The Sims Bustin' Out

"How fun can a life simulator be? Very fun."

This is one of those games that can keep you hooked for months.You may not think that a life simulator would be very fun, but it is. Time to find out why Maxis Software's The Sims is one of the most popular games on PC, now for PS2.

Story: 5/10 There is only a story in Bustin' Out mode. A greedy man called Malcom is tired of being nice and is taking back everybody's stuff. You have to get a good enough job to reach his mansion and set things right. In the open-ended mode, there is no story. You are a bunch of people living in a so-called normal neighborhood, living everyday lives. Not very important in a game like this, anyway.

Controls: 10/10 You control a cursor type thing that tells your Sims what to do, and the control pad controls the Sim interface that tells your Sims how they are doing, and buttons to change Sims and find the Sim you are controlling and that's it. It's not very hard at all to control. You have a button to cancel Sim actions and to select Sim actions. The only problems with control will be when a Sim decides to do something on his own that you don't want him to do and there are like four or more Sims living in your house, but even then, it's not a big problem. Controls are very simple.

Graphics/Sounds: 10/10 Wowee, these are both nice, yet both cartoony at the same time, which fits the mood of this game. The carpets look like real carpets, not like colored floor, wooden floors shine, light flows in through windows, Sim movement is smooth and only gets choppy once in a very great while. Speech bubbles appear over thier heads so you know what they are talking about, and their movements while they are talking let you know how enthusiastic they are about thier topics. Most of the objects you can buy have nice detail put into them, the diving board jiggles when you jump off of it, and the clothes are great. When the Sims fart, you see green fart clouds that thin out as they float around. Really nice graphics in my view. The sounds are great, too. There is always a sound when you choose an action, and the Sim speech is oftem hilarious. The music has changed from the other Sims game, which is good if you like a change of pace and are sick of the old tunes from the other Sims games. The menus are now heavy metal/rock remixes of what they were earlier. The T.V. still has the same sound effects, and the sound effects you hear are realistic and sound just like what your Sims are doing. These are great aspects of the game.

Gameplay: 10/10 This game could keep you hooked for a while. It is great and fun, because you can create yourself and create a gorgeous person of the opposite sex and be spouses or boyfreind/girlfriend. You decide what they wear and what thier jobs will be. You can create you and your buddies and live in your dream party pad, or you can be a humble bachelor. It's all up to you. And, you get to build the house and decide what to put in it. If you hate your SIm, you can neglect it and watch it suffer, or just send it to a brutal, painful death with some of the objects you can buy. Do you really hate someone? Recreate that person and force him to jump off of a high dive onto solid concrete until he dies. One of the main focuses of the game is rising the career ladder. Getting all of they way to the top of the career ladder takes a very long time, especialy if you create a house with more than two adults living in it. The multi-player mode is back, meaning you can play split-screen, sleepless nights with a buddy. It's a very fun game that won't do you wrong.

Replayability: 10/10 The Bustin' Out mode will take a while, and coming up with more family ideas in the open-ended mode will keep you hooked for a long, long time. Awesome replay value.

Rent or Buy: Always rent a game first, you can never guarentee you will like it, and if you like it, buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/05