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The Sims
by: MystikaL
Introduction
Maxis produced one of the best simulators ever, Sim City 2000. This game was extremely unique, and had the best graphics to date. Unfortunately, some of the system requirements made it hard to get working for computer novices. I had just began playing computer games when I heard of Sim City 2000, but my system was too slow, therefore I didn't give it a chance. Then, I saw the game at my friends, and immediately I was hooked. After enough badgering and complaining to my parents, we finally got a new system. It was a 486dx/2 66mhz, with 8 Megs of ram, and a 400 Meg hard drive. The newly installed system ran Windows 3.11 and I was quite amazed when it didn't run Sim City 2000. After some fiddling with the system, my dad finally got it to work.
Over the years, Maxis has continued to create high-quality games, although none of them have ever matched the pure genius of this title, The Sims. When the game was announced, and through the development, there has been a lot of hype from the Simulation community. Why shouldn't it? It has everything you need to control a family, and much more. Call it a more advanced version of that electronic egg grower gizmo. If you played Sim City, you've probably dreamed of being able to control the families, and such people in your cities, along with your towers in Sim Tower. Being able to name the people, or give names on your buildings, stadiums, and other buildings in Sim Tower, and Sim City was about all you could do... until now.
I am going to mention this now, mainly because it's something you need to know. When installing in English, you may get a bit confused at how they're talking. It seems as if they're talking in Spanish, or some other language. If I am correct, Maxis did this on purpose. Of course, if I am not, then there is something hugely wrong with my game, or I am just deaf. It took me a while to realize this, after 2 quick reinstallation's of the game. Maybe I am just stupid, but I just wanted to note this really quickly before you go on. You won't be able to tell what they're saying, and when they're mad, it's hilarious. They talk, but all that comes out is gibberish.
The Sims offers us the ability to fool with life, a natural human obsession from the day we were born, and perhaps a much too serious one for some (referring to criminals here). Have you ever thought what it would be like to lock a person in a room without food and see how long they last, or see how they react when they can not get out of the swimming pool? Well, I know I have always wanted to fool with people's brains (*sinister laugh*), and now I get to fulfill my fantasy!
Gameplay
Maxis created this game to be the most realistic life simulator ever, while keeping it fun for everyone, and totally customizable like Quake 2. The ability to modify your skin(s), download families into your neighborhood, and create web pages for your family(s) is ingenious. You can also easily download bonus packs for the game, which include new devices, wallpaper, etc. Since you can modify the skins, they had to develop a universal and already known way of editing the skins. They used the Quake 2 skin type, a great choice. This provides realistic looking skins, while still keeping them incredibly easy to edit.
The tool for creating your home(s) is simple, and has no learning curve(s) whatsoever. Since I don't know how to use AutoCAD programs, nor create maps for Half-Life, Quake, or those games, I was a little shaky about trying their editor. After I gave it a shot, it was as easier than placing doodads and terrain in the StarCraft Campaign Editor.
After around 10 minutes of placing walls, carpet, etc., it was time to place my devices. I just hopped on over to the button left of build, clicked, and I was ready to start placing gadgets! The only bad thing about placing your item(s) is that it is quite difficult to turn them in a different direction, and is something that might take a bit to get used to. Other than that, placing newly bought items was a task any average third grader could do, and he probably could play the whole game without trouble. The items for purchase are all divided into categories, to make it easier to locate them. You can also head on over to The Sims web page to find more bonus packs. These bonus packs include new items, wallpaper, decals, skins, and more.
Objects to choose from include coffee makers, stereo systems, computers, television sets, washing machines, grills, pool tables, etc. All these objects add fun to your Sim(s) life, something he needs a lot of to satisfy his fun factor.
Creating a person was easy, fun, and can be really funny at times when you mismatch the apparel, skin type, hair color, etc. The "Create-a-Sim" tool was very easy to use, and I absolutely loved it. You can create as many people as you would like in your family, and you can also set their neatness, outgoing rating, playfulness, niceness, etc.
After you move your Sim in, and he is all settled down, you should buy a computer, or grab the newspaper to find a job. Skip past the few choices, and settle in with a medical career. This pays the most if you can keep your Sim happy. If he gets angry, you will not get a promotion, mainly because he will have to work the night shift on an occasion.
The artificial intelligence is very good and usually reacts quite well, to what you do, including when you lock them up in a room. Although, when your family has more than one person in it… They have a difficult time sleeping if you put them in the same room. I had a large room so I put a bed on one side, and a bed on the other, they would refuse to sleep. It was rather big, and took up the whole tileset. Other than that, I did not seem to notice any more flaws in the AI, there were various minor things, not enough to affect the rating, or fun of the game. When you first move your "Sim" into your new house, watch him look around, as he will usually immediately find something he likes, and dislikes. The ability to experiment is what the game is about, and Maxis did an incredible job with it.
Keeping your job can be an easy task, especially if you keep it on high-speed mode, in which the hour seems to fly by so quickly. Keeping your Sim comfortable, happy, filled with food, and in a good mood, is a must, and will overall give you a better chance of getting promotions.
In The Sims, the time passes too quickly, and Maxis should take note of this. To take out the newspaper, clean up, and take a whiz, it took me almost half the day. This should not happen. Although the time should be sped up somewhat to keep the user occupied, it should not be this much.
Taking care of your home is necessary, and to do so, I recommend placing a fire alarm and burglar detector gizmo on the house. This helped me with robbers, and that occasional fire. Also, look out for messes, which tend to hurt your Sim in some way or form. Also, make sure your house is not too crowded, which also takes effect on your Sim.
Do not forgot about your social life. Your job will take up a lot of your time, along with your daily hygiene and food necessities. This will leave you with a small amount of time to spend with your friends, so make sure you invite them over a lot. I tried to tickle one of my friends and she got mad. Of course, after her liking rating went up to around 70, she liked it. This shows that you should not do stupid stuff early in relationships, wait until later (not referring to real life).
Getting your friends to do stupid things after only knowing them for a little while is incredibly easy. I was able to take (and marry) one wife in 3 days. There are also gay Sim(s), while somewhat dumb; it is funny as hell at times. In addition, experimenting with your Sim(s) is also quite amusing. Try random things out, e.g., locking them in your house, locking your friends in, starving them to death, etc.
Now, getting started into your game can be difficult. You should immediately find a job, check out your house, let your Sim wander around a bit, and then greet your friend(s), who should be arriving shortly! Once you get close to a 90 rating for friendship on your friend(s), they will become family friends. To continue to stay happy you need to have a lot of these.
Yes, there is such thing as "gay" Sims. You can get your Sims of the same gender to quote "love each other" if you encourage it. It is funny, but only useful for experiments really. The ability to customize everyone's personality and looks in your family adds to this.
The ability to experiment will keep this game in your cd-rom drive for hours upon hours, and is the main fun in the game. Keeping everything down to earth is fine, but doing stuff that is just fux0red at times is fun and keeps your interest. Overall, Maxis created the best real life simulator ever-and the gameplay is what made the game.
Graphics
The graphics are amazing, and they should be. The game supports 800x600 to 1024x768 resolutions, along with using Quake 2 skins. This provides them with great graphics, and skins, without deteriorating their system.
Sound
The sound is great, but what really is cool, is the unique feature that lets you play your own mp3's based in certain folders from the Sim(s)' radio(s). It is great hearing your Sims play your favorite music-mine being Fear Factory. A great feature was created here that will be mimicked in other games in the future. It is a great way to let people do two things at once, while driving the mp3 revolution even further as well.
Overall
Maxis created the best real life simulator ever, although they had no real competition. The game is ingenious and lots of fun. If you ever wanted to fool around with life, mess up the food chain, kill people, lock people in their rooms, starve people to death, watch gay people on couches, or anything else stupid like that, this is for you. Experimenting is great, and something that makes the game last. The graphics are great, the sound has a unique feature of letting you play your music from their radios, and it sounds great from your speakers. All the options, menus, and features are easy to use, too.
Pros - Fun to experiment with your Sims
- Will keep you playing a long time
- Can play your own mp3's from your radio
- Downloadable families, add-on packs
- Great Artificial Intelligence
Cons - No giant Sim Internet World, where you can visit friends online
- Time is just too fast, even on the slowest mode.
- Sometimes the Sims can act too stupid at times, even if the task(s) you are trying to accomplish are simple and relative.
Gameplay
With all the things you can do, the gameplay is top-notch. | 100 | Sound
The mp3 feature is great! Voicing was good, but not great. | 97 | Graphics
You do not get much more realistic than this. | 100 | Lasting Appeal
With the ability to experiment, this game is going to last a long time. | 100 | << Rating: 99 >>
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