The Sims 2

"The crazily talking population on the PSP."

The Sims on Sony's portable baby. A great way to waste all that boring free time stuck in your schedule. Yes it is, seriously, but that advantage will last only for a few days.

Graphics 8.5/10

Amazing. Crisp. Breathtaking. Sweet. Just a few words to describe this game's graphics. The sims are a sight for sore eyes. Accurately done, and really have no major flaws. The -2 in the score is actually due to the minor flaws. Some corners in houses in this game have "white" spots. This actually made me think my PSP's dead pixels have been multiplied by 5! Sometimes this is unnoticeable, and sometimes its so obvious and annoying. Other than that, its a straight 8.5/10.

Sound 9/10

I'm impressed. EA and Maxis have managed to fit these weird conversations in the crazy Sim language in this version of the game. It adds a "Sim-style" touch to the gameplay. The problem is that the game lacks a lot in background music. You can rarely hear it playing, and only for a short time. However, sound effects are nice, and actually give a feeling to the game, therefore, making up for the background music.

Features 6/10

This section shared in bringing the game's score down. If you played the PC version of the game and think this is one of its twins, you're WRONG! Very WRONG! Create-a-sim is stripped down in practically everything. You can't specify your sim's age (its an adult no matter how hard you try), nor adjust your sim's facial features quantitatively. You cannot even specify if your sim is to be fat or thin. And by the way, the clothes choices are literally quartered!

More than that, the game lacks many story features. Its basically shorter (you can finish story mode in around 2 days non stop, 5 days if you are a continous player, and 12 if you do some other useful things in your life. You cannot marry anybody (and obviously, you cannot get kids). You have a HUGE house to live in, but guess what? You are not going to fill it up as you have a furniture limit. Basically you can have quarter of your house filled and cannot stuff it even more because..? You exceeded the furniture limit and it will ruin your FENG SHII (or whatever the game calls it).

The story has the all time annoying sanity meter. You want to keep this in the greens, golds, or platinums, or your sim is toast (and will lose 500 simoleons as "therapy"). You will be busy keeping it up for the first 3/4 of the game by fullfilling his wants (in the last 1/4, you can manage it much easier, thankfully).

Making money is hard. You can barely get around 1000 - 2500 (depending on your needs) from minigames per day. And even to get that amount in one day, you will probably have to ignore the storyline. So its simply a chore.

There are minigames in this version of the game (you probably know this by now), they are 5 in number, and each consists of 5 levels. As you advance through levels, the difficulty increases and the reward increases as well.

Gameplay 7.5/10

The storyline (for a PSP), despite all the stripping down of features, is addictive. You can start cursing your game (which is very unlikely), but you just want to continue playing for some reason. The storyline itself is not that annoying (I've seen worse games), and the basic "Create-a-sim" mode is still satisfactory (to some extent). You have an entire Estate to mess around with, and it comes with a free maid!

The game's excessive fuss about aliens and the paranormal in a joke like manner can get fun (as it always was), and it has always made The Sims an unique game.

The plot twists and secrets are surprising, weird, and sometimes creepy. You will try to work hard to keep up your sanity for the first 3/4 of the story, and obviously, will want more money, which would probably make you want to try out minigames.

Speaking of minigames, these are fun themselves. They earn you the big bucks, and they serve as nice short breaks from the main storyline. You will very rarely, if ever, get annoyed from any of the minigames.

Inviting a roommate over is not really necessary (unless its one of your aspiration goals), but it again, serves as another short break from the main storyline.

Loading times 0/10

Yes. A nice, round ZERO. Loading in this game is terrible. You will wait for the loading to finish more than actually play. Even worse, this game loads in every action. Calling, wearing clothes, washing hands, having a bath, entering another area, talking, chatting, flirting, intimidating, cooking, sleeping, increasing skills, buying stuff, digging, planting, hacking, playing, and more. If loading was fast, the gameplay time would have been quartered.

Replay value 3.5/10

Once you finish the game, you really won't be bored when you go through it again. You can choose different talking phrases, do different actions, and manage your money better. And it is not that boring either, although there is of course some boredom here and there.

Overall 7/10

Average game. You should put in mind that you are playing the game on the PSP, Sony's portable baby. So most flaws have an excuse. This makes it an overall interesting game.

Don't buy the game immediately, period. Rent it and get along with it first. Then you can just spend your cash on it if you want to. It is not that its terrible, its just that this game has a lot of flaws, that it is very possible that they may seem negligible to some, and a great deal to others.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/06