The Urbz: Sims in the City

"Perfect for SIMS Fans on the Go!"

When I waltzed into EB games, I scanned the DS titles. One title met my eye: Urbz: Sims in the City. I loved everything about the SIMS (seeing as how I own nearly all of the original 's expansions) but I did not know anything about Urbz. Thank goodness I picked it up anyway.

STORY: 10/10
To start things off, this game has a better story than most games. Right from the beginning, you feel like you are in the game. With a plethora of character models, I found just the right look for my Urb to match my personal style and look. A quick survey is given right at the beginning of the game which sorts you into a rep group. A rep group is most analogous to a clique, a tight social group of closely related people. There are four of these: RICHIES, ARTSIES, STREETIES, and NERDIES. The survey was amazingly accurate. I found myself in the NERDIES group, exactly as I felt I belonged. The other people in my group were amazingly lifelike. I recognized some other nerds I knew, almost trapped by some ethereal enchantment into the characters of the game. The story is riveting, you'll be fighting against a rich old tycoon trying to take over your town. You'll make lots of friends and even learn a lot about your self and who you are inside.

GRAPHICS: 7/10
While the story was impeccable, the graphics leave a lot to be desired. They seem to be straight from the GBA (which in fact they are). The characters look nice but the texturing is abysmal. The lighting is all static and cheap shadows. Nothing that pushes the system. The only saving grace of the graphics is the character models which are very nicely done.

SOUND: 8/10
The sound isn't bad per se. There are many tunes to match the different areas of town. However, none of it sounds as great as SUPER MARIO 64 DS' sounds. I would consider that to be a 10, and frankly while this is not bad, it's certainly not a 10/10. You can hear some grunts and shouts when your talking to someone but nothing magical like hearing "Mama Mia!". Thank god however they are better than GOLDENEYE: rogue agent. These tunes are a little beyond midi quality, showing a resemblance to modern sound in a vague way.

GAME PLAY: 9/10
While graphics and sound are nothing extraordinary, the game play is. You can in the game truly immerse yourself. You can buy plenty of things for your house and fully interact with all of them just like in the SIMS. Unlike the touch and click control of its PC counterpart, this game uses a interact button scheme. You walk up to the item you want to interact with, hit A, and then choose your interact action. This works fine although its not quite as refined. Still, I liked being able to feel a little more in control of my sim. If you want to go somewhere, you use the D-PAD. None of the click and hitting go here. You no longer feel like you're god, you are an URB, trying to make your mark in the town. Speaking of the town, there is plenty of things to do in town. There are almost a dozen mini games, which substitute as jobs in the URBZ. Instead of just walking into a carpool and going to "work", here you actually do the jobs. While shooting a basketball to earn money may sound ridiculous, it is no less ridiculous than getting paid to be a SLACKER, like in the SIMS. You can also make friends with around 30 people, buy items from a catalog, play with a pet, change your clothes, go to a coffee shop, ask people to move into your place, and even turn albino! There is no limit to what you can do. The town is your playground and there is never a boring part to it.

REPLAY 10/10:
This game is just like the SIMS in that you can never run out of things to do. You can get promoted, earn more money, call people over, etc. You never really need to start a new file as you can always do things in the same file as the game never really ends. If you don't like your rep group you can switch in the middle of the game. If you don't like your house, you can move out. If you want to make up with one of your enemies, go for it! You can always do new things and this game will not get old.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10
BUY/RENT: BUY- This game will keep you busy far longer than the rental period of a rental store (exception for NETFLIX users). It is far cheaper just to fork over the money and get this great game, to play as long as you want!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/05