A repost of the review I wrote for the original Sims game, back in 2007.
The Sims is a life simulation game, essentially. More than anything, it's like virtual dolls and doll houses.
You create your family of Sims, choosing their clothes, faces and personalities. This early version has nothing like as many options as the later ones, but there are still several to choose from.
The personality system is simple; you assign a certain number of points to a number of categories, changing how active, social, clean, or whatever else your Sim is. Your Sim can be an adult or a child. Unfortunately, this state will not change, an oversight that was corrected in The Sims 2.
Once you've created your Sim or Sim family (up to eight Sims), you can move them into a house. There are various lots to choose from, and the game provides a few ready-made houses, some already furnished. Your family starts with around 20,000 simoleans. With this money, you can either buy a ready-made home and add items to it, or create something from scratch. You can move walls, redecorate, and add or sell furniture. Most people, however, find it much easier to live in a ready-made, or overly simple house for a while, until they have enough money to build the mansion of their dreams. Bills appear every three days, and are loosely based on the net value of your home.
Sims moods are based on several factors, which are shown in an easy to understand format. The factors include hunger, hygiene, fun, which is based on how bored or overworked they are, and tiredness. Each of these can be combated through the use of items – for instance, playing basketball or watching TV will raise the fun stat, while sleeping will make sure they're not overtired. You can either give your Sims a list of orders, or leave them to their own devices, which is really not advisable. If Sims are not cheerful, they refuse to study, and can be demoted at work if they are continually in a bad mood.
As for earning money, this involves a simple job system. Sims can get a job from the daily paper or by using a computer. Each job has set hours and wages. When it's time for work, a bus will come to take your Sim, and will return when they finish work. If they meet the requirements, they may also be promoted. Each career path has ten levels. Children attend school each day. If their grades are high, they sometimes receive 100 simoleans on their return to the family home. If their grades reach F and stay there, they are sent away to military school and are never seen again.
Going back to careers, the requirements for promotion usually involve a certain amount of family friends, and certain skill points, as well as having your Sim in a good mood when they go to work. Sims can earn skill points in various categories, including logic, and cooking. They can earn skills points by, for instance, playing chess, or studying cooking using a book from a bookcase. Most of these skill points are only used for jobs, but, for instance, learning how to cook means that your Sim is less likely to set the oven on fire. There are ten skill points available for each category, and each one is slightly harder to get than the last.
The Sims uses a basic relationship system. Depending on how your Sim interacts with other Sims, their relationship level rises or falls, to either +100 or –100. Positive interactions, such as talking, raise the relationship level, while negative ones, such as fighting lower it. The default is 0, and if your Sim does not contact the Sim in question, their relationship will slowly return to that level at the rate of 2 points a day. The relationship level is unique to each Sim – for instance, it's possible to love a Sim who hates you – although more often than not, each Sim's bar will rise by the same amount as the Sim they talk to. Some positive reactions, such as kissing, become negative reactions if the Sim in question rejects the action. Once the relationship level reaches 50, on both sides, the Sims are classed as Friends. Family Friends, which are needed for jobs, are the friends of any members of your family. Some promotions require a certain amount. Friendship can turn to romance, depending on the actions taken, but it is possible to reach +100, on both sides, without falling in love.
If your Sims do fall in love, however, and they live in separate houses, they can be married. The Sim proposed to will move into the family home, and if they are the last Sim living in their own home, they will also bring the cash equivalent of all their assets. They can then be murdered, if that takes your fancy.
Sims are born when two Sims who love each other very much agree to have children. Sometimes they'll be kissing, and a message will appear saying, "Shall we have a baby?" If you choose 'yes' a little bundle of joy will appear, near to where your Sims are standing. It will need constant care for three days, before it becomes a child. Sims can also adopt children, which will be heralded from a phone call from the adoption agency. Sims can be homosexual, and adopt children – it's a non-issue within the game.
Sims can also die, in a variety of interesting ways. They can starve, die in a fire, or drown, although that won't happen accidentally. One rather fun, but very sadistic thing that everyone does at some point is to create a Sim purely to be tortured. Mostly though, with care, your Sims can carry on forever.
There's nothing special to be said of the graphics. They're pretty good quality; your Sims will never be mistaken for live-action rather than pixels, but they're clean and realistic enough.
Loading times can sometimes be a pain, especially considering how addictive the game is. Playing it for seven hours straight is not good for your computer.
As pretty much every goal is player orientated, rather than decided by the game, the game will last just as long as you want it to. It's addictive, and compelling – my sister and I would fight over the computer – and is the grown up version of playing with Barbie dolls. The game does tend to be enjoyed more by females, although don't let that stop you.
In summary, The Sims is a fun addictive game, even in this early format. It's just as compelling as reality TV (before it was overdone so completely), only with an added control and involvement factor, which improves it immensely.
Warning: The following contains major spoilers.
The Sims is a life simulation game, essentially. More than anything, it's like virtual dolls and doll houses.
You create your family of Sims, choosing their clothes, faces and personalities. This early version has nothing like as many options as the later ones, but there are still several to choose from.
The personality system is simple; you assign a certain number of points to a number of categories, changing how active, social, clean, or whatever else your Sim is. Your Sim can be an adult or a child. Unfortunately, this state will not change, an oversight that was corrected in The Sims 2.
Once you've created your Sim or Sim family (up to eight Sims), you can move them into a house. There are various lots to choose from, and the game provides a few ready-made houses, some already furnished. Your family starts with around 20,000 simoleans. With this money, you can either buy a ready-made home and add items to it, or create something from scratch. You can move walls, redecorate, and add or sell furniture. Most people, however, find it much easier to live in a ready-made, or overly simple house for a while, until they have enough money to build the mansion of their dreams. Bills appear every three days, and are loosely based on the net value of your home.
Sims moods are based on several factors, which are shown in an easy to understand format. The factors include hunger, hygiene, fun, which is based on how bored or overworked they are, and tiredness. Each of these can be combated through the use of items – for instance, playing basketball or watching TV will raise the fun stat, while sleeping will make sure they're not overtired. You can either give your Sims a list of orders, or leave them to their own devices, which is really not advisable. If Sims are not cheerful, they refuse to study, and can be demoted at work if they are continually in a bad mood.
As for earning money, this involves a simple job system. Sims can get a job from the daily paper or by using a computer. Each job has set hours and wages. When it's time for work, a bus will come to take your Sim, and will return when they finish work. If they meet the requirements, they may also be promoted. Each career path has ten levels. Children attend school each day. If their grades are high, they sometimes receive 100 simoleans on their return to the family home. If their grades reach F and stay there, they are sent away to military school and are never seen again.
Going back to careers, the requirements for promotion usually involve a certain amount of family friends, and certain skill points, as well as having your Sim in a good mood when they go to work. Sims can earn skill points in various categories, including logic, and cooking. They can earn skills points by, for instance, playing chess, or studying cooking using a book from a bookcase. Most of these skill points are only used for jobs, but, for instance, learning how to cook means that your Sim is less likely to set the oven on fire. There are ten skill points available for each category, and each one is slightly harder to get than the last.
The Sims uses a basic relationship system. Depending on how your Sim interacts with other Sims, their relationship level rises or falls, to either +100 or –100. Positive interactions, such as talking, raise the relationship level, while negative ones, such as fighting lower it. The default is 0, and if your Sim does not contact the Sim in question, their relationship will slowly return to that level at the rate of 2 points a day. The relationship level is unique to each Sim – for instance, it's possible to love a Sim who hates you – although more often than not, each Sim's bar will rise by the same amount as the Sim they talk to. Some positive reactions, such as kissing, become negative reactions if the Sim in question rejects the action. Once the relationship level reaches 50, on both sides, the Sims are classed as Friends. Family Friends, which are needed for jobs, are the friends of any members of your family. Some promotions require a certain amount. Friendship can turn to romance, depending on the actions taken, but it is possible to reach +100, on both sides, without falling in love.
If your Sims do fall in love, however, and they live in separate houses, they can be married. The Sim proposed to will move into the family home, and if they are the last Sim living in their own home, they will also bring the cash equivalent of all their assets. They can then be murdered, if that takes your fancy.
Sims are born when two Sims who love each other very much agree to have children. Sometimes they'll be kissing, and a message will appear saying, "Shall we have a baby?" If you choose 'yes' a little bundle of joy will appear, near to where your Sims are standing. It will need constant care for three days, before it becomes a child. Sims can also adopt children, which will be heralded from a phone call from the adoption agency. Sims can be homosexual, and adopt children – it's a non-issue within the game.
Sims can also die, in a variety of interesting ways. They can starve, die in a fire, or drown, although that won't happen accidentally. One rather fun, but very sadistic thing that everyone does at some point is to create a Sim purely to be tortured. Mostly though, with care, your Sims can carry on forever.
There's nothing special to be said of the graphics. They're pretty good quality; your Sims will never be mistaken for live-action rather than pixels, but they're clean and realistic enough.
Loading times can sometimes be a pain, especially considering how addictive the game is. Playing it for seven hours straight is not good for your computer.
As pretty much every goal is player orientated, rather than decided by the game, the game will last just as long as you want it to. It's addictive, and compelling – my sister and I would fight over the computer – and is the grown up version of playing with Barbie dolls. The game does tend to be enjoyed more by females, although don't let that stop you.
In summary, The Sims is a fun addictive game, even in this early format. It's just as compelling as reality TV (before it was overdone so completely), only with an added control and involvement factor, which improves it immensely.
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