The Sims

"The Actual Sims In This Game Must Hate My Guts"

When The Sims were first released on PC, everybody went nuts over it. Countless copies flew off of the shelves at your local game store. A few expansion packs were being pumped out one after another as the The Sims craze grew stronger and stronger. I'm sure no one expected a console version of the game, but guess what? We got one and it rocks.

I'm sure you have all heard about The Sims and probably played it on PC also. I mean, the game is just that popular. Anyways, when I first got the game, I was pretty excited because I never owned the game on PC but merely played it a few hours at a friend's house. Surprisingly, I could barely find a copy but after trying a few stores, I finally found one. When I got home with it, I couldn't put it down. It is great.

Ahh the gameplay. Where to begin? The game is very open ended. You can do just about anything you want. You can make your Sim socialize or keep to themselves. You can make them pee on the floor, wet themselves, or go to the bathroom. Seriously, you can do just about anything you want. Now, I am going to explain the title of this review and why The Sims hate me. I torture them often. Some examples are I make them drink countless cups of coffee and they eventually pass out on the floor and wet themselves. I also make the neighborhood hate them. Examples are how I built a pool around their house and then I had a party. When the neighbors came for the party, they had to get in the pool to eventually get to the house for the party. Well when they enter the pool, I take the ladder out of the pool and then the neighbors can't get out and eventually drown. Yes, yes, I am evil.

When you start the game, you live in your mom's house and she loans you some money every so often so you can buy stuff. The goal of this part of the game is to complete a few objectives and then you can eventually get your own house after that and having enough money. But do not get on mother's bad side or you will pay. Well, I should rephrase that. SHE will not pay YOU money, which means it will take longer for you to get out of the house and move into your own place.

After you get out of mother's house, you move into your own and you are free to do as you wish. You can throw house parties, work constantly, torture the Sims and the neighbors, play outside, or anything your imagination can think of.

First off, you need to get a job. This requires gaining a few skills. Once you get one, you will have to start working a lot to get money. Why work you ask? Well if you want to have furniture and food for your Sim to eat and actually keep it alive, you are going to have to. The game really is like real life in a twisted kind of way.

Now on to creating your Sim. There are many different combinations of Sims you can make. In my game, I have a few Sims that look like some of my closest friends and one that looks like me. You can do it like I did or you can just create your own people. Yes you can do that too.

The controls are great and pretty easy to learn. There are a few bars on the bottom of the screen where you can see how your Sim is doing in life. You can see how happy other Sims are with your Sim, how your career is going, your hygiene, and a lot more.

The replayability in the game is great for some, and terrible for others. This is one game that you actually cannot finish. It is impossible. This game will last forever. One thing that adds to the replay is the multiplayer that isn't in the PC version. In multiplayer, you can do a lot of stuff like play cards against each other, compete to see who can get the most women/men, and so much more. The replayability is great. Personally, I think the PS2 version of The Sims is better than the PC version but that's just my opinion. Now, the reason that some will find it terrible is because it is more of the same boring crap if they didn't like the gameplay. Oh well.

The graphics are great. This time around, they did everything in full 3-D. The game is beautiful and has great lighting affects. There is no ''real'' audio so you can just pop in a cd or something if you wish.

To buy or to rent you ask? This is a game that you should rent before you buy because there is a high chance that you won't like the game. If you already own The Sims on PC, you might as well get this one because of all the added things you can do.

Well, I changed my score? Why? After a week, I found this game extremely dull. I can't blame anyone else for not liking this.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/19/03, Updated 04/24/03