"The Yellow Ant Is HUNGRY!!!!"

Simant. One of Maxis' best, in my humble opinion. What's so great about Simant, you ask? What ISN'T great would be a better question. You know what the answer to that would be? Nothing. Nothing isn't great about this insect simulating monolith. You take the role of the Yellow Ant; seemingly the hive mind (unlike that lazy queen) of the black ant colony. Your goal: destroy the red ants and take over some poor guys house...and his dogs house. MWA HAHAHAHAHAH!

Graphics: The graphics are simple and to the point. The ants are as you should expect; they look like ants. Red ones are red and black ones are black. The breeder ants have wings on them, and the soldier ants have large, vicious maws. Drones are normal. The queen is also much larger, so you can easily tell which one she is. Food is represented by green circles, so, you'll get used to seeing them. Ballbugs (or potato bugs...whichever you wish to call them) look like you would expect...and caterpillars are long, green worm looking creatures...sort of like a caterpillar. Odd. The spider also looks like one would expect; a large, eight-legged horror that takes pleasure in maiming your fellow ants. Outside of your underground colony is decorated with stones, small rocks, flowers, cans, gold balls, grass, etc. etc. All in all, it's pretty aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion.

Sound: Well, while there wasn't a great amount of sound in the game, what it had was worth it. It had several catchy little tunes, depending on what screen you were on, and the Yellow Ant made noise as he walks around. Sort of a little chitter. If you happen to enter the enemy colony, a sinister EVIL theme plays. Gets the mood down. Also, your ant makes disgusted and scared noises if confronted with the spider alone. That usually means you're dead.

Gameplay: It's a simulation, so, you can expect the gameplay to be the best part of the game (as it should be with every game). You can choose as to whether you want to do a campaign mode (where you try and conquer a whole yard), or scenario mode, where you go at eight different levels, trying to best your red, evil counterparts. Once you've made your colony with your queen, you, the Yellow Ant, comes out with a friendly ''Hello!''. By ''clicking'' on a rock, food item, or other ant, you can grab the rock, grab (or eat) the food, and fight the ant, respectively. You can also change how many of your ants-to-be you want to be soldiers, drones, breeders, or whatnot with the Caste screen. You can also choose how many of your ants you want nursing, digging, or foraging, via the status screen. You pretty much have complete control to guide your ant colony to the top of the mountain, or to complete destruction.

Fun Factor: I love playing this game. From taking the other colonies unborn children to blocking their colony with a rock to swarming a giant spider, this game is good fun, and it gives you good prospective of things from the ants view, which I liked. Simant shall forever take a place as one of my favorite SNES games of all time.

Replayability: Once you get into this game, you'll find yourself wanting to play it often, or, as I do, constantly yelling out ''THE YELLOW ANT IS HHHUUUNNNGGGRRRYYY!!!'' for no apparent reason. If you like sim games, you'll get hooked with the mighty Simant. I promise.

Learning Curve: Anywhere from twenty minutes to a full hour and a half. There are several things you'll have to get used to, such as the fact your fellow ants can be kinda stupid without your direct intervention. Also, one might feel zealous and try to tackle the spider without calling your teammates...which you will be mortally chastised for. I found this easy to get used to, but, some may not.

Buy or Rent? Buy. Buy this game and you'll never regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/03