Home Front, Big Brother, Gardener's World in One (The Sims (PC))

Member Name: BeckyBee

Product:	The Sims (PC)
Date:	23/03/02 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fun, addictive

Disadvantages: expensive expansion packs

Love it or hate it, that will be your relationship with the Sims, it will either drive you to the depths of despair or have you glued to your grey swivel chair.

It depends how imaginative you can be about the somewhat jerky, scratchy, animated souls called the Sims, and perhaps how much of a control freak you really are.

So what is the game? Well as the player you create and control the lives of the Sims, little people with weird dress sense and funny voices. There is no winning or losing, you make your own targets, for example construct a mansion or raze it to the ground, create a loving, well adjusted family or turn 2.4 children into the Addams Family.

Initially you may prefer to play with one of the provided families, but you can design your own: here you can make up the composition of the family; how many men, women, children; choose their outfit, although this can be changed later; generate a personality for your Sim, and pick a good head to go with it!

If you choose to create your own family there is the chance to build them a house, and then make it a home…aahhh. At first you might be limited by the size of your family’s wallet, but as the game progresses there you can extend to your heart’s desire and be the architect of your dream home, or the engineer of your worst nightmare.

The game’s interface is bright, interactive and clear without impeding on game play. You are initially greeted with the neighbourhood, which consists of 10 plots, from here you can choose to evict families or move them in. To play the game you select the family that you want to torment!

When playing there are 3 modes:

Build
As mentioned earlier here you can build walls, choose exactly which shade of rose pink you’d like in their hallway, create and nurture a little Garden of Eden, or even install a custom-made pool.

Buy
This is your chance to go on a shopping spree, here
you will find the essential objects that your Sims need to function, like the toilet, a nice comfy bed, and everything else down to the kitchen sink. Initially, i.e. when funds are low you will be concerned with keeping those Sims alive as they bring in measly wages, but as their capital increases you can buy more efficient items so that they have more time for fun.

Live
This is where you tell those folks what to do, when to do it and how to do it ranging from using the toilet to proposing to the love of their life. It’s all about keeping their mood in the green rather than the red, and fulfilling any ulterior motives you may have such as ending up in a brawl with that pompous woman from across the way!

So when you’re not concerned with their energy, social, or hunger levels you can control the larger things in life; help them obtain and develop a money-spinning career, and choose just when to let the patter of tiny feet into the house.

Above all it is a truly addictive game, a testament to this is the number of fan sites offering news, cheats and downloads such as a sofa in a far more attractive shade of green, …….. well my energy levels are getting redder, and that hunger bars not so green any more….

Summary: