The Sims

The Good
It's SO addictive. You'll eat Sims, you'll sleep Sims. No matter where you go, you'll always be thinking of them. You guide your Sims through life. You plan your own soap operas. You screw up family lives. You can put people in a box house with no windows. You can not feed them and watch them sleep on the floor. You can plant toilets outside their house and laugh as their neighbor walks by in dismay. You get them family friends. You advance them in their jobs. You buy them stuff. There's new stuff to download. All that equals fun gameplay and addictiveness.

The Bad
You can't visit other people's houses. Where's the item editor they promised? Where's the career track editor they promised? Why can't you go anywhere other than your own damned house? Sure, you can help your Sims advance in their careers, but they need family friends. Where do you get family friends? You make them, of course! Which means you must take control of another family. This brings to light the main deficiency that the Sims has. Sims are not self-sufficient. It's not cool that you don't have the option to leave your family friends alone to fend for themselves if you want to. You have to do everything for them. Relationships are also too easy. I can get married after the first date. Where's the reality in that?

The Bottom Line
If you knew nothing about this game before it came out, buy it. You'll LOVE it. If you did, prepare to be thoroughly disappointed, but prepare to have lots of fun.

The Good
This game was fun, not to mention a great challenge. In fact, I have quite a new appreciation for the non-avid-gamers who have taken to The Sim's making it seem 'uncool' for the quality gamers out there. I had a hard time trying to get those arrogant little people to do their job and enjoy their house!!

Yet, overall I had a barrel of laughs a minute with this fun and creative game. The bare bones let me create a family and buy them a house. Then I got to decorate it, make sure everyone went to school and work, and with all the cool add-ons the Sim world just expanded and expanded!

The Bad
Leo's are hard to control. It makes me scared of my partner - he's a leo... I guess I wasn't too impressed with the whole star-sign side of the game. There was a lot relying on that with the social interaction, and how the sim felt about the house. For those not interested in that whole fairy-fairy aspect of the world, it's a bit of a pain in the arse that you have to take it seriously.

I also got a bit annoyed at my sim when they refused to get a job because they were depressed, yet were depressed because they had no job to earn money to buy their luxuries. I wished for a Dungeon Keeper add-on so I could slap my sim around!

The Bottom Line
This is not the stereotyped girls-only game, as we think of it in the gaming community. It was quite a challenge! It's like SimCity with people, not a game for people 'who need to get out of reality because they can't even control their own lives'...

I also found it very useful if redecorating your house. You can build a replica of your house and then use the editor to import the colours you were choosing. Very useful!

Oh, yeah.. get a virgo, I'm a virgo, easy to keep happy they are... ;)

The Good
I like the game, heck, I love the game. It's a lot of fun if you want to kill four hours and then look back sadly, wondering where they went. On the other hand, the gameplay is fun and often funny. Good graphics, good music. I never considered myself much of an interior decorator, but I have to admit, building houses is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the entire game.

The Bad
There was, however, a lack of substance within the game. I didn't really see much of a reason to have a personality modifier when you were creating new Sims. The only way they really factored into the character is how much your Sims clean up after themselves, and how often they took showers. I would have definitely loved to see more diverse personality options. I always tried to make "tough guy" Sims, like a Mafia Family, but I could never get my Sims to cooperate with that idea. I don't think John Gotti would wave to people he didn't know and answer the door for every Joe Schmoe who comes a'knockin'. In any case, the only other complaint that I have is in all of the expansions coming out now. For a newbie Simmer, the choices at the store can be quite intimidating. You have the original Sims, House Party, Livin' Large, Hot Date, Unleashed, Vacation, Superstar, Makin' Magic, and the soon-to-be-released Bustin' Out...I mean, come on! I love the Sims as much as any gamer, but I have to say, someone is going to be putting a pretty penny into trying to collect all of these and try to stay on top of Sims releases.

The Bottom Line
A good game for those of you who have way too much free time (like myself). It's fun, it will give you a chuckle at times, and all and all will add up to a relatively entertaining gaming experience. A word of advice though; Don't blow all of your money buying every Sim expansion out there right now. If you're like me and most others, you have bills to pay and something more worthwhile to spend your paychecks on. If you've got about three-thousand dollars to spare, however, I'd say GO FOR IT!