It must be summer, because Bongo released the Simpsons Summer Shindig for this year.  How was it? Well, find out after the jump!

Spoilers Below

“Railroaded”

Have you ever ridden an NJ Transit train from New York during rush hour? Let me tell you, it is the absolute worst. That is, until you read the train ride from hell the Simpson clan went through. Homer decided he was going to take the family on a trip if everyone was able to stay out of jail for the school year. So, Homer gets everyone a trip on a train. The bad thing is that it’s coach. It’s like flying in coach, except it takes three times as long to get to where you want to go.  So, Bart and Lisa take a walk, and find everywhere is out of food and drink. Then one of the workers says there is one opening in the first class dining cart for dinner, and he makes it in. He sits down next to Martin, and they exchange pleasantries.  When Martin goes to stand up, Bart steals his ticket, and gets Martin sent to coach. He’s living the dream until the train stops. Martin spots him, and Bart gets him taken away, to walk right into Lisa. He swindles his whole family into the first class room, which turns into swindling all of coach into the room. Bart pulls one over on Martin, and sends him back to the room full of people, while the family has coach to themselves.

“The Battle of the Batboys”

Well, if there was ever a self explanatory title to anything in the history of ever. Bart and Milhouse find out that the Isotopes need a new batboy, and Milhouse wants to so bad, and drags Bart along. Bart gets Homer to practice, while Milhouse’s parents want nothing to do with it. So, Milhouse acquires a tape of Big Bill McCloskey to help him practice. The day of the tryouts comes, and Bart puts a beating on Milhouse. The scuffle between the two gets the monkey to start throwing baseballs at the two of them, and it won the spot. Bart and Milhouse make up, and go home. They then see the monkey go feral, and take over the field. Looks like the look for a batboy has restarted.

“Sunburns”

The Simpsons plan a trip to the beach, only to find out that Burns bought it when Mayor Quimby was drunk. After getting ridiculed for their looks, getting shot by paintballs, and chased off with Dobermans mounted on sharks, the Simpsons leave the beach, minus Lisa to protest, and Grandpa because Homer forgot him. Thirty seconds after sitting on the beach, Burns is so burnt, he looks like bacon. Lisa and Grandpa work together to get past the dogs with bacon, blinding the supermodels with their own reflection, the paintball snipers with sunlight, to get Burns his aloe covered bandages. He declares the beach is free for all. Well, kind of. The beach is now free to enter, but twenty dollars to leave.

“Judge Dredneck”

I sure love parody. And when done right, it makes a comic. When done wrong, it makes the comic crap itself. This was a great parody of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Judge Dredd. Bart and Milhouse are out of school for the summer, vowing to have the most action-packed summer ever. Two weeks later, they’re bored to tears in the living room. Marge gets fed up, and signs them up for fitness camp. Marge gets a phone call later saying that they boys never showed up, and the bus mysteriously broke down, and they’re in the Springfield Redneck Zone. Homer tries the police, but they want nothing to do with it. So, he gives Cletus $20, and they’re on their way to the SRZ. Cletus looks hilarious as Judge Dredneck, by the way. They meet street warriors, who end up being Cletus’s kids. So, they pass on, getting caught by Cousin Merle, and are going to the Thunderdome. Cletus gets free, gets his spud gun and shoots Merle, while Homer gets the kids, and they book it. Bart and Milhouse loved it, and make a break back for the SRZ.

For my first exposure to the Simpsons Summer Shindig, this was pretty legit. The stories were enjoyable, and not very predictable for a change. I enjoyed this a lot.

Overall: 8.5/10