Sims, The (PlayStation)
© 2002 Electronic Arts, Inc.
Who would know that the great PC life simulation would fail on the PS2 platform? We were surprised. Our testers tell us that the gameplay on the Sims' PS2 version is really cumbersome, with difficult controls and too many layers of menus. This boggy navigation interferes with the Sims' typical cool storylines and characters and the many building and design options. These are all still here, but hard to get to. Some good features have been added such as the ability to hire a maid, or have a party, and the neighborhoods are bigger. Saving your game is possible with a memory card. Comic mischief, sexually mature themes, and mild violence earn the Teen ESRB rating. We recommend the PC version instead of this one. From CSR Intern KS: Although I only got an opportunity to play the Gamecube version and not the PS2 version, I feel that this game could use some major improvements.The controls were a bit hard to grasp and navigation was a chore. Due to the elevated time schedule it is impossible to fit everything you need to do into a day. It can take up to a minute in real life to clean up a single spill, which is entirely too long at the rate the game goes. Getting you character to do what you want is also difficult as they seem very rebellious, almost having a mind of their own. Your character has different meters, such as comfort and entertainment, and it is almost impossible for me to raise them; none of the activities the manual says will raise them actually work, and for those that do it is too slow and other bars drop too much in the meantime. I have had the frustrating experience of telling my character to go to the bathroom but have him throw a temper tantrum on the way there and not make it in time. By far the most frustrating part is keeping the meters high whle achieving the goals for the scenario. The hardest part is that your character's meters go down while he is sleeping. Another difficulty is that it seems impossible to go to bed before midnight; in the first scenario your character's mother will listen to music or watch TV until two in the morning and your character refuses to go to bed with any lights on or noise. In the next scenario you simply have too many things to do to fit in without going to bed after midnight. My last gripe with this game is that you only have one character you can control at all, unlike the PC version where you can order around an entire family. This is annoying because you used to be able to multitask and divide up the workload, allowing you to fit everything into one day, with some people going to school and work and others as dedicated "maids" to clean up. One technical detail: the Sims takes up 60 blocks on a Gamecube memory card, which is more for one family than an entire Animal Crossing town. It is also more than a normal memory card can hold (59 blocks). Final Verdict: Bag it, and buy the PC version.
$49.99, PlayStation 2, GameCube
Teaches: relationships (dating), creativity (building homes and towns), budgets