"Last time I checked, The Sims used to be a different type of game..."

I gotta start this review by saying that personally I am not a fan of The Sims series. I never even had a chance to contact with the second version of this series before playing this game, and I gotta say that at least to me it didn't seemed to have a lot in common with the exquisite features of the original one.

Yes, I gotta admit that the sound is the best I've heard in this console, with it completely fitting the storyline and the ambient at all times. However, who will care about the sound in a game with an extreme lack of interest? Yeah, the graphics are good but not good enough for the player to get amazed with them, and sometimes you may even get confused about where to go next, since some small parts of the scenario are quite bad drawn.

This time, your Sim (which you can fully personalize not only at the beginning of the game but at after each chapter too) will be allowed to walk free in the town, talking to other Sims and accomplishing tasks for them. This is where everything seems to get out of the original track, since across the game you will basically just have to interact with someone (which usually includes finding them first) or find a particular item.

Usually you will just go to your house in 3 occasions (for sleeping, taking a shower or going to the bathroom), and not even including many different types of items to put in there (unlike the original games) or the option to invite someone (whoever he/she is) to go visit you, why do you need it? For no reason at all, just for historical reasons?

Interacting with people could seem to be a nice new feature, but basically you just select what kind of interaction you want - talking, friendship, intimidation or romantic (if the character is of the opposite sex - and then you just have to senselessly press the available options. Quite interesting, hum? I just wish real life was that simple! Oh, and you know what's even more interesting? The interaction points seem not to matter at all, except for 1 or 2 events in which you will have to care about them! "Ok, I have the maximum romantic points with that girl", who cares? There's nothing you can do with it!

The same seems to occur with the skill points, which I only even had to think about once in the 5 chapters I first played!

Strangely, appears that all tasks can be accomplished at any time of the day, which doesn't explain why on earth they included a clock in the game.

About all this, the adventure (if we can call it by such name) is mainly just hanging around and trying to find where to go next, and that makes it simply boring, as nowadays can't even try to please yourself by creating a good and nice house!

Also, I gotta say that the game features some (but very few!) glitches, but they are quite annoying. Things like not getting any sort of message after successfully picking a lock (I picked the same option for more than 5 minutes before finding this out...) or needing to be at "full power" to complete each chapter may occur, but fortunately they don't seem to occur much.

About the replay value, this game sure features a lot, which is always nice. You have to finish chapters or mini-games to win some money and ratings, which can then be used to afford (the few) items for your house and new stuff, including secret chapters or new moves.

So, who should get this game? I am afraid to say that perhaps only hardcore fans of the series may like it (despite not seeming to have anything to do with the previous ones), everyone else should only rent it!

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/05