The Sims

"A Healthy Transition from Mouse to Controller"

Author's Note: I'd have given this game an 8.75 if I could.

The Overview: The Sims for the Playstation 2. Dream game for what I'm sure is a number reaching into the millions--a dream game for those without the power it takes to play the original, or those looking to try a new twist on their favorite PC game.

I'm not going to go in-depth on the game at this point--I assume you know what The Sims is, or at least have an idea.

This is a review of The Sims for the Playstation 2, and I'm going to subject this to the original game, for the PC. Therefore, there shall end up being many comparisons between the two.

The Gameplay - 10

Extremely fluid move here. The mouse-to-controller switch was well handled, and all of the controls make sense (left analog stick moves the cursor, right analog stick zooms and rotates the camera, etc.). The game plays and feels just like the original, with slightly better graphics and nearly identical sounds, right down to the gibberish the Sims spout from their mouths at one another.

When you first start out, you only have one mode available to you, and that mode is the infamous ''Get a Life'' mode.

Get A Life has a simple premise: GET A LIFE! You start out the game as a lazy bum, living with your mom, with no more than 200 dollars to your name. The first level goals include borrowing enough money from Mom to move out and sustain yourself on your own, fixing a TV, and cooking dinner without starting a fire. Sounds simple enough (and it is), but it gets increasingly harder as things go along.

Get A Life mode is where the player unlocks all of the secrets--new objects, hairstyles, clothes, et cetera. You do this by accomplishing tasks (like the ones mentioned earlier), and voila! New items for the buying.

This mode is not only a great way to learn to play, but also a solid mission in itself, worth playing through to win.

After playing through about two levels of Get A Life, you unlock the other modes: Play The Sims, and the 2 Player Modes.

Play the Sims is just that. You play ''The Sims''. It's the mode of the game that mirrors the PC game. Everything is the same, although most of the items are either refurbished into better looking objects, or done away with.

I have not yet had a chance to explore the 2 Player Modes, but this is how it sounds like they work:

The Get A Life 2 Player Mode gives you two seperate houses, and you choose a level. The two players race to see who can get the level done first (i.e., who can fix the TV, cook dinner, borrow money from mom, get a job, and move out first). Basically, a race of skill between two players.

The other is just Play The Sims, but with two people playing. You both control the same family at the same time, however, so things could get... ugly, to say the least.

The Features - 9

There are nowhere near as many objects as in the PC version, but the plethora of choices you have will keep you coming back anyway, and you'll want to play through Get A Life to get them all, since there are some PS2 exclusive items to be had.

You can now choose different combinations of lower and upper clothing, different hairstyles and hats, and accessories for the head. You can even change your shoes, but there are only about five kinds of shoes, so it's no big deal there.

This game does not include the expansion packs, and I for one can not figure out why anyone would have anticipated such a thing. Instead, it has some items from other expansions, and plenty of it's own originals. The game does not include extra locations as featured in expansions like Hot Date or Vacation, and the only pets I've seen so far were some fish in a tank.

Graphics and Sound - 8

Another good move, but could have been better. The graphics are almost the same as the original, although much less polygonal, but the screen seems somewhat fuzzy at times.

The character models are really well done in this version, this is what the original Sims should have incorporated: Colors. When you choose something for your Sim to wear, you can change the color, and it cycles through about nine different shades/tints of any given color (from light blue to dark blue, for example). This leaves limitless possibilities for what your Sims may look like, though some more hairstyles and face styles would have been nice.

The sounds in the game are great. They are all nearly identical to the original sounds, which were equally great. If you played the original, you'll find yourself recognizing gibberish in this incarnation. Not to mention, you'll also hum along to the music, since all the BG music is the same as in the original (though some of the radio music has changed a bit).

Replay - 8

The Sims is the ultimate game for replay, at least, it is on the PC. The big difference between the PS2 and PC versions of this game is the replay. You see, it's easy to expand on a PC game--release an expansion disk and throw it in your computer, bing bang boom you've got new stuff. The PS2 will be a little harder to manage if they decide to try and release more for it.

The Biased Section-

I used to be a huge The Sims player, so I'm extremely biased towards this game. I've always loved The Sims, and it's going to remain a classic game as long as I'm around to make it so.

The Downsides-

First big issue, the game is a blue disc. That's right, a CD. I don't know why they went blue for this, aside from the fact that it's cheaper to produce CDs. I believe any Sims fan in their right mind would rather wait another few months for a DVD version with 8 times as much stuff as this one has, but after thinking about it, I see the plot. Of course they won't give us the good stuff now, we'll have to wait for that. Just like those money-grubbing companies to rip us off again.

Buy or Rent?-

Note that many Playstation 2 consoles have problems reading blue discs. From what I have gathered, this comes from the reading speed of the lens inside the PS2, but I've really got no clue.

This game could be a rent or buy depending on your situation. If you don't mind shipping your PS2 to Sony to have them replace/fix it if it doesn't work, then buy it and test your luck. If you really don't want to pay whatever shipping fees are necessary, then rent it and make sure it works before you buy it.

Check the message boards on this site for information on how to deal with blue discs without having to get your PS2 fixed.

And if you know blue discs work in your PS2, buy it. Now!

Overall Score-
Out of a possible 10 in each category, The Sims for the Playstation 2 received the following scores:

The Gameplay - 10
The Features - 9
Graphics and Sound - 8
Replay - 8

Which comes to a grand total of 35 points out of 40, or 87.5%, a solid B+.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/03, Updated 01/16/03