The Sims Review

The enormously popular PC game “The Sims” has finally hit the PS2 and I was lucky enough to get my hands on it after waiting for nearly 3 days at Hollywood Video. You start off living with your mother in a small but “enjoyable” house. Enjoyable if your mother wasn’t a part of it I mean. Throughout the game you must acquire new skills such as cooking and mechanics. You are able to move away from home once you borrow enough money from mom and acquire those needed skills, oh yeah and GET A JOB! This guy (girl) has lived with his mother for years and yet he hasn’t had a job. Hope he doesn’t cry once he moves away from home.

Finally you are free! No? You miss mommy? Well, none the less you move into a nice, but dirty house which you “rent”, but you don’t pay rent, because the spoiled brat who owns it wants you to clean it up for him so his father (who owns the house) doesn’t find out. In order to move along through the game you must repair the house (with your new skills) and clean it up.

The Sims is a great game, because there are so many things that your “Sims” can do. They can purchase a huge amount of items which range from a chair to a grandfather clock and even a plasma television. In order to get new items which you may purchase, you must complete certain goals like repairing the house or getting a promotion. The display system for purchasing items is simple and shows you what your item looks like and gives a description of it. Each item that you own has a purpose, certain items help you gain certain attribute or just make your “Sim” happy.

The purpose of the game is straightforward, live the life of your “Sim” in a fully customizable way. You chose the hair style, eye color, build, sex, and nearly every other detail of your “Sim”. You can make your “Sim” friendly, anti-social, lazy, easy-going, you name, the personalities are endless.

In order to live a happy life your “Sim” must have good hygiene (meaning he/she must bathe and brush his/her teeth), make money by having a job, eating a healthy diet, and anything else that pertains to the “real” world. Another interesting element of the game is the ability to make friends with your neighbors. Making friends is effortless if you are kind or you can tease people and make an enemy or two. Once again, it is all up to you. The biggest challenge is to keep up with all the activities that happen on a daily basis. Really, you almost have to make a schedule in order to keep your “Sim” healthy and happy. Keeping clean, tidying the house (thank God for the maid which you can pay), cooking, eating, talking, going to work, exercising, and sleeping all in one day prove to be a daunting task. There is unfortunately no time to slack off if you want to improve your “Sims'” life(s).

The graphics are marvelous for the PS2 and yet, they aren’t much improved from the PC version which was released in 2000. The characters are detailed and completely customizable. There is a plentiful amount of furniture to go around and the flooring and walls come in many different varieties. The sound is decent, but like in Animal Crossing, the “Sims” speak in what I like to call the “Jibberish” language. Overall, The Sims for PS2 is very pleasing and totally different from the PC version. That does not mean that the PS2 version is better than the PC version and is actually a false statement in my opinion.