"Today I bought the best game I already owned"

I'm willing to admit that I'm big enough a nerd that I've purchased the same game more then once. Oh, I always had my reasons – some little knew bit of content was added, or I didn't have it for that platform and it was slightly different. I've some prestigious titles owned in this manner – Morrowind and it's Game of the Year counterpart, the PS2 and Xbox Grand Theft Autos. Today I can add the magnificent Sims 2 to that list for, you see, The Sims Life Stories, despite what the packaging may say, is, in fact, The Sims 2.

EA has literally taken a game they already made, changed a few minor details and released it again claiming it was a brand new game. For people familiar with their supposed “new” content for the Xbox 360 Godfather or the purchasable cheat codes for Tiger Woods Golf, the shady business practices of EA should come as no surprise. Then again, anyone who has spent more then five seconds looking at the screenshots for The Sims Life Stories ought to know what they're getting into. Whether or not the game is “good” is not something that I feel I can answer within the scope of this review. I feel the same way about The Sims Life Stories as I do about The Sims 2 (that is to say, if you search for The Sims 2 on GameFAQs and check the reviews you will note a plethora of reviews praising that game…I concur with those reviews). In this review I shall attempt to ascertain whether or not The Sims Life Stories is worth purchasing by examining its features.

One of the major selling points of the game is the fact that it has the ability to run successfully in windowed mode on a laptop. In this regard it lives up to these expectations. Notably the packaging advertises support for Intel chipsets. This is a rarity to be sure. It's also worth mentioning that as the game in question is a computer game more then a few years old, it should come as no surprise that it runs well on a machine that isn't specced for gaming. I uses to play vanilla The Sims 2 on my laptop before I bought my latest rig and it ran well. So it wasn't surprising that my laptop was able to handle The Sims Life Stories quite well. After all, it is the same game. Do not be mistaken, you will not get a better looking game then The Sims 2 (Again, it's the same game).

Now onto the real question “Is The Sims Life Stories simply a watered down version of The Sims 2?” Well, yes and no. On the one hand, a Sims fan will be very out of touch playing only vanilla Sims 2 after a steady diet of some wonderful expansions. Most notably, perhaps, are the lack of pets and cars and while I am a strong proponent of University, I could live without the campus expansion (though the cow plant and other features from University are sorely missed). On the other hand, a number of “expansion features” made it into this version of The Sims 2 – for instance turn ons and turn offs are present and at least a limited version of the types of activities presented in Nightlife can be played. The best way to describe it would be “The Sims 2 with a few extras”.

Which brings this review to the largest new feature of The Sims Life Stories – the new story mode. The new story mode is very interesting. Mind you, it is not without its flaws, but it is very interesting. Notably in story mode fears do not exist. Instead a character has three wants and a goal. Every time you complete a goal not only do you accumulate aspiration points but you are able to advance the story. There is something of a free hand given to you in that you do not have to complete a goal in any length of time (though goals that lead you from your house must be competed before you return home). As you complete goals not only do you advance the story but you earn gifts from the various Sims you interact with. These gifts can later be purchased and consist of a number of interesting new items that do not exist in any form in The Sims 2 – this ranges from a new coffee pot to a rather attractive looking plasma TV. The story mode is rather rudimentary – dialogue is brief and there is no voice acting. You are not given dialogue options of any kind, but it seems to serve well enough in that it gives you directed objectives – something that I always felt was sorely missing from The Sims 2. I found myself keenly interested in my Sims, even though they were not of my own creation and while things were not quite as zany as vanilla Sims 2's Strangetown, the game itself was still fun.

What dealt the critical blow to The Sims Life Stories then? If it is fun to play, why does it exist in relative obscurity? Simple, no one is going to pay $39.99 USD for a game that they most likely already own. You can get just the same kind of “Sims 2 laptop experience” by installing your copy of vanilla Sims 2 on your laptop as you can by spending more money then this game is worth to get a copy and install it. Yes, there are a few tweeks, but these tweeks hardly justify the price, in my mind – unless you are a complete Sims 2 fanatic. The concept is good, wonderful even, and the other games in the “The Sims Stories” series might be worth watching if it weren't for my sneaking suspicion that they are going to regurgitate the same mistakes that existed in this game. The real shame is that it wouldn't have been too hard to fix. A lower price point, for one, would have made this game far more attractive. Compatibility with The Sims 2, for seconds, would further have been appealing. It really doesn't make sense to me, from a consumer's standpoint, why these stories could not have been incorporated into The Sims 2 since, frankly, it is the same game, the same cheat codes, the same user interface, the same graphics, the same objects, the same…everything. Perhaps there is some technical limitation in the original Sims 2 engine that prevents the directed mode from working in it. I don't know. All I know is that I spent $40 on this game and as much as I enjoyed it, it simply wasn't worth it.

Yes, I did like The Sims Life Stories. However, I am unable to recommend it in this review. I can say that for the Sims 2 fanatic this game offers a very interesting way of playing that is worth checking out. Perhaps when this game's price point is lowered, or if the software could be purchased used, then it might be worth looking at. However, for anyone considering this game, there is a certain reality that you must consider. You may already own it. For providing some interesting features, and still managing to be fun, despite many critical flaws, I give this game six points out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/18/07