The Urbz: Sims in the City

City Livin' for Your Sims! *** Get Street Cred**

Build your rep--using deviant or positive actions--to become the city's biggest player, gaining access to the hottest people and places. City Settings*

Take your Urbz to the VIP Club, Tattoo Parlor, and other hot spots. * Work and Live 24/7

Control your Urbz at nine different jobs like a chop shop or piercing parlor. * Dress to Thrill

Change your look from punk to rap--it affects how the world reacts to you. * Diverse Lifestyles in 9 Districts

Where you start shapes your City life and how you earn your rep!

Urban Sim

City style and attitude

Shops

See it?

Need it?

Buy it!

Open-Ended Gameplay

Customize and control your own crew

Meow

Urban pets

Collect Stuff

New gear for your high-rise crib

Source:

Back of Case (Xbox, Canada/U.S.)

In this town, 'tude is king

It's all about reputation, baby.

Your everyday Sim gets an attitude and takes to the streets in The Urbz: Sims in the City.

Features

• Build reputation among groups
• Urban styles from clothing to furnishings
• Two-player simultaneous play
• Music by The Black Eyed Peas

If it's hip to be different, the Urbz are circles in a square Sims world. These city dwellers have very few things in common with their suburban Sim-lations. Although the Urbz speak in gibberish and need to go to the bathroom, eat and sleep, they live on the other side of the world from the Sims' suburban sprawl.

With the Urbz, life centers on reputation, style and living every minute like it could be your last. You need to help the Urb you create live it up with the locals while still maintaining a sense of style back at your pad.

Each city district is home turf to a different subculture. All the beautiful people congregate in Diamond Heights. The counterculture punkers own Central Station. The bikers hang out at Gasoline Row. You need to build a reputation with each group of people before they'll let you inside their world.

You make friends the old-fashioned Sims way: jibber-jabber. By talking each group's language and making friends, you unlock different Social Moves to perform on a group. For instance, the friendly act of belching a flame impresses the bikers and punkers, but it mostly just sets socialites on fire. Bragging might break the ice with some Urbz, but others will find you offensive. Study each group of Urbz to learn how to fit in and unlock all the Social Moves.

In The Sims, having a job meant getting in a car and leaving home for eight hours, then returning with some cash. The Urbz pick up jobs wherever they can, and it doesn't take hours to earn the cash to buy the bling. Each district has odd jobs for your Urb. Become a piercer in Central Station or work at a chop shop in Gasoline Alley. In each job, you'll press buttons on your Controller as they appear on screen. After you complete the button-pressing part of your job, each job contains secondary objectives, like conversing with the locals, before you get paid.

Much like The Sims, to get a promotion you must learn skills. EA put some interaction in the skill set, too. To earn a skill, you must buy the corresponding machine for your skill and then press the A button quickly a number of times until you gain the skill. To upgrade your artistic skill, you must rap with the Schnizzalator. Although having a job and learning a skill is more active, it doesn't really add a "fun" element to the game. Maybe if the tasks were different (like the minigames in the Game Boy Advance version of The Urbz), they'd be more fun. As it stands, you're just pressing buttons.

But the game isn't about working, it's about playtime. EA created over-the-top characters who do over-the-top things and wear outrageous threads. Just to get into the clubs, you have to dress like the locals, and you're given free rein to create your style. Your basic needs (bathroom, cleanliness, sleep) don't need as much attention as in The Sims, giving you more of a chance to get out on the dancefloor, arm wrestle or strut on the catwalk. Although you have goals to meet, you don't need to complete them in any order. This open-endedness works well, but you might feel a little overwhelmed at first when you're learning about all the tasks and different Social Moves. Never fear, everything's stored in your hand-held XAM device for later recall.

Each district also offers a variety of home furnishings and decorations to buy. But being in the city means being on the go. You won't have to worry about which potted plant gives your home more value, unless you want to. The game's 3D design makes the controls a little hard to get used to, but a lot of care was put into the details of each district. EA added an interesting two-player simultaneous mode. With two players, the screen splits vertically into two. Player one plays on the left, player two on the right. Both players still need to perform their goals, but both players can play in one district at the same time. Once one player leaves to another district, the other player will follow. An Urb will take over the whole screen when he or she accesses the XAM or pauses the game. But mostly, each Urb plays independently of the other.

Bottom Line

A strong sense of social structure and style pulsates through the game, but some gameplay aspects might seem a bit outrageous to hard-core Sims fans. The very Sims-ish pokey pace might not be active enough to bring hip newcomers into the Sim world, but it will suit the legions of fans of the franchise just fine. Check your ego and your attitude at the door and see the game for yourself.

Source:

www.nintendo.com – GameCube

Erstmals leben die Sims in der Stadt, wo ein guter Ruf alles bedeutet. Der Spieler verleiht den neuen Sims, genannt „Urbz“, einen eigenen Stil und verbessert nach und nach ihren Status, um sie zu den einflussreichsten Bewohnern der ganzen Stadt zu machen.

Zum ersten Mal wird der Spieler seine Urbz in allen Lebenslagen steuern: Er schlägt sich auf der Arbeit durch, muss sein Ansehen verbessern und erkundet die Stadt, in der an sieben Tagen der Woche und rund um Uhr Spannung herrscht.

Features

Der Spieler begleitet seine Urbz zum Arbeitsplatz und muss dort versuchen, den Ansprüchen seines Chefs gerecht zu werden. Macht der Spieler seine Sache gut, wird er befördert und kann Kontakte zu einflussreichen Sims knüpfen. Dies hilft ihm wiederum dabei, andere Urbz zu beeinflussen. In The URBZ gibt es aufregende Herausforderungen im Job, viele neue Möglichkeiten zum Aufbau der eigenen Fähigkeiten und der Interaktion mit einflussreichen Urbz.

Mit einer neuen Grafik-Engine wird eine lebendige Stadt mit verschiedenen Bezirken geschaffen. Der Spieler taucht in eine actionreiche Innenstadt mit noblen Einkaufsmeilen, Künstlerbezirken und einer lebhaften U-Bahn-Station ein. Die neue Engine macht es dem Spieler möglich, die Urbz ganz nach seinen Wünschen und Vorstellungen zu gestalten und ihnen mit Details wie Tattoos oder Nasenringen den letzten Schliff zu verleihen.

Der Spieler muss versuchen, Beziehungen aufzubauen, um seinen Ruf zu verbessern und andere Urbz zu beeinflussen. Nur, wenn er dies schafft, hat er Zugang zu allen Stadtbezirken, Jobs und Lifestyles.

Source:

www.electronic-arts.de - GameCube/Xbox (German)

The Sims have moved to the City, and they need you to work on their reputation.

The Sims is one of the most popular games ever conceived, and has one of the broadest fan bases of any videogame. Expect that fan base to grow and grow as the Urbz moves the Sims into the City, where life moves fast and your Urbz' reputation is everything.

Urbz are bolder and boast more attitude than their Sims predecessors, and you can propel them to success in a variety of new careers. Allow their success to shape their look, visiting the City's hotspots and earning new skills and items for their glamorous pad.

Your goal is to take your Urbz to the very pinnacle of urban living, with access to the most exciting places and people. Your path to success is dictated by the choices you make, from where to live and work to your Urbz' look - which you have more control over than ever.

Amazing new graphics and audio make the City a buzzing, non-stop place to live, and with exclusive mixes from the Black Eyed Peas, it's on the cutting edge of the music industry too.

You can even add to the glamour in the ultimate way by putting your face in the game with your EyeToy! Once you've progressed sufficiently, you'll see your face up in lights on the billboards and ads around the city. Experience the thrill of fame and success with the Urbz!

• The Sims move to the City to become successful Urbz
• Build your Urbz' reputation and live the high life
• Shape the look of your Urbz with more control than ever!
• Features exclusive mixes of new tunes from the Black Eyed Peas
• Put your face in the game using your EyeToy

Source:

uk.playstation.com

The Sims hit the City where action is 24/7 and reputation means everything. Known as Urbz, they have bold new looks and plenty of attitude. Success at work brings promotions, access to new power socials, and gear to influence your new lifestyle. Flaunt your attitude by styling your Urbz using the detailed new character engine, then cross the velvet ropes of an uptown night club or explore the subway to earn new skills and items for your high-rise crib. It's up to you whether your Urbz become big-time players on the street or are lost in the crowd. It's all about reputation as your Urbz live out their dreams in a city that never sleeps.

Source:

www.xbox.com