YMMV / The Simpsons: Tapped Out

• Broken Base:
  • The 2016 Winter/Christmas update. And how. In an attempt to shake things up a little, EA shied away from a traditional "Christmas" update with Santa and elves and Christmas trees in favour of a Pagan-themed "Winter Festival" update. The result has completely polarised the community for all sorts of reasons. Some fans are simply upset at the fact a lot of the items introduced are basically recycled from earlier events (a lot of "Clash of Clones" content is returning) or lazy reskins of earlier items. Some players - particularly Christians - are deeply upset by the decision to essentially handwave a traditional Christianised Christmas out of existence. At the other end of the scale a lot of Pagans/Wiccans are deeply upset by the rather lazy and inaccurate caricature of Paganism in the game (complete with antler gods, wicker men and representations of the devil). Outside the religious debate there are those of all faiths and none who are simply upset about the lack of any real festive atmosphere - beyond a few recycled decorations from previous years there's virtually nothing "traditionally" Christmassy at all beyond an extremely dark "Elf on the Shelf" parody. Players are even divided as to EA's motivations with the update - is it a sincere attempt to be inclusive or a cynical/lazy attempt to appear edgy? At the time of writing emotions seem to be running high on all sides, and at least one major fansite has had to effectively ban further discussion of the update as a result.
• Fridge Brilliance: You can collect money from different businesses and homes, but not the Power Plant or Moe's Tavern. It's because Mr. Burns is a cheapskate and Moe's more than likely broke.
  • Many characters have one-hour tasks at the Kwik-E-Mart, whether it's shopping, shoplifting, or robbing it. Apu's 1-hour task is one of his few that is NOT a Kwik-E-Mart shift. So who's at the register when everyone's there? You find out when you progress in the game and unlock Sanjay... whose 1-hour task is a Kwik-E-Mart shift
  • The "First Ever Christmas Tree" (obtained during the Christmas 2014 update) is stuffed full of uncomfortable-looking Roman soldiers. In-game, Lisa mentioned that Christmas trees may have developed from poles that early Germanic tribes decorated with the skulls of their enemies; those same tribes under Arminius did a number on three Roman legions during the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (which occurred in 9 AD, just in time for Jesus' bar mitzvah).
  • Richard Nixon has a very limited array of quotes, due his sparse appearances on the show. Therefore, his "Being sent on a job" quote is, "But that was probably just a facetious remark." There's only one job where he doesn't say that, instead, he says, "You'll pay!" Why? Because the job takes place at Springfield Penitentiary. Nixon is furious because you, unlike anyone else, actually sent him to prison.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Marcia Wallace, who plays Edna Krabappel in the show, died in October 2013. This was during the 2013 Halloween Event, during which the characters can get possessed by ghosts, including Edna. It doesn't help that she doesn't speak at all in the game..
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • The loading screen for the Christmas 2013 update involves Homer walking with the gigantic finger as if walking with a good friend. This is opposed to the rest of the year, where most of the time the loading screen depicts Homer running from the finger in terror.
  • For Valentine's Day 2014, Homer and the giant finger are walking on a beach with hearts floating around them.
  • For the Thanksgiving 2014 update, you can let Hugo eat Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of the Simpsons.
  • For the monorail update, Homer fist bumps the giant finger while conducting the monorail train.
  • In the background of one of the loading screens for the Christmas 2015 update, we can see Santa Flanders giving presents to The Woobie orphans Patches and Poor Violet. Not to mention Homer and the Giant Finger have teamed up to throw snowballs (or in the finger's case, roll a giant snowball).
  • After you unlock Martin Prince, he and Bart make a deal similar to the one in the episode "Bart Gets an F" where Bart promises to teach Martin to be less of a Bully Magnet in exchange for Martin helping Bart to study so he won't get Held Back in School. It goes a little better than it does in the episode, though, with Bart inviting Martin for a game of paintball after they've prepared for a test together.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The tutorial in the game has Homer insist that he is not 100% at fault for the explosion. The Winter 2015 event reveals that Baby Gerald was the one who was responsible for the explosion, making his statement an Accidental Truth.
• Nightmare Fuel: During the 2012 Halloween update, when Springfielders are attacked by zombies, they would be covered in streaks of blood and then become zombified. Some of the zombified characters looked kind of unsettling.
• No Problem with Licensed Games: Tapped Out has been praised for its addictive gameplay and for capturing the spirit of the show.
• Obscure Popularity: The game has over 600k downloads and is a cashcow, but it's rarely mentioned outside of The Simpsons' fanbase.
• The Scrappy: The elves from Christmas 2014, for being annoying and the subject of an Anvilicious message about the treatment of immigrants. Though it looks like the creators foresaw this and had them be treated very poorly in the second half of the event.
• Seasonal Rot: People didn't like the Clash of Clones campaign, which went on for too long, had some lackluster rewards, and forced you to build ugly castles that took up a lot of time and resources to make, and took up a lot of space.
• Unexpected Character: For the second Superhero event, people were surprised that Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl's little sister, Bouncing Battle Baby, was added into the game, mainly because Bouncing Battle Baby originated from the comic book series rather than the show.
• Win Back the Crowd: The 2015 Superhero event has been very well received in comparison to the above example.
  • So much so, that it got a Sequel.
• The Woobie: Hugo. Not even his pigeon-rat likes to be seen with him.

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