=== The Sims ===

Who doesn't know the game The Sims? Released in 2000 it became a big hit and it seemed as if everyone at least tried to play it once. The first game seemed nothing to me at first, but after having tried it once, I suddenly notice that I was playing it for a few hours!

=== General Information ===

Title: The Sims
Creator: Will Wright
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Date: February 4, 2000
Type: Strategy / Simulation
Game play: Singleplayer

=== The history of The Sims ===

I think the best way to describe The Sims is to say it's a kind of real life simulation. The Sims was created by Will Wright, the creator of the popular Simcity games. After a terrible fire Will Wright lost his house and he started thinking about a real life simulation game where the player has control of simulated people. His first idea was a kind of simulated doll house and approached Maxis in 1993, but they simply did not have the technology to create this kind of game. But in 1995 he began work on Project X, which later became The Sims. The project took five years to complete and in 2000, The Sims came on the market.

This version of the game also includes the expansion pack's Living large. This will add 125 additional items, more job opportunities and more characters / characters than the original package.

=== What is the goal of the game? ===

The goal of The Sims is to lead your own little simulated people their lives and by helping them to make friends, to climb the career ladder, acquire new skills and having a family. Your Sims have needs which must be met to ensure that they can lead a happy life. You can set yourself a specific goal in mind, for example to create a Sim that is very social with many friends, to have a happy marriage with many children or just one Sim that becomes super intelligent.

=== The neighborhood ===

Each time you load the game you come into the screen where you see the neighborhood where the Sim lives. It shows all houses, including your Sim's house, empty lots that you can buy and then move to. If you hover your mouse over a home you get the names and pictures to see the Sims with their current value of their money, property and other objects.

At the top of the screen is a button with a small image of a bulldozer. If you select this option it turns your cursor into a bulldozer and if you click on a house that the family lives it will remove them and you can also remove the house. If you choose to keep the house for later, all the things belonging to the family is sold and added to their money and only the decoration and building will remain, along with all the plants you have planted outside.
=== Creating a family ===

When you click on the option of creating a family you get to a screen where you can see all the families that are not currently active. You can choose to place one of the families in your neighborhood, remove one of them or create a new family.

If you choose to create a new family you to go to a screen where you can create your family. The first thing you need to do is to choose a family name. At the bottom right there are buttons that you create a new Sim. If you choose to create a new Sim you will be taken to a screen where you can make new Sim. You must first choose a name than sex, the color of their skin, their heads, theirs clothes and get some personality points to spend on things like cleanliness and friendliness.

=== Controlling your Sims ===

The Sims have a little free will (they go to the toilet if they need and cook when they are hungry). When you go over a object with your mouse you can select a few actions like the fridge you can choose the actions 'get a snack' and 'prepare dinner'. It's all very easy to do.

Shortly after you move into a new house, other Sims in the neighborhood appears around to say hello. You have to click on them to greet them. You can keep clicking on them and select options such as talking, flirting and compliment to build a friendship or more. You can click on the tab at any time to see the friendship of the people that you know how well your Sim is friends with them. The friendship is scored between 1 and 100 percent.

If you choose to flirt, the two Sims could fall in love. Eventually, this infatuation proceeds to cohabitation and marriage. Ultimately, a couple could have a baby or adopt. Sims of the same sex can have a relationship and living together, but they cannot marry.

You get a free newspaper every day where your Sim can find a job, the newspaper has a different job each day. You can also use the computer (if you have one), in order to find a job and the computer has three choices per day. You can get promotion, but it is required that you acquire certain skills and a certain number of friends. Every time you get promoted, you get a bonus and a higher salary.

=== How good is the game? ===

I can honestly say that I'm a fan of the Sims and I was totally hooked. After having played a few times I was hooked. It is not difficult to play it. It is very addictive and greatly put together, but it definitely has a few drawbacks. Your Sims don't age example and at some point you have achieved everything you can get and then it gets boring. I have many times started a new sim just to try something new. The graphics are pretty good. You have to remember that this game is now more than 10 years old, so it can be difficult to compare the games of today. Before then I found the graphics very good, sharp and colorful.

The Sims is just great because it was groundbreaking for the time. It was the first game of its kind. Of course there are sequels released and you also have numerous enhancements for this version, but I must say that the first part was simply the best!