The Sims is one of the fastest-selling PC games of all time, and will most likely achieve the same on its PS2 debut. The game allows players to manage the lives of a ‘Sim’ person, or even entire Sim families. Players can watch their Sims interact with their environment or take part and direct their actions. It’s a little bit like watching an episode of Big Brother, except the player has total control over the housemates’ lives.
You also have complete control of your Sims’ appearances. I found it highly amusing to create a lookalike Sim of myself and watch the handsome little devil race around in a virtual world. Typical of this game, there are a large amount of variables to play with when creating the look of your Sim. In fact you can spend quite a time fussing around in this mode before you even begin to play the game properly.
The game offers two modes of gameplay: ‘Get A Life’ and the more open-ended ‘Neighborhood’ mode. ‘Get A Life’ serves as more of a tutorial for the user, as it has your Sim trying to move up in the world, starting from trying to borrow enough money from their mother so as to have enough cash to get their own place. As you complete scenarios, your task list grows and you find yourself organising parties, getting hitched and even retiring to the country for the quiet life.
‘Neighbourhood’ is more of the same, but the game is open-ended and there are no scenarios to be completed. You must keep your Sims comfortable, fed, content and clean, along with satisfying their entertainment needs and making sure they can hold down a job.
In the ‘Neighbourhood’ mode you can move your family into an existing house or build from the ground up. Building the house is fun, as the plot of land provides plenty of space to put together a smaller place or larger home. The game also offers a remarkable amount of different items that can be bought and placed within the home, including kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and electronic appliances. Of course, different items will help different needs of your Sim and the more expensive items will help and satisfy your Sim more. Bookcases provide your Sim an opportunity to learn cooking and mechanical skills. Creative points can be earned by playing the piano or painting a picture. Cooking points are particularly important, because then your Sim can actually cook a good meal without setting the kitchen on fire.
The game can be quite frustrating at times, as progress is often interrupted by your Sim’s bathroom, sleep or hunger needs. It’s also terribly annoying when your Sim doesn’t want to paint, work out or do something because they’re too depressed. You can choose to send your Sim out to work each day to earn his or her keep or you can try keeping them at home on a much tighter budget.
This game will really eat up your time. The Sims move at only one pace — dead slow. Minutes pass in seconds in the Sim universe — although the Sims go through their routines at a real time pace. This will keep your hands and mind busy, as you try to take your Sims through the simplest of tasks. You must direct your Sim to do absolutely everything, and allow for the fact that it can take them minutes just to cross a room. This is particularly annoying when trying to get them up and ready for work each morning. It takes more than two hours just to get them fed and out the door in time for their lift.
It’s a good idea to keep an eye on your watch while playing, because as the Sims pass through their daily routines, you won’t notice your time slip away too. Quite often I found that what I had planned as a thirty minute session with the game had become two hours or more. The replay value is almost limitless, because the game is so open-ended, there is always something else to do.
The game is easy and intuitive to control and utilises the dualshock 2 pad very well. The right stick zooms and rotates your view of the Sims, and the left stick controls a cursor that allows you to guide your Sims to places and objects. The ‘d’ pad allows you access and navigate through the menus you’ll need to purchase and build for your Sims, as well as allowing you a glimpse at their current state of mind.
Scrutinising your Sims state of mind and anticipating their needs is the essence of the game. These guys need to be told when to go to the toilet, to flush it and to wash their hands after. If they’re bored you need to tell them to entertain each other, read a book, watch TV… The list really does go on, and on, and on!
‘The Sims’ certainly isn’t a very graphically striking game, but its simple images are clearly and crisply rendered. Your Sim’s animations are well-rendered and fun, while all of the little Sim items are also clearly seen. There’s certainly nothing wrong with the graphics of the game, but those looking for spectacular visuals won’t find them here.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It can be equal parts frustration and fun, but I guess that’s just life.
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