The Sims

"The Sims"

INTRODUCTION TO THE SIMS
The Sims has been the best selling PC game of all time. Will Wright came up with the idea, designed and created the original The Sims game on PC many years ago. He also created another sim(ulator) like game called Simcity. In Simcity, you were the mayor and had to run your own city. But we're are not here to talk about Simcity; we are here talk about The Sims! It's been a very addictive game to many ''simulator-loving'' players. The game was great fun, and the public absolutely loved everything about it. And when Microsoft said they were going to release many expansions to The Sims, the public went wild with excitement and bought them as soon as they came out. But gamers with consoles were missing out on all the fun; thus The Sims was released on all the next generation consoles (the Playstation 2, Gamecube, and X-Box)!
But was converting a best selling PC game of all time to a console game a wise move? Let's go and find out!

GAMEPLAY IN THE SIMS
This game is very, very, very fun to play. Let's have a look at the features shall we.
GOOD POINTS:
Get A Life- The Sims on the console featured an exclusive, totally new feature: level-based missions. This gave the game so much great fun, and gave the game much more replay-value. You're objectives here in this mode are too move out of your mum's small, confined, cheap house and retire to the ultimate party mansion!!! You can even unlock hidden items along the way to completing this game! So much fun! But it can sometimes get a bit annoying and a bit repetitive.
2 Player- Play with or against your friends in 2 player mode! This can be fun, and give a lot of laughs. It can be quite hard against a skilled player, and makes you very competitive. But unfortunately there's not a very big selection of levels to choose from.
Play The Sims- The good old Play The Sims mode! This is just like the PC game. There's not much to do here though, and can get very, very repetitive (and very, very boring)after a while.
Buttons- EA games and Maxis did a great job converting buttons onto the console version. After just five minutes, you'll know the controls.
BAD POINTS:
1 Floor- Unfortunately, there's only one-floor houses in the game. This meant that everything had to be squeezed onto the bottom floor.
Buy/Build Meter- They limited the amount of items you can have in your house. This was to stop the game lagging, even though it still did. Indeed, it was very upsetting. Once the bar was full, you could have no more items in your house. The public was angry about this.
Lagging- The game loaded very slowly (lagged) when the lights went on and off, and when day turned to night, and night turned to day.
Claustrophobic- The biggest complaint for this game was that the sims couldn't get out of their house and visit the many places in ''Simtown''. Luckily, EA games and Maxis are making a new The Sims game for Playstation 2, Gamecube, and X-Box called The Sims Bustin' Out, where your Sims can get out of the house and visit many new locations (16 to be exact). This will be released on 16th December in the United States (US) and 12th/19th in the United Kingdom (UK). Just in time for Christmas!

STORY IN THE SIMS
The main story in this game is to move out of your mum's small, cheap, limited, confined house, battle life's many challenges, and retire to the ultimate party mansion!

GRAPHICS/SOUND IN THE SIMS
The Sims never could compare to the great games that featured graphics and sounds. And it's the same for this game too. The graphics and sounds are at a reasonable ''above average''. But The Sims games were never known for there graphics and sounds.

PLAY TIME/REPLAYABILITY IN THE SIMS
It took me roughly a week to complete this game, and it is not worth playing it again. It's very exciting the first time through, but after that, it doesn't have the same impact on you as it did the first time.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION IN THE SIMS
This game is great fun to play, and has many new options, but can get very repetitive. But it was only a test run for what's coming out soon: The Sims Bustin' Out! From what I can see, The Sims was good, but not as good some of the PC games. It's a definite ''rent it'' from me. But with The Sims Bustin' Out coming out on 16th December (with 16 new locations, 25 new characters, totally new levels, 10 new jobs, 80 new social interactions, and over 100 new items), I'd say to save your money and buy The Sims Bustin' Out when it comes out for Christmas!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/03