Sims- Going Handheld and into Unexplored Territory

The Sims is a name of a franchise that was a spinoff from the popularly addictive SimCity. The Sims spread such a strong wave toward the gaming community in the late 1990's that it had been one of the strongest selling, and still strongly selling, titles that the gaming world had ever seen. And with it, they made history by making large and complex expansion packs, five in all, that added their own genuinity and even greater depth of value toward the original game. The essence which sold the games; allowing gamers to create complete families, from which each member not only had their own personality, but you could control the fate of them and see what consequences lay ahead.

And from that series, a newer breed evolved, one that was part simulation/ part single player exploration. Bustin' Out came in winter 2003, where you were the sim. The whole game revolved around one sim, whose one single life was determined by the choices the gamer made.

Only but a year passed when EA released their newer sequel to the Sims spinoff of the Sim City spinoff, Urbz: Sims in the City. With it, they took most material from the older version (bustin out) and added just a few new material. I wouldn't consider this entry as being a brand new game all together, but more like a cartridge expansion-minus the save file conversion.

Graphics: 3

Upon playing this game, I was impressed by the graphics, they are colorful and vibrant. The town and all of its suburbs have great amounts of detail within them. However, it wasn't until I realized that I was playing the DS version when I noticed that the graphics weren't any greater than Bustin Out was on the GBA. The facial screen is great, but beyond that, it pales in comparison to Super Mario DS and even Ridge Racer for that matter. The game is from bird's eye view, there isn't any camera angle control.

However, I will add as a compliment that there is no slowdown! But, that is not enough of an excuse to be overwhelmed the graphics of the game. They are good, but it is neither revolutionary nor does it live up to Nintendo DS's standards.

Sound: 4

The world of the Sims had never really had voice acting, nor should I expect them to change the rule with this sequel. So, as I had presumed, they used the Simmish language. Every other household sound effect from the previously titles have been preserved and sound just as good as once before.

What is impressive is that the soundtrack is much better than the previous entries as well. While not inspirational in any form, the music ranges from quaint techno beats to jazz tunes. None of the songs are as aggravating as the previous installments, neither do they bear to be memorable. However, the tunes are somewhat catchy. Instead of distracting the player, the tunes actually allow the player to be comfortably concentrated to the game.

Gameplay:4

The best trait in the game is obviously the gameplay. Miniopolis is the lengthy city where the main character exists. Here, it is his objective to be the coolest, most respective, and most popular sim in the city. You are given a choice to have a person of either sex to begin the game with. The beginning choices, although various, are not very huge. You can change the hair color of your sim, the color of the clothes that they wear and the type of hair they have on their hair.

Afterward, you can choose what class they want to excel in by answering a survey via the touchpad, which sets the player accordingly to what rep group they belong to. I found the character creation a little neat, but nothing that I would praise highly about.

When done, you start in Miniopolis where you have to go through 5 Chapters of the game, completing dozens of quests. I warn you, if you do not care for quest games, then read no further, because that is all this game is about are minigames and errands. Albeit tedious, I found a healthy variety of different missions that ranged from finding secret laboratories to searching for lost Sims.

I was slightly by the minigames, which range from basketball to cardgames to dna splicing to form your own type of creature. Although I found these games somewhat fun, their complexities ran very thin, causing me to boredom within a few plays. Most of the game does not use the stylus and the ending seems rather rushed.

But what I think the best trait found in the game are the numerous characters that my character was allowed to meet. They are set in four separate social classes; each which have a different interest, appearance, and overall persona about them.

Besides using the stylus to select conversational topics, painting pictures to hang on walls (which I thought was quite impressive), and a few minigames, they tended to rush this game so much that the stylus was used as a sidekick instead of a revolutionary means of creativity.

If compared to the PC version, I would recommend the pc due to the fact that the neighbors are more active to their environments and the assortment of furniture is great. I would debate between choosing either GBA or DS versions, minus the fact that the DS version has a whole new section and a few more many games. But both games are theoretically the same.

I guess the creators of this version tended to focus more on the minigames and the goals of obtaining a healthy reputation than on the goals of the values that revolve around the life of a young man in the brink of beginning to live on his own amidst a city.

Replay Value: 2

I will say I have had my amount of fun with this title. But when all secrets are found, when all furniture is unlocked and when every minigame is mastered, there isn't really much to Miniopolis to warrant a second trip.


Overall: 3

Although my complaints, Electronic Arts did succeed in making a sequel to Bustin' Out. But I won't agree that this is a worthy sequel that fails to separate the two titles. Besides the use of the stylus and some fun games both found within a louisiana setting, I am left with the realization that it is just the same old experience done once again.

Without granting a beneficial quantom leap as I expected, Electronic Arts did do what they are good at; which is make a good title albeit it's many flaws.