The Sims Bustin' Out

"Living life to the fullest"

Picture yourself going out into a club and trying to put the moves on a lady. Imagine performing chores on a day to day basis. Basically try to imagine your everyday life and transform that into powerful visuals provided by your Xbox. Processes that include going to the bathroom, turning on the television, or cooking yourself a nice hot meal. Sims Bustin' Out is practically the ultimate simulation of every day life. In the beginning, you can set up your character to your liking and after that you pretty much get on with your activities. Being the second game in the Sims series to be released on consoles, there were some drastic improvements.

The improvements are basically offering more choices for the user. Activities can be used to unlock items. Customizing your character has also been greatly expanded. There are plenty of options in this game. However, there is one issue with this game. After a long day of work – coming home to a game that simulates a lot of those activities that you didn't care for in real life can be tedious, especially when you throw in the fact that the game doesn't have lasting value over long play times. The game feels more suited towards short play times over multiple intervals.

Like real life, you can become a socialite. Maybe not to that extreme, but your character can socialize with a variety of characters. Each character has different personalities, which adds to the game's environment. This type of programming allows the player to be immersed into the atmosphere of the game. More importantly, this game is able to reach the plateau that intended to reach.

The graphics department in this game is fairly solid. There aren't any over-glowing visuals that are eye popping, but the visuals get its point across. Although there are some graphical hiccups every now and then, there really isn't much of an issue in this area of the game.

Sims Bustin' Out has its moments. At times, it's quite addictive. But the addiction is short lived. The game feels more fun when played in short bursts. Even with that said though, Sims Bustin' Out is still a solid addition to anyone's library. The social interactivity is strong and would especially be a big plus for those that might be a bit shy. In the end, Sims' Bustin Out should be pretty cheap in stores near you. If not, EBay would be a good place to look. It's cheap and it's pretty fun. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/07