Level 7 is the seventh and final level of The Simpsons: Hit & Run. It takes place on October 31, with the player reprising their role as Homer.
Level 7 modifies the map from Level 1 and Level 4 and the largest change in map design the game sees; Springfield has become infested with zombies, its water supply has been completely replaced with Buzz Cola, and the aliens have left their mark on the town.
Plot
Level 7 takes place on October 31, on Halloween night, with aliens invading Springfield and Buzz Cola in the water supply, bringing the dead from their graves, the level is a breeding ground for spookiness. Homer must stop the aliens from destroying the human race. He is informed of nuclear waste, the aliens' weakness, and must deliver as much of it as possible to the spaceship before it's too late for humanity.
Appearance
Level 7 is set at Evergreen Terrace once again and reuses the same map that Level 1 and Level 4 use; however, while Level 1 can be seen as the "stock" map and Level 4 can be seen as an extension, Level 7 is more of a restricted version of Level 1 and has several changes to it than the previous two levels: The 939 district of the map has been closed off from the player at both the drawbridge by the school and the nuclear power plant, with part of the drawbridge and the piers beside it appearing damaged. The 939 Area Code sign on the rich side and the land underneath the bridge are also missing (it could have possibly sunk into the colafied water).
As for the power plant, a large metal door shuts off the plant's interior and the entrance has a different appearance than it did previously, the 939 Area Code sign seen on the rich side is also missing, the First Church of Springfield has been destroyed, possibly due to the zombie invasion, the river separating the poor part of Springfield from the suburbs has been changed from water to blood, with it making pig-like noises, fire hydrants now release a lime green substance when hit, and the tomacco field is now a pumpkin patch.
The whole level is designed in a Halloween theme, as the newspaper that is sold on this level is dated October 31st. Notable changes to the environment include Krusty Burger being changed to "Zombie Burger", the Kwik-E-Mart becoming the "Spook-E-Mart", the Evergreen Terrace sign saying "Evergreen Terror", Flanders' House having a fence propped up in its' front yard with a sign saying "No Pagans" because of the zombie apocalypse, the blue house with the shortcut near the Simpsons House having graffiti inspirations written all over it saying "No T.V. make Homer go crazy", the school being decorated as a castle (it is now the Springwart's School of Magicry), civilian cars being replaced with hearses, coffin carts, witches, and ghost ships, the grass becoming darker, jack-o-lanterns being placed all over the map, ghosts hovering above the roads and several homes having Halloween decorations out front. In addition, the trees have lost their leaves, the grill in the Simpsons' backyard has been removed, six spiders can be found throughout the map in different locations and the statue above the Lard Lad Donuts building now lights up and moves its left arm and face around, even opening and closing its mouth in the process, while making robotic-like noises.
One major, physical change to the level is the addition of alien spacecrafts. They are both located at opposite ends of the map and play different roles in the level. The spaceship at the school playground hovers over the baseball field and sucks up any trespassing vehicles. This plays a crucial role through the middle and later part of the level's main missions. The other spaceship is wedged into the power plant, exposing the interior via a break room of sorts. The player has access to the highest level of the plant, but not much of interest is found other than multiple Cola Crates and Vending Machines. The destroyed power plant is the focal point of the fourth mission.
The last notable change is the opening of the Springfield Cemetery. In Levels 1 and 4, the player would have to drive around the gated portion of the cemetery, with the best shortcuts sending the player into either the Krusty Burger by the bridge or into a swath of pedestrians and vehicles. In Level 7, the gates are opened, due to the zombie apocalypse, and provide a valuable shortcut that every mission in the level makes use of. The cemetery also has a river underneath the gap that allows for a platforming section on foot.
Other notable changes in the level are to the sounds and music, which were changed to fit in with the Halloween theme. Because of this, many of the sounds/music heard in Levels 1 and 4 sound different in Level 7: Some of these examples include the Kwik-E-Mart, which plays an eerie sounding tune inside, as opposed to the theme heard in the previous Suburb levels. The cows in the barn near the Tomacco field have different mooing sounds which sound evil and demonic, and the level's opening music is played by a pipe organ instead of playing the first few notes of the Simpsons opening theme. Also, if the player goes into the playgrounds near the Simpsons House and at the school, they will hear the voices of various kids (Bart, Lisa, Milhouse, Ralph, Nelson, the kids from Levels 1-6) and Agnes Skinner.
Arachnophobics, there are six spiders throughout this level. Where they are found are as follows:
- On the tree at the first house after the Krusty Burger at the cemetery.
- On the tree just across the road from the Level 1 and 4 cemetery entrance.
- On the retirement castle.
- On the side of the apartment where Gil is.
- On the right side of the school as displayed from the front. When you go get the wasp camera on that side of the school, keep the camera pointed towards the grocery store. When gathering the coins, you can zoom in with the L button.
- On the tree in the school playground. Try to keep the camera close to Homer with the yellow C stick and have it facing the baseball field the whole time when you go get the wasp camera on the bus (try to make the wasp camera go to Homer's left) and the collector card on the slide. You can make sure you don't end up going down the slide when getting the card and the two last coins.
Music
The music for Level 7 uses a Halloween-themed orchestral track that makes use of a theremin, an electronic instrument that uses electric signals concluded from the distance of the user's hands from its antennae. The theme itself is a Halloween remix of the theme used for Level 1 and 4:
Missions
- Rigor Motors
- Long Black Probes
- Pocket Protector
- There's Something About Monty
- Alien "Auto"topsy Part I
- Alien "Auto"topsy Part II
- Alien "Auto"topsy Part III
- Bonus: Flaming Tires
Races
Main Article: Street Races
Zombies host all types of races in Level 7. They're found in:
- Time Trial: Near the Kwik-E-Mart. (3 Laps - Kwik-E-Mart Time Trial Race)
- Circuit Race: Near the demolished church. (Haunted Suburbia Circuit Race)
- Checkpoint Race: Near the Springfield Elementary. (Race to the Power Plant entrance - Suburban Countryside 2 Checkpoint Race)
- Prize: Open Wheel Race Car
Main Article: Wager Races
- Location: Power Plant parking lot
- Entry Fee: 50
- Time to Beat: 1:30
- Easy payout: 100
- Medium payout: 150
- Hard payout: 200
Cards
- Main article: Level 7 Collector Cards
Character Clothing
Main Article: Character Costumes
Costumes can be bought from the Springfield Elementary School, Bart's bedroom or the Kwik-E-Mart/Spook-E-Mart.
- Dirty (400 coins)
- Evil (450 coins)
- Donut (500 coins)
Vehicles
- 70's Sports Car (Starting vehicle)
- Zombie Car (Purchase from a zombie for 500 coins; must be used in Long Black Probes)
- Mr. Burns' Limo (Bonus Mission)
- Open Wheel Race Car (Street Race prize)
- Hearse (Purchase from Gil for 750 coins)
- Hover Bike (Purchase from Gil for 1,000 coins)
Wasp Cameras
Main Article: Level 7 Wasp Cameras
Gags
Main Article: Level 7 Gags
- The TV inside the Simpsons' House.
- The swings in the Simpsons' backyard.
- Talking tiki in the Simpsons' backyard.
- The Krusty table lamp in Bart's bedroom.
- The clown bed in Bart's bedroom.
- Door of the bomb shelter in the Flanders' backyard.
- The swings in the playground near the Simpsons' House.
- Radioactive gas tank in the power plant parking lot.
- Frostillicus in the Kwik-E-Mart.
- Silent alarm behind Apu in the Kwik-E-Mart.
- ATM in the Kwik-E-Mart.
- Larry the Looter arcade in the Kwik-E-Mart.
- Squishee machine at the Kwik-E-Mart.
- Fire extinguisher inside the school.
- Fire alarm inside the school.
Trivia
- This is the only level of the game:
- Where Apu has no role in the story line, and therefore only in this level, he drives his Longhorn when accessed via phone booth.
- Where Bart does not make an appearance (if counting his appearance in the tutorial and in the street races for Level 1 and excluding his appearance in the final cutscene). Because of this, he drives both his Honor Roller and Ferrini when they are accessed via phone booth.
- Where Milhouse, Nelson and Ralph do not host the street races. In this level, they're hosted by zombies instead.
- Where the Zombie Car does not have a zombie occupying the driver's seat.
- When the player talks to the zombie running the checkpoint race, Homer says to the zombie "...let's do this! And get back to trying to kill each other." The only other mention of zombies attacking humans is when Kent Brockman is heard having his brain eaten on TV. Despite this, the zombies throughout the level actually behave as normal pedestrians, even talking to fellow zombies, and do not treat the humans walking around the level unusually at all.
- As seen in many pre-release material of the game, the level had received a plethora of changes to it during development. Some of these changes can be notified in the final cutscene of the game around the area of the school:
- The glass panel to the northeast of the school has an entirely different insignia than the one in the game; It features orange wording alongside Krusty's face.
- The school can be seen in it's original colors (brown and purple).
- The playground area in the sandpit is missing.
- The broken-down school bus in the sandpit is missing, since it wasn't supposed to be there originally.
- The colour of the houses surrounding the prison are blue instead of pink while the houses near Willie's shack appear to be a lighter orange (with one being lavender).
- The basketball pitch is missing and a smooth green hill with a grey path has took its place.
- The Springwart's School of Magicry (seen in the "Treehouse of Horror XII" segment "Wiz Kids") is a reference to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the Harry Potter series.
- The house at the start of evergreen terrace has a reference to The Shinning, but there is an omission of "No beer". Instead it just says "No TV" "Go Crazy".
- The level has several unused music files, some of which can be heard when exiting the level boundaries. For example:
- If the player exits the game's boundaries at the nuclear power plant, they will hear the unused Level 7 version of the Stonecutters Tunnel theme if the player stands in the spot where the tunnel was previously in Levels 1 and 4.
- Another example is around where Mr. Burns' Mansion would be: the player will hear Halloween-themed celebration music.
- A third example is in the files of the game. There is a Halloween theme that was meant to play in the rooftop garden of the Kwik-E-Mart replacing the music heard on the rooftop in Levels 1 and 4, but it does not play in the final game for unknown reasons.
- If the player exits the game's boundaries at the power plant, the sounds that can be heard in the plant's various rooms in Levels 1 and 4 can also be heard here.
- There are folders in the game's files that include Level 8 and 9. However, there is no information in them. Some players have speculated that the game was meant to include a level with all three maps combined (Suburbs, Downtown, and Squidport), but was cut because of the file size. This rumor was later debunked by a former developer of the game, Joe McGinn, on the Donut Team forums.
- At one point during development, the rich side of the map and the entirety of the power plant were both meant to be accessible. There are also several hints in the level itself which prove this (e.g. the tracks that play at the Stonecutters Tunnel and Mr. Burns' Manor). According to former Radical employee "Noviwan" on the Donut Team forum, the map was cut in half to make workload for environment artists easier.
- On the GameCube version, the guitar midway heard in the level's music sounded more inaudible than it did in the final's level music, this issue was later fixed: