Sims

Players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people and influence the outcome of their lives, be it success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. The bestselling PC version of the game has, in recent years, been upgraded with elements like parties, pets, and vacations, but this iteration is closer to the basic formula.

You start the game living with Mom in a one-story suburban house. You are immediately presented with certain life tasks, such as fixing the TV and making lunch, which are aligned with the skills you'll need for the game's main challenge--keeping your sims in balance on eight conflicting categories. For example, eating will have an impact on your sim's hunger rating, but it will also impact his bladder rating. You'll have to make sure that he keeps himself and the house clean, that he sleeps to restore his energy, and that he also has time to keep himself entertained. The free will option lets your sims coast a bit, and you can also save time by stacking tasks together. Time passes at the rate of about one minute per second in the game, but you can fast-forward sim time when you need to, such as when they're sleeping.

The controls are justifiably complex, but adjusting to them is not difficult. You see your sims from an overhead perspective that you can both rotate and zoom. You direct their actions by moving a line cursor to where you want them to go or to what object or person with which you want them to interact.

The game is surprisingly funny. Neglect your sims and they'll shout and wave their arms to get your attention. Allow one's energy to get too low and he or she will likely collapse and sleep right where they were standing. When that happens, Mom is likely to serve them dinner on the floor.

Gamers may find that it takes a while to get the hang of The Sims' style and control scheme. Stick with it and you may find real time fast-forwarding by. --Porter B. Hall

Pros:

• Interesting, open-ended gameplay
• Lots of quirky humor
• Two-player split-screen option

• Can be frustrating for those unfamiliar with strategy games
• Controls take some getting used to
• Long save times

I'll address some of the earlier reviews first.

1. There is fast foward/pause in the form of L1 / R1 on the Dual Shock controller.

2. There aren't as many options - no pets, no downtown, no 2nd floor, no vacation. (another reviewer referred to this as "the best of" the original)

3. It's not slower than the PC version. Depending on your computer, it could be considerably faster.

4. The controls do take some getting used to, but become intuitive once you get them. Took me a half hour to an hour, and my girlfriend about the same.

5. It's Just As Addictive As The Original.

6. Characters are more customizable than ever - everything down to the face shape & eye color. On the down side, you can't download outfits from the Internet.

We brought it home last night and I was able to play a bit. At first I thought "gawd these controls are awkward... building this house is sooo tedious," but I played for a long time after that.

Then this morning I woke up and my girlfriend was playing. She's been playing for 8 hours. I wanted to turn on the TV and I paused the game and turned on the TV... followed by her screams. Luckily I was able to hook up the PS2 to the PS1 LCD screen (use an 1/8" stereo male to dual RCA female jack (tell them that at radio shack). Plug the yellow out from the PS2 into the white plug, and the white out from the PS2 into the red plug).

We did some of the two player challenge games that get unlocked in "Get a Life" mode. I'm going to have to learn fast about the other two player modes or I might lose my girlfriend to this game forever.

In short, this game as just as addictive as the original, plus it has two player & goal oriented play. Maxis did it again!


Most addictive PS2 game ever   May 13, 2003
A. M. Rowe (N. Syracuse, NY USA)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I've never played the Sims on PC, so I only had a vague clue about what I was in for. I had no idea the game would be this much fun and so addictive! This is the only game I've ever played where I don't have to kill anything, and it still provides hours of entertainment! I'm a big RPG and action-adventure fan. Being able to create my own unique characters and neighborhoods appealed to the rpg fan in me. The only real "action" in the game is trying to get your Sims in and out of trouble!

The game starts off in "Get A Life" mode. You are stuck at home with mom, and your goal is to borrow money from mom, get a job, and move out. From there you go from level to level, meeting various goals such as keeping your job, redecorating your home, making friends, and getting promoted. You must always complete certain goals to advance to another level. Once you've advanced as high as you can in "Get A Life", this unlocks another game-play mode. You can start creating your own neighborhoods and little Sim families. I really get a kick taking care of my little Sims....making sure they eat properly, get enough sleep, and go to the bathroom! You also have to make sure they learn various skills to get up in the world! Such as making them read books to learn cooking or mechanical skills! Making them excercise to get body points. Having them practice instruments or art to improve creative abilities. This is a very unique game for the PS2 and I hope the Sims continue on the PS2. I would like to see it keep getting better and better.

My favorite part of the game was creating my Sims....everything from their facial features, eye color, hair style, clothing, and personality traits! So it's kind of a let-down you can't really see them close-up in the game. What's the point of picking their eye-color if you can't even see it in the game? I loved designing the Sim homes and furnishing them. The houses can't be two story though. If the makers started releasing new skins, furniture, hair styles, clothing, etc. for the PS2, that would be great! It's fun and challenging trying to get the Sims to advance, but the poor things have to work every single day! If they miss two days in a row of work, they get fired. Give 'em a weekend off already! I had some pretty haggard Sims at times.

The only really lame thing about the game was the two-player mode. I didn't find any of those game particularly interesting. One game consists of eating as much food as possible in the park. Still, this is one of the best games out there on PS2, even if you don't have to kill anything (your Sims can die if you don't teach them cooking skills and the house sets on fire, so watch out!).


Best version yet   January 20, 2003
25 out of 29 found this review helpful

I've never been a large fan of The Sims on PC, but it's hard not to respect what Maxis acomplished with the original game, both in terms of a life simulation and in terms of universal appeal. But I always had some issues, that and the game had a chain of very slick, very logical expansions.

However, for me, the game moved way too quickly and often because an act of tedium rather than a fun experience.I purchased the PS2 game for a number of reasons, the tweaked progression scales, a mixture of items from all of the expansions (I never got any of the expansions myself), a host of neat original PS2 items, a fun mission mode, competitive mini-games, and open ended co-op. Plus I had bought way too many PC games as of late, and needed something for the ol' consoles to play into the wee hours if I became entranced...again.

I had some worries and doubts, and while I disagree with some things Maxis and EoR did with the conversion, I have to say this is a HECK of a good game, is faithful to the PC version, adds a ton of ..., the game isn't nearly as tedious to play, oddly enough controls like a dream and most importantly:

The co-op is INCREDIBLY well pulled off. Simply great co-op, since I grabbed the game, I've sunk about 10-12 hours with a pal into it in crazy night long plays. Establishing house by house a dual-neighborhood full of neat characters is too much fun and offers so much play time it's scary, and I've just scratched the surface.

The co-op neghborhood set-up takes from the insanely miniscule ammountof things that Animal Crossing did right (I'm not comparing the two titles, however, it can't be done) it allowing the importing and exporting of characters and even houses.

But really, the co-op in The Sims is just hard to explain why it's so darn fun,you'd sit there and figure it would really suck, I assumed it would at least, but no, it's like miniscule Sims online without the massive lameness OF the Sims Online, or even the original PC game faults. It just clicks, working together to accomplish goals, dividing out tasks, establishing relationships and throwing parties, great fun.

The Get a Life mode is pretty darn slick as well, hosting 8 missions (the later ones being QUITE long and offering good challenge) and offers a nice levy of unlockable features (mini-games, items, the neighborhood mode itself) it's been pulled off a lot better than I expected.

The classic free play is just as good. Building houses with the PS2 controller also works really well (I cannot stress how sweet the controls are on this compared to the PC, they just work so damn well)

The 3D visuals are pretty good too, it's fun to see all the old 2D PC game objects in 3D. The game is decently detailed, can fit a lot of characters on screen and has a good sense of charm to it. It runs smooth and the camera panning is SUCH a nice feature comparied to the ... fixed rotations of the PC title. The music...well, The Sims never really relied on music, The Sims probably has by far the greatest sound effects and voice acting ever, but if you snag a stereo there is some entertaining stuff, all sung in Simish of course. Nothing beats Sim rap, hilarious stuff.

In the end, a lot may like it more than the PC edition, others may not, I love it myself, and to say the least it's a fun value packed version of The Sims that erases a lot of the tedium and flaws presented in the original.

I love my co-op.


Much better than the PC verison   January 18, 2003
Pat O'Donnell (Leeds)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

I've never been a large fan of The Sims on PC, though it's hard not to respect what Maxis acomplished with the original game, both in terms of a life simulation and in terms of universal appeal. But I always had some issues, that and the game had a chain of very slick, very logical expansions.

However, for me, the game moved way too quickly and often because an act of tedium rather than a fun experience.

I purchased the PS2 game for a number of reasons, the tweaked progression scales, a mixture of items from all of the expansions (I never got any of the expansions myself), a host of neat original PS2 items, a fun mission mode, competitive mini-games, and open ended co-op.

Plus I had bought way too many PC games as of late, and needed something for the ol' consoles to play into the wee hours if I became entranced...again.

I had some worries and doubts, and while I disagree with some things Maxis and EoR did with the conversion, I have to say this is a heck of a good game, is faithful to the PC version, adds a ton of goodies, and the game isn't nearly as tedious to play, oddly enough controls like a dream and most importantly:

The co-op is INCREDIBLY well pulled off. Simply great co-op, since I grabbed the game, I've sunk about 10-12 hours with a pal into it in crazy night long plays. Establishing house by house a dual-neighborhood full of neat characters is too much fun and offers so much play time it's scary, and I've just scratched the surface.

The co-op neghborhood set-up takes from the insanely miniscule ammount of things that Animal Crossing did right (I'm not comparing the two titles, however, it can't be done) it allowing the importing and exporting of characters and even houses.

But really, the co-op in The Sims is just hard to explain why it's so darn fun, ..., it's like miniscule Sims online without the massive lameness OF the Sims Online, or even the original PC game faults.

It just clicks, working together to accomplish goals, dividing out tasks, establishing relationships and throwing parties, great fun.

The Get a Life mode is pretty darn slick as well, hosting 8 missions (the later ones being QUITE long and offering good challenge) and offers a nice levy of unlockable features (mini-games, items, the neighborhood mode itself) it's been pulled off a lot better than I expected.

The classic free play is just as good. Building houses with the PS2 controller also works really well (I cannot stress how sweet the controls are on this compared to the PC, they just work so well)

The 3D visuals are pretty good, it's fun to see all the old 2D PC game objects in 3D. The game is decently detailed, can fit a lot of characters on screen and has a good sense of charm to it. It runs smooth and the camera panning is SUCH a nice feature comparied to the...fixed rotations of the PC title.

The music...well, The Sims never really relied on music, The Sims probably has by far the greatest sound effects and voice acting ever, but if you snag a stereo there is some entertaining stuff, all sung in Simish of course. Nothing beats Sim rap, hilarious stuff.

In the end, a lot may like it more than the PC edition, others may not, I love it myself, and to say the least it's a fun value packed version of The Sims that erases a lot of the tedium and flaws presented in the original.

I love my co-op.