The Sims

"Honey, it doesn't matter if I'm a criminal mastermind and your a military general. I still love you!"

Man, how long has it been since The Sims was first invented? Moreover, how long does people still play this game? Here we have a game that seemingly never end and turn various kinds of people into sim fanatics. “What is The Sims anyway?” are what many people new to The Sims phenomenon. The Sims is the ultimate simulation of life all packaged into a small compact disc. When people, like me, who are bored out of their mind with their normal mundane life, Sims give a breath of fresh air to a new life that we all try to have. Have you ever wanted to become a big time criminal mastermind without the risk of getting caught or hurt during your job? This is your game.

I like this game's unique twist of evolving a bum living with is mom then gradually raising a family and retiring on a $20,000 yacht. Life can't get any better in a video game, no? First, one must create a Sim/person using the lame create-a-sim feature. After that, it's all up to you whether you want to progress the life of your Sim or not. The game starts out with you in a kick ass mansion and a lovely woman waiting for you in a heart-shaped hot tub. Guess what? Stop dreaming! Now you’re awake in your mama's house and she is pissed off cause the TV is broke and you can't cook. After some time to get along with Mom to borrow enough money, it's time to get a cool job and move out. Not so mundane like your life now is it?

The gameplay revolves around the reaction of your Sim. Not to worry, there's a helpful series of gauges to monitor to keep your Sim happy. Knowing what to do is what is tricky. Thing's like hunger, hygiene, and bladder control are really easy to please. Thing's like having fun, keeping a social life, and your overall energy value takes time to adapt and get used to while advancing in your work place. If you think keeping yourself all right is hard, trying to climb up the corporate ladder while keeping a vast amount of friends is a lot harder. Just keep in mind your priorities and finish them in a logical way if you want to move into a better house. The only thing I don’t like is the fact you can't control your Sim while they are at their work place. It'd be cool to run a gang when you’re a criminal mastermind or create a mosh pit while you rock out on stage.

Controls are simple. The X button works in conjunction with the tall yellow pillar. If you want to use a certain appliance, simply guide the yellow pillar with your left analog and place it on the object to operate, then press X. One nifty feature is the fact that you can plan your Sim's action while they sleep, that way they are ready to things the moment they get up. I know I talked about various gauges. Well there are 3. To access them press up for a gauge that monitors your needs, press right to check how close you are with different people you've meet, and press down to check what you need to approve upon to get promoted. The camera is critical if you want to throw a party or to select many different objects. To control the view, simply move around the left analog stick. There are still many other buttons that may help, but these are the most critical controls that one needs to know in other to play the game right.

I wish that this game had the graphics like other EA games like Madden, Medal of Honor, or 007. The characters have few variations on the way they look. The create-a-sim needs to be royally update to have people pleased. Choosing faces, pants, shirts, and shoes tick everyone off when they want to incarnate themselves into video game form. I'm a tan, Asian dude with brown eyes and black hair. The closest thing I've done is made myself black, have dark blue hair, and put nerdy glasses on. EA needs a WWE caliber type of create-a-sim if they want to redeem themselves. Everything like the wallpaper, various appliances, and stuff on TV looks good. By the way, a monkey butler is somewhat disturbing yet cool.

The sound is what separates The Sims from any other game. All of the Sims have their own simulated language ranging from, ''Rabba dauw'' to ''Tulamond!'' It’s funny sometimes and kind of annoying the next. The music is all right too. There's a big time Martha Stewart feeling background music when you buy paintings or applying some wallpaper to a room. I also like the music your Sim makes when playing the piano or guitar. Then there's the obvious way to access music...through the stereo system. There's like 3 different stations: rap, rock, and bluegrass. I like the rock and rap stations mostly they make reasonable party songs. To bad I don't know who performs them of I would go out and buy a CD or two.

Pros
- A new life to control
- Great audio content
- Cool sounding jobs
- Monkey butlers!

Cons
- Create-a-Sim
- Babies
- Bills
- Low amount of space left if you build a pool.

This game is really cool; however cool and great are two separate categories. The only thing I consider great on terms and standards of regular PS2 games out is the fact that the concept is the best and most obviously underrated I've seen so far. Now, it's a long wait until a better looking Sims comes out for the PS2. Oh well, Sims 2 should be coming out on PC soon.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/08/03