD-ROM drive
- For Mac:
- Power PC 66 MHz with 16 MB RAM
- System 7.0 or greater
- 1 MB free hard drive space
- 4x CD-ROM drive
There is a glitch with some systems that tell you it cannot install the program because you do not have enough space on your hard drive, even if that is not the case. When I bought the game originally, I had a Windows 95 with a 20GB hard drive [things change in just 8 years!] I tried to install it to my new PC which runs with a Windows XP Media Edition and a 250GB drive and got the message that my brand new computer did not have enough space to install it [only a mere 225GB left on the drive.]
To bypass that hassle, go to My Computer on your Desktop. Highlight the drive you have the disk and go to File and click Explore. Select all files [control/A] the copy them [control/C] and paste them into a New Folder you put anywhere on your computer. You can rename the New Folder anything you'd like. When all the disk files are copied into your New Folder, you can click on the Setup.exe file and it should let you install it normally.
When you use that method, you do not need to use the disk every time you want to play it as all the files are already on your computer.
Be warned, [this statement must be included for both of our protection] sharing this file with others on P2P software or making copies is illegal and should not be done as this is copyright infringement. Those caught in the act will be prosecuted. Just because you have an entire game you paid for installed on your system does not give you legal right to share with the rest of the world. Do so only at your own risk.
Now with the legalities out of the way, here is how you play the game Virtual Springfield.
At the beginning, you are dropped off by the Town Hall and given an introduction by Springfield's most famous actor, Troy McClure. The town is in "3D" and a few of the buildings can be entered:
- Town Square
- the Simpson home
- the Flanders' home
- Moe's Tavern
- Krustylu Studios
- Retirement Castle
- Springfield Cemetery
- the church
- Noiseland arcade
- Kwik-E-Mart
- Nuclear Power Plant
- Stone Cutters lodge
- Aztec Theatre
- Town Hall
- Springfield library
- Springfield Gorge
- Springfield Elementary
Think of it more of a tour rather than a game because the game part is pretty lame.
For the PC, these are your control keys:
- Open......Alt/1
- Save......Alt/2
- Quit......Alt/3
- Collect...Alt/4
- Music.....Alt/5
- Sound.....Alt/6
- Pause.....Spacebar
- Unpause...Esc or Enter
For the Mac, these are your control keys:
- Open......Command/O
- Save......Command/S
- Quit......Command/Q
- Collect...Command/C
- Music.....Ctrl/M
- Sound.....Ctrl/S
- Pause.....Spacebar
- Unpause...Esc or Return
You can use the arrow keys or the mouse to move around. To get around town quickly, hold Shift/V/S and click on any location on the map to automatically go there.
From time to time, you will see special cursor pointers which will indicate what can be done. A red arrow means you can not go to the area that the arrow is pointing. A yellow arrow indicates where you may walk. When you see a pointing arrow you can either enter into a new area or zoom in on a specific spot. With a grabber hand you can pick up an item. The slash hand means you can't click on that spot until something else is done or discovered first.
The big point of the game is to collect all 74 cards scattered in one of the 17 locations around Springfield. As soon as you find a card, grab it to add to your collection.
These are the cards you will need to find:
- Springfield Community Card Introduction
- Homer Simpson
- Marge Simpson
- Bart Simpson
- Lisa Simpson
- Maggie Simpson
- Santa's Little Helper
- Snowball II
- Abe Simpson
- Patty Bouvier
- Selma Bouvier
- Ned Flanders
- Maude Flanders
- Rod Flanders
- Todd Flanders
- Itchy
- Scratchy
- Krusty the Clown
- Sideshow Mel
- Sideshow Bob
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
- Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon
- Seymour Skinner
- Edna Krabappel
- Elizabeth Hoover
- Groundskeeper Willy
- Otto
- Herman
- Milhouse Van Houten
- Richard
- Lewis
- Martin Prince
- Sherri
- Terri
- Wendall
- Nelson Muntz
- Dolph
- Kearney
- Jimbo Jones
- Janey
- Superintendent Chalmers
- Ralph Wiggum
- Comic Book Store Guy
- Disco Stu
- The Van Houtens
- Handsome Pete
- Montgomery Burns
- Waylon Smithers
- Lenny
- Carl
- ProfessorFrink
- Moe
- Barney Gumble
- Sam
- Larry
- Kent Brockman
- Arnie Pye
- Reverend Timothy Lovejoy
- Helen Lovejoy
- Chief Clancy Wiggum
- Eddie
- Lou
- Dr. Julius Hibbert
- Dr. Nick Riviera
- Mayor Joe Quimby
- Jasper
- Rainier Wolfcastle
- Troy McClure
- Snake
- Sea Captain
- Lionel Hutz
- Hans Moleman
- Uter
- Mrs. Glick
- Special Card
In some locations, a new card will spawn when you leave the room and enter it again. So if you have looked everywhere and still can't find them all, try looking again where you found the cards before.
In order to open certain areas up in the game to locate the cards, you will need to find the following items which are scattered around town:
- Krusty Key
- CMB Key
- Spanky Key
- Stonecutters Ring
- Hamster Food Note
- Secret Stash Note
- Butterfinger Wrapper
- Gerbil Food
- Drawer Note
No, I am not going to give away the location of any of these items. You will be extremely bored with it after awhile anyway once you realize how easy it is. There are other sites that will give away the exact location, but where is the challenge in that?
There are 9 mini games you can play in the game Virtual Springfield:
- Smite of the Bumblebee
- Super Slugfest
- Krusty's Carnival of Kash
- Larry the Looter
- Donut Toss
- Apoom
- Slingshot
- Balloon Toss
- Bar Game
These mini games won't advance your game of Virtual Springfield, but they are at least semi-interesting.
Honestly, that's all there is to the game Virtual Springfield. It is a good way to pass some time if you are a Simpsons fan and clean fun. If you haven't played it yet, you can buy Virtual Springfield used at Amazon.com.
