The Sims

The Good
First of all, The Sims gives "true control freaks" the opportunity to flex those 'need to dominate' muscles.

Second, The Sims is a universal game that people anywhere can relate to as you are in control of the environment. If you so desire to have a world ruled by delusional children or dysfunctional celebrity impersonators, so you shall. If you so desire to manifest a Utopian kingdom of faeries or an intergalactic space realm, so you shall. If you so desire to create a planet that embraces alternative (i.e., nontraditional) lifestyles or promotes the sloth way of living, so you shall. The Sim world is what you make it.

Third, you can live your life vicariously through your Sims. (Sinister SIMtastic images fill my mind at the thought.) Want to be an international beauty queen or a Doctor-of-Death? Do it. Want to live in a disgustingly purple house surrounded by beautiful alien women or drunk Kirk-like men? Do it. Want to own a limosine? Do that too! Sim users are only limited by the span of the imagination!

Fourth, the game gives the user the ability to be an architect-of-sorts (which is my absolute favorite part). We are talking CREATION and DESIGN from the ground up! Take me for instance...I finally completed my first TRULY original Japanese-styled Simhouse and intend to share it with the Sim World.

Fifth, The Sims is designed in a way that allows the user to manipulate objects in the environment. You can either create new objects to share on-line with others or simply modify old objects. Build houses, design objects, create skins, etc. GET THIS...Tools are actually available on-line FOR FREE, WITH instructions! (Yippee!!) The possibilities are endless.

Sixth, the game has educational value (believe it or not) in that it can teach the young ones (and the rest of us computer heads) a little about responsibility and a few social constructs of how relationships work. For example, Sims must maintain friendships or relationships by constant communication with other Sims. Otherwise complacency can bring a Sim relationship to an abrupt end.

NOTE: Adults should monitor the young playing The Sims for if they have an intrinsically violent nature, this too can be reinforced in the game. Remember, it is indeed what you make it.

Finally, there are literally hundreds of good THE SIMS sites on the web to download houses, skins, objects (including art and decorations), etc.

I could go on about the creative genius behind this seemingly SIMple game, but I want you to experience it for yourself! (...To put a few minds at ease, I do not work for MAXIS or EA.)

The Bad
I guess there must always be a downside to everything...

There are too many people who complain about every little creation or addition to the game without giving much thought to such terminology or phrasings as "upgrades" OR "patches" OR "looking at the positive side of things for a change."

As for the game itself, The Sims can be addictive. Seriously so! You may notice you no longer have friends or that your significant other cannot relate to the Sim sounds you have picked up from the game. You may also find that your boss is not amused to discover you called-in sick because you could not tear yourself away from the computer. Oh yeah...sleep is really a necessity and not just another 5 letter word. BUYER BEWARE! :)

In addition to the addictive aspects of The Sims, one would think with the popularity of the game, it could be a bit cheaper. COME ON MAXIS/EA!

Last (and FINALLY LEAST), there are limits to how realistic certain concepts are in the game. For instance, time is truly an illusion in Simsville; There are not enough objects to support multicultural households (very American oriented); A few of the tools released by Maxis are not completely user friendly for some and it would be nice to have a Sims Tool that allows modification of all file extensions used by the game instead of having a variety of tools for every file type - AAGGHHH!

The Bottom Line
I think the game is worth owning, if only to say I have had THE SIMS experience.

The Good
The Sims is a very diferent kind of game that does not fall into any one category. The main premise is to control your customized Sim through life; You start with $20,000 to build your house and find a job. The meat of the game is when you control your Sim through everyday life; finding friends, relationships, getting a job, etc. The strange part is that there is something addictive about living everyday life; heck, you could build your own real house and live out your real life...in this game. It is also one of the funniest games ever; an example is when my Sim fell in love with someone, and she was married to a guy named Mortimer. The next day, I pranked the police and then Mortimer came by, so I figured I'd let my Sim beat up on him for some revenge. (My Sim was so depressed I couldn't get him to find a job or do anything almost). I chose the attack command to attack him, but then the Police officer came by and my Sim pi$sed his pants because his bladder was low and I got arrested! There is a limitless supply of things you can do in The Sims; you can even hold parties. The bad part is that you can't go over to other people's houses; the whole time you stay where you live, but this does not detract much from the game. Go buy The Sims now, it's a great game.

The Bad
Sometimes it can get boring if you keep repeating what you did the previous day, and so on.

The Bottom Line
A simulation where you make a person (Sim) and take them trough everday life and can even make a family.

The Good
The game is very promising. It has a great idea, a "people simulation" is one of the best simulation ideas ever.

The Bad
However, making a "people simulation" is a great challenge. A "person" is much more complicated than something that walks around doing "some stuff" to get by. They made the game really really restricted, to a bunch of activities and a couple of houses where you can't even leave the tiny neighborhood, so that they could publish numerous expansion packs to collect more money for the big fat zero their game offers. And what really pissed me off is the stupid time concept which leaves you without enough time for ANYTHING in the game. You get up, and that's 15-20 minutes even though you KNOW you have to go to work in half an hour. Every meal is about 30-60 minutes. Walking from a room to another is at least 5 minutes. So, basically, if you want to have a breakfast and go to work at 9 a.m., you have to get up at 5 a.m. so you can make it.

The Bottom Line
This is not a game, but a toy. People you control are not interesting at all and get boring really easy. Especially because they're too stupid to be human. So, you don't do anything, you just play around. If you're interested in watching someone miserably trying to live, then you might have fun, like many people worldwide who made this stupid game the best-selling computer game in history, breaking the record of a legendary game like Myst...