"There's just something so fun about being able to completely control the lives of little virtual people."

The Sims, an extremely popular PC game, has finally made it to the Mac. There are both good and bad things about this version, so let's take a look.

Graphics: 8/10
The actual graphics aren't that bad. Every interactive item in the Sims has it's own uniques animation that is very clear. The characters themselves look quite nice, too.
The main problem is that there can be A LOT of slowdown. There is a potential in this game for over a hundred moving objects onscreen (and that's just one floor) at the same time, and the game will move very slowly if you get anywhere even close to that. There are certain options you can you can turn off to try and get faster performances, but you'll sacrifice cool things, and the faster performance is barely noticable.

Gameplay/Control:10/10
This is where the fun begins. You get to create a family, coming up with their own clothes(skins, as they're called in the game), face, and name. After this, you move them onto a lot, and with your meager funds, try to build a house from scratch. After building your house, you finally get to control them, choosing when they eat, sleep, and use the bathroom. You also decide how they interact with other Sims, so you can forge friendships or make them hate each other so much, that they can't stand being within twenty feet of each other. Then you get a job. Jobs are easy enough to get, but very difficult to get promoted in. You have to work even harder at home than you do at work to become more skilled at certain attributes.
Control of the game is easy. You use the mouse mostly, clicking on objects and people to bring up a list of interactions. Make your choice, and watch your Sim undergo that interaction. You can also use 1,2,and 3 to change game speed and P or ~ to pause. These controls won't take very long to get used to.

Music/Sound:8/10
There's actually very little music in this game, but what little there is is quite good.
Sound effects shine in this game. Most items that have sound effects have a very crazy sound, and they do actually sound similar to real life, assuming that object does in fact exist in real life.
Now, the voices. Voices are, wel, kinda weird. The Sims seem to speak a very strange language, and while it is comical for a while, it quickly gets annoying.

Replay Value:10/10
There's a certain satisfaction when you finally reach the top level of your job or earn hundreds of thousands of simoleans (the currency of the Sims), and this takes lots of replay. It's also fun to start new families, plus it's necessary to climb up the career ladder.

Overall:9/10
The Sims is an overall very fun experience that will keep you coming back for more.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/03, Updated 07/23/03