Sims, The

$39.95, Win 98 (CD-ROM)

Teaches: social studies: interpersonal development

CTR Review

You may have heard about The Sims, the interesting new simulation from Maxis in which you oversee the lives of a neighborhood of simulated people. This unusual program lets you choose from a selection of pre-generated individuals, or create your own families while determining each member�s personality characteristics like how tidy, nice or outgoing. You then select a home for your Sims by clicking on a starter home in the neighborhood, or by building your home from the ground up, using limited funds to purchase electronics, furniture and other accessories that help keep your Sims happy. It�s not too hard to set up your home, although the cash you start out with barely buys the basics. It is very difficult, however, to create a booming, thriving household, remembering to tell your Sims to perform every single life task, from throwing out the trash or going to the bathroom to waking up in time to get to work. Like with a virtual pet, meters let you know how each member of the household is doing, but even with their help, testers and reviewers alike struggled to keep their Sims alive. Yes, the characters do perish in this game. If you forget, for instance, to have your Sims study cooking techniques, a fire may erupt that might take out a family member, leaving only an urn of ashes. Do the Sims do anything else that kids shouldn�t see? Sims develop relationships with their neighbors, some of which do lead to love. Sim love, however, is not very explicit. There�s some kissing, hugging and dancing but that�s about it.So is the program appropriate for kids? Because the Sims require so much care to be successful and due to the fact that the characters die, our conclusion is that the program is not appropriate for kids aged 12 and under. Teens could probably handle the game play and more mature theme, but our teen-testers told us that without more action and ease-of-use they probably wouldn�t make the purchase.If you decide to buy the program for yourself, we suggest that you start with an easy to handle one-Sim household, and use the excellent tutorial and help system. Note: as of 12/01 there are three "expansion packs" for this game.