| Product: |
The Sims (PC) |
| Date: |
13/09/07 (193 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Fun, easy to play
Disadvantages: Addictive
I’ve been playing The Sims since shortly after it was released in 2000. When I was made homeless 2 years ago I lost my copy and I’ve only just got round to replacing it. I didn’t realise how much I missed this game and so I decided to write a review about a game that I enjoy so much.
My game reviews tend to get a mixed re-action; I am going to write this one trying to take in to account all the, (quite often contradictory), criticism I have had in the past so lets see how I do.
I apologise in advance if this review delves into the realm of the game-guide. Some of you like to be told how to play the game and some of you don’t. I suppose you can’t please everyone!
~~~~~ What is The Sims & how did it come about? ~~~~~
I suppose the best way to describe The Sims would be that it’s a real-life simulator, well as close to a real-life simulator as technology allowed in 2000. The Sims was created by Will Wright who also created the popular SimCity games. After Wright lost his home in a terrible fire, he began thinking about a real-life simulation programme in which the player could control the lives of simulated-people.
His first idea was a simulated dolls house; he approached Maxis with the idea as early as 1993 but the idea never took off due to the limitations of computer technology at the time. Obviously not one to give up Wright began working on “Project X” in 1995. 2 years later the name was changed from Project X to The Sims. The project took 5 more years to complete and when The Sims came out in 2000 it was an amazing concept in gaming and it achieved an enormous fan base.
~~~~~ What’s the manual like? ~~~~~
In a word, small. I like small manuals as I really can’t be bothered to read a huge book before I play a game.
The first 9 pages are taken up with installation instructions, system requirements and trouble-shooting. The trouble shooting bit is quite useful if you have a problem with the way the game runs although with newer PCs the game should run easily.
The next 2 pages contain information about strategy for playing the game. I feel that this bit isn’t very useful. It does explain the basic principles; i.e. you only have so much time and you need to satisfy your Sim in that time, but above that I think it’s a bit confusing and pointless.
The next 4 pages explain the tutorial, the help system, the hotkeys and a few other controls that have been missed out elsewhere.
The last 4 pages are dedicated to the customer services options. There is also a brief FAQ in this bit. I have to admit I have never needed to use this section at all.
All in all I think the manual is great. It has all the information you may need and it has managed this without being huge and over the top.
~~~~~ How easy is The Sims to install? ~~~~~
I have only installed The Sims onto a PC running Windows so I have no idea how easy it is to install on a Mac or a PC running Linux. The other half says it should be about the same though.
On a PC running Windows you simply pop the disc into the disc drive, (it recommends that you use the CD drive with the lowest letter, i.e. you C: Drive), and a window will open that guides you through the installation step by step.
It only takes a few minutes, (older machines may take a little longer), and is more or less fool-proof, I have never had a problem with installing the game.
You do need to have a piece of software called DirectX 7; this is on The Sims disc if you don’t already have it and I am sure it is easy to download as well, (the manual explains clearly how to install DirectX).
~~~~~ What are the system requirements? ~~~~~
(This bit is fairly boring, feel free to skip).
~ Microsoft Windows ~
Windows 95+,
233 MHz to 450 MHz Pentium II+,
64 MB RAM, 4x or faster CD-ROM drive,
DirectX 6.0-compatible sound card and graphics card (the card must have at least 2 MB onboard memory and be able to display at 800x600 with 16-bit colour).
~ Linux ~
(You can get a ported Linux version from TransGaming, www.transgaming.com)
Linux Kernel 2.2+,
Glibc 2.1.3 or higher,
XFree86 4.0 or higher or equivalent,
350 MHz Celeron/Pentium II/Duron/Athlon+ or equivalent,
64+Mb of ram,
128 recommended,
Sound card supporting OSS or ALSA,
Video card capable of 16 bit colour and 800x600 resolution,
NVIDIA GeForce GPU recommended with 16mb+ of video ram.
~ Mac ~
Mac OS X 10.0.3+ or Mac OS 8.6 or 9.x with CarbonLib 1.2.5+,
233 MHz or faster PowerPC G3 or G4,
64 MB RAM (Mac OS 8/9) or 128 MB RAM (Mac OS X),
G3/333 MHz recommended; 128 MB of RAM
~~~~~ How do I play The Sims? ~~~~~
This is the bit that seems a bit like a game-guide. I have been quite thorough but by no means is this fully comprehensive; I am bound to miss something out.
~ The purpose of The Sims ~
The purpose of The Sims is to control your own little simulated people through their life helping them to make friends, climb the career ladder, gain new skills and having a family. Your Sims has needs which you need to keep satisfied in order for your Sims to lead contented lives.
Because your Sims don’t age the game is pretty open ended, I know some people find it repetitive but I love it. You basically get to choose your own goals, perhaps you want to have super-social Sims with loads of friends, maybe you want a happy marriage and loads of kids, you might want a hyper-intelligent Sim with maxed out skills or maybe money is your goal? You will find though that to achieve in one you will need to master the others to some extent.
~ The neighbourhood screen ~
The neighbourhood screen is the screen that the game will load into every time you start The Sims. Taking up the majority of the screen is a picture of your Sim neighbourhood showing all the houses you have and any empty plots you may have.
If you hover the mouse pointer over a house it will show you the name and pictures of the Sims that live their along with their current worth, (this is the total value of their money, property and objects they own). You can select any family that currently lives in your neighbourhood by clicking on their house.
At the top of the screen there is a button with a little picture of a bulldozer on it. If you select this option your mouse pointer will turn into a bulldozer and if you click on a house you can evict the family that lives there and then either bulldoze the house or save it for a new family to move into later. (If you choose to keep the house for later all the things that family owned will be sold and added their money and only the decoration and building will remain along with any plants that you may have planted outside. If you want to use the family again in a different house I suggest going into the house and removing all the wall coverings and flooring because you get money for them).
The next button is the create-a-family button which I will explain later.
The final button lets you quit the game and return to Windows, (or whatever OS you are running).
~ Pre-made families and the tutorial ~
When you first load the game there will be a couple of pre-made families; The Newbies and The Goths. If you click on the Newbie’s house you will trigger a tutorial which will help you get used to the basic controls for The Sims.
~ The create-a-family screen ~
Clicking on the create-a-family button will take you into a screen where you can view all the families you have which are not currently living in your neighbourhood; I suppose these are your homeless Sims really. You can choose to move one of the families into your neighbourhood, delete one of them or create a new family.
If you choose to make a new family you will taken to a screen where you get to create your family. The first thing you need to do is to choose surname which you type in the box at the top. Down the right hand side there are buttons which allow you to create a new Sim, edit a Sim from this family, or delete a Sim from this family. At the bottom is the button which allows you to move your family into the neighbourhood.
Once you choose to add a new Sim you will be taken to a screen where you get to build your new Sim. You get to choose a first name, their sex, the colour of their skin, their head, their clothes and you get some personality points to spend on things like friendliness and neatness. You Sims star sign will depend on the placement of these points. (You can also select a star sign which will automatically distribute your points for you). There is a box at the bottom of this screen that you type a bio for your Sim if you wish.
Once you’ve finished your Sim you click on the done button and return to the previous screen. You can have as many as 8 Sims in one family. I have to admit that I find it much easier to control families with just 1 Sim.
Once you have finished the whole family you can move them into the neighbourhood and select an empty house or lot for them to live on.
~ Build mode ~
Unless you’ve moved into a pre-made house you will need to build a house for your Sims to live in. This is fairly self explanatory and you will have the option to have the help feature enabled which will guide you through the process. If you are anything like me it will take you a few goes to build a good house as you only have a limited amount of money, (20,000 simolians), to cover all the building, décor and furnishings.
The build mode has several sections which let you level the ground, build walls and add things like doors, windows, stairs, plants and even swimming pools.
~ Buy mode ~
Like build mode this has several sections which contain everything you need for your Sim to be happy and learn new skills. You can change the categorisation by clicking on the build mode icon, the two options are by object type such as seating, (which includes beds), tables, lighting etc or by room, (i.e. kitchen, bathroom etc).
Your Sim will obviously need everything from a toilet to the kitchen sink and you will also need certain items if you want your Sim to gain new skills like an easel or piano to improve their creativity or a chessboard to improve their logic. When your Sim uses one of these objects a little blue bar will appear above their head which shows how close they are to gaining the next point.
~ Controlling your Sims ~
The Sims can have a little free will, (i.e. they will go to the toilet when they need to or cook when they are hungry), or you can turn their free will off and control they’re every move, (this does mean if they need the loo and you don’t tell them to go they will have a little accident).
You can select which Sim you control by clicking on their picture or can switch between them using the space bar.
If you move the cursor over objects you will get a little star when you can interact with something. You can click on these items which will bring up a menu of options, for instance clicking on the fridge will give you the choice of making a meal, serving a meal or having a snack. You can queue up to 8 “jobs” at a time.
~ Game Speed ~
You can choose between 3 speed settings either by clicking on the speed buttons in game or using F1, F2 and F3. Once you have played the game for a while you will no doubt use the fastest speed, it’s also useful when your Sims are asleep or at work.
~ Making friends ~
Shortly after you move into a new house other Sims from the neighbourhood will pop round to say hi. You have to click on them and select greet so your Sim will go and greet them, (if your Sim isn’t busy they MAY decide to greet them themselves).
You can continue to click on them and select options such as talk, compliment and flirt to build up your friendship. You can click on the friendship tab in your family screen at any time to view the people that your Sim knows and how friendly they are. The friendship is scored between 1 and 100 percent. You become friends at around 50% but this has to be 50% from both Sims opinions which may vary.
If you choose to flirt the 2 Sims may fall in love. The Sims allows same sex relationships. You can build your relationship up to the point where you will get the option to move in the other Sim or marry them, (unfortunately same-sex couples cannot get married). Couples can have babies or adopt, (obviously same-sex couples have to adopt).
After you have made a friend you will need to keep in contact with them frequently or your friendship will diminish.
~ Getting a job ~
You get a free newspaper delivered every day in which your Sim can find a job; the paper has 1 job per day. You can also use the computer, (if you have one), to find a job and the computer has 3 choices per day.
You will need to go to work happy to gain a promotion. Each promotion will require that you have certain skills and some require a certain amount of friends. When you gain a promotion you will get a bonus on top of your daily wage. The careers to choose from include medical, sports, crime and military.
~ Hiring help ~
You can use the telephone to hire a maid, a gardener, a repairman, to call the police or fire brigade and to call for a pizza.
The police and fire brigade will come out if you have been burgled or your house is on fire, they will be called automatically if you have a burglar/smoke alarm.
The repairman will fix broken equipment and replace light bulbs for an hourly fee. He only comes out when you call him.
The maid and gardener are actually hired so the maid will come daily and the gardener will come out every 3 days. They charge an hourly fee.
You need to make sure that you have enough money to pay these people or they will take something you own instead of payment and you will not be able to use their services again for a while.
~~~~~ Can I download new content & where from? ~~~~~
You can download extra objects, clothes and heads as well as new décor and plants. These are fairly easy to install and they generally come with a read-me file that explains how to use them. You have to be careful though as some of these items will require various expansion packs such as hot date or living large and will cause your game to game to crash if you try using them with just the basic game. Most good sites will make you aware if an expansion pack is needed.
There are literally thousands of sites to download Sims stuff from and some require paid membership. These are a few of my favourites:
www.thesimsresource.com: This site offers some free content, (you need to register first), and some content for paid subscribers only.
www.aroundthesims.com: This site is mostly free but it does offer gifts for people who make a donation.
http://planetthesims.gamespy.com: This site offers free downloads and lot’s of other Sims stuff like cheats and tips.
~~~~~ So is it any good? ~~~~~
I truly love the Sims and I’m totally addicted to it. I have played Sims 2 but I keep coming back to The Sims as I just enjoy it so much. After the first couple of times I played it I have found it easy to play and as there are no set objectives you can be as full-on or as laid back as you want to be.
The huge amount of fan made items for the Sims really adds to the appeal of the game, so much so that Maxis positively encourages it as they have obviously realised it helps to keep people hooked as they can add new things all the time.
The fact that your Sims don’t age really does get on your nerves sometimes as your Sims just go on and on and after a while you have achieved everything you can and that can be a bit annoying. The babies in Sims are a pain too as they require so much attention that your Sims become depressed and quite often a social worker will take away your baby because it’s so hard to look after them. They also only grow as far children and then they stay as kids forever and ever. Thankfully you can download something called a grow up tool which lets you grow the kids up if you want to.
Other than those few niggles I think the game is amazing and it was so ground breaking at the time it came out that it has achieved cult status.
The Sims is the most addictive game I have ever played and you can easily spend hours playing it without noticing time pass. It seems to control your thoughts as well!
~~~~~ Where can I get it & how much? ~~~~~
Amazon: new and used from £2.50 + postage
Game: £4.99 + postage, (they currently have no stock)
Play: new and used from £7.74 + postage or £9.99 delivered
Summary: One of the greatest games ever!
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