I have simulated sex with my guests every night (The Sims 2 (DS))

Member Name: Sarccyslayer

Product:	The Sims 2 (DS)
Date:	03/08/07 (6317 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Addicitive and easy to play

Disadvantages: It is addictive

The Sims are and as a game an institution of a game for many, well people like me that is. I first became a Sims addict back in 2001 when it became available on the PC and since then I have bought similar games in the Sims series for the PS2, the Gamecube and more recently The Sims2 for my Nintendo DS.

The Sims2 on the Nintendo DS for me is just as addictive as it has been on any computer peripheral that I have played it on. The main gameplay behind the Sims2 is that you run a hotel in a little place in the middle of the desert called Strangetown where you accidentally end up after your car breaks down. Upon your arrival it is utter chaos in Strangetown and with a hotel manager much in need, you become the perfect candidate for the job.

Within The Sims2 manual it states “explore the wide-open world of The Sims 2 as you become the rich and powerful owner of your own hotel in Strangetown. Your ultimate goal is to uncover Strangetown's secrets while keeping the VIP's in your hotel happy” So this is the challenge you have been set to complete.

Now before you arrive in Strangetown you have to create your Sim and you have the choice of being male or female and you are able to choose hair colour, face shape and so on before ultimately naming your Sim to arrive in Strangetown.

The one notable difference with The SIms2 for me is that it is set in Real-time, it actually does follow the actual time of the day using the internal DS clock, so no matter what time of day you choose to play The SIms2 it will be that time of the day in Strangetown too. Now the clock does become important with some of the tasks and goals you are set so it is important to remember that to be able to advance within the game. For example one of my recent challenges was to find a pyramid in the Desert at nighttime, which meant it wouldn’t have been worth my while trying to find the said pyramid during an afternoon. Your Sim will need to do all of the things we as humans due such as wash, drink, shower, eat, sit down and sleep, if they are not able to fulfill any of these actions they will collapse.

When playing the Sims2 on the main screen you will be able to see what actions you are performing constantly throughout the game, what the time is, how much money you have in Simoleans which is the currently in Simworld and your sanity level. Your sanity level depends on your alertness, the actions you are currently undertaking and the treatment and feelings of your hotel guests. At the top right hand side of the screen you will also see your mobile phone and many of the hotel guests will ring you or text you when they have a problem, an issue to be resolved or have some good news for you. The main way to make more money is to get more guests at your hotel and they can also encourage more guests to come along but in order to keep them there you must ensure your hotel is clean and tidy and that as many amenities are available as possible.

On the bottom screen you have five different options to choose from you help you throughout the game and the main one which is always visible is ‘Interact’ and whenever you come across someone within Strangetown, whether it is within your hotel or in the town itself you will be about to interact with other people. Now if you have a Sim who is angry then it is your job to calm them down and the way to calm them down is very specific dependant upon their anger levels and this is something you will pick up as the game progresses. You may also want to impress or romance your Sim friend and again there are specific actions and ways of interacting with them to do so.

The second button is your pockets and throughout the game you are tasked with collected fuel rods to keep the generator within the hotel going so that your guests have enough electricity to go about their day and also to keep your metal detector charged. You are also asked to collect little chicken like pieces called Gourds throughout Strangetown which you can exchange at the local bar for cash, this is especially useful if you are feeling and looking short of money. Within your pockets you will also a find a Hoover to keep you hotel clean and tidy and options of finding license plate numbers and spaceship parts, again you will exchange both of these for money and they can be found in the desert once you get to an appropriate position within the game. Throughout the game there are many Minigames to take part in and complete and each and every one of them will make you extra money.

The third option is relatively important also in that every so often within the game you are set goals from one of the members within your hotel. Some of these goals are really simple like getting them a new toilet which you would buy from the shop and other tasks are more difficult and take time to complete. All of your goals will have a timeline in which they have to be completed and as I have said before, this game is set in real time.

The fourth button is relationships and listed here you will find everyone you come across during your game with a little explanation as to who they are, what they do and how they are feeling, I check this option quite frequently to make sure I have no angry or upset hotel guests whom will begin to smash my hotel up if I don’t give them some love and affection.

The fifth and final option is where you save and quit your respect games and toggle with the volume and sound effects. Don’t forget to save your game throughout and when you have reached a certain goal to ensure you don’t have to repeat something.

Once you begin to play the game you will need to ensure that your hotel reaches a certain standard to encourage more people to want to come and stay there, thus earning you money to enable you to buy more things and build more rooms to keep your guests happy. As you start the game you room options are limited and one of the first things you will need to do is to build more guest rooms and to do that you firstly need the money to do so and a permit from City Hall.

Outside of your hotel there are many other locations to visit. There is the Saloon where you will sell any of the Gourds you find to raise some money or simply go along to, to have a good time drinking and dancing with fellow hotel guests. There is also a shop to buy all of the goods you need to keep your hotel running at the highest possible standard, goods such as showers, beds, mirrors and plasma screen televisions can all be bought from Johnny Smith in his shop as and when they become available. Then we have City Hall which is run by Honest Jackson and it is here you will come to ask for permission to build further rooms within your hotel and the more rooms you build the higher your hotel rating will become, these rooms are hotel rooms to allow you to accommodate more guests, several bars and eateries and a Casino amongst many others and to build each one of these will take eight hours real time and a set amount of cash each time. The Final place to visit is Jail, if you leave your DS unattended whilst playing the game you find that your Sim is arrested and you will have to pay bail to be released and should any of your Sim guests break any Strangetown laws, such as littering, they too will be arrested and you will be expected to bail them out and pay the fine.

Finally, the Desert which is somewhere you will spend a lot of your time visiting in order to find missing Spaceship parts, license plate numbers, bars of gold, silver and bronze, lead rocks, mummified Aliens and so on, all of which will become apparent due to their relevancy throughout the game, as will the reasoning behind finding many of these items and that I won’t spoil for those of you who are looking to buy this game for your own DS, all I will say is that it is a lot of fun and at the same time quite quirky and amusing. Once you are in the Desert your sanity levels will decrease at a faster rate than normal and should you let your sanity rating dwindle right down, your Sim will collapse and will be beamed up into space and then randomly placed back in her or his hotel room walking rather funny.

Now as with all Sim games you will need to collect skill points as the game goes on and these skill points are the same in each Sim game, the more you collect the better you become at different tasks. Within your hotel room you will find a computer upon the wall where you can check your Skill points as well as your aspirations, game stats and hotel information. Once you begin to open up further avenues within your hotel you will be able to undertake more tasks such as becoming a DJ using the functions in one of the bars and you can use the built-in DS microphone to make your own music, paint pictures within the Art Gallery which your guests can buy for money and so on.

I absolutely adore this game, I do spend hours playing it and am probably quite addicted to it, well okay I am quite addicted to it and for me it is a brilliant game, if you are a fan of The Sims and have played it before and like it then you will like this game, but I would say you have to be an ardent fan to enjoy it as much as I do. The game itself isn’t too difficult but you do sometimes have to persevere with it in order to complete the set tasks to advance further. So, for all your Sims fans out there I definitely recommend this to you.

The Sims2 for the Nintendo DS is available in most computer game shops and online and it sells in the region for £25 although it does seem to be much cheaper online than in your high street stores. You can also play The Sims as with your friends using the wireless application.

** Extra Information **

Game Information
• Platform: Nintendo DS
• PEGI Rating: Ages 7 and Over
• Publisher - Electronic Arts
• Developer – Maxis
• Genre - Simulation
• Media: Video Game

Summary: Another episode from The Sims on the DS