"Maxis brings us The Sims..in our back pockets."

Introduction: The Sims are on the go with The Sims: Bustin’ Out. Maxis decided to take a new direction with Bustin’ Out by completely changing the gameplay, taking The Sims normal point and click gameplay, and changing it so you directly control your Sim, moving him around with the D pad, and interacting with objects and people. Even though the game is not as open ended as the original Sims game, the Sims veteran will easily be able to enjoy the game.

Gameplay: In The Sims: Bustin’ Out, you start off by creating your Sim. As in the normal Sims, you decide how your Sim looks, what he/she wears, and what their personality is like. On screen are various meters which represent your Sims basic needs, such as Hunger, Hygiene, Sleep, etc, which you must satisfy for your Sim ( through eating, showering, sleeping, etc ) to be able to function properly. You start out by moving into your Uncles barn, which is completely unfurnished, except for a toilet. You can gather some furnishings from your Uncle, and later purchase some from stores, to fill up your room/house. As you play, you are presented with specific goals that are triggered by talking to people, which you must accomplish in order to continue on in the game. These goals can be anything from making friends with someone, to delivering an item, to finding items for someone. Although there is no specific length of time required for the tasks, you would most likely want to hurry, as your Sims meters will run down eventually, and once one of your Sims needs are too low, they wont be able to interact with people or do many things.

Story: The story is that your Sim, coming over from SimCity, has come to his Uncles farm to stay for awhile. Eventually you gain friends and make some money, and decide to move out on your own. Admittedly, the story doesn’t sound like much, but when taking into consideration that this is a Sims game, that is more then enough of a story to make the game work, and be interesting to the gamer.

Graphics and Sound: The graphics are surprisingly good in Bustin’ Out. Your Sim has a wide range of animations and actions that he does while doing tasks, along with that cocky strut he has as he walks. The backgrounds and buildings are presented very well, although with only one camera angel, going thru the streets of the town can be a bit confusing at first, an option to zoom out would have been a lil bit helpful. As far as the sound goes, I really cant complain. The music and sound effects are very nice, although once or twice I got annoyed by them, but not so much as that they’d make me not want to play.

Replayability: The game has some good replayability. It takes some time to complete all of the goals the game provides you with, seeing as how you also need to work, make money, raise your skills, make friends, and pay your bills. Eventually, the game will get tiring as the goals aren’t random, but even though, the game is still very fun to play.

Final Recommendation: All in all, if you enjoy The Sims, whether it be on PC or Console, you will also love The Sims Bustin’ Out for Gameboy Advance. Maxis has taken the Sims universe to a new level, letting you control your Sim in real time, and controlling his life in an RPG-ish Simulated world. Not all Sim fans will like the game, as it doesn’t have a free play mode, but the game has its strong points and well rounded gameplay, which definitely makes it one of the GBA’s best game titles.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/04