Reporter A.S. Berman of USAToday.com states " ... The Sims, not content merely to be a triumph of gaming artistry, also reveals life to be what it is: a glorified pursuit of food and love, punctuated by frequent trips to the loo."
Sims Nieuws
11 feb 2000 - 22:10
11 feb 2000 - 22:00
Gamecenter.com said " ... just as in the real world, there isn't enough time in the day to complete everything that needs to be done, so you must be extremely frugal with how your Sims spend their free time."
The Sims
CNET Gamecenter Review
By William Harms
(2/10/2000)
The good: Very addictive; the open nature of the game ensures endless playability.
The bad: Reminds you how mundane your life really is; only one neighborhood; can't explore beyond the limits of your property.
The bottom line: This game rocks, end of story.
Multiplayer: N/A
Single player: Excellent
ESRB rating: T (Teen)
Taking its cue from Seinfeld, The Sims is a game about nothing. Oh sure, a lot happens during the course of the game--love is won and lost, houses catch fire, and there is much tomfoolery in the hot tub--but everything that occurs is tinged with the same sense of the absurd that made Seinfeld such a great show. And this absurdness is what makes The Sims tragic, funny, mundane, and one of the most entertaining games I've seen in a long, long time.
Taking Control of the Little People
The latest installment in Maxis's phenomenally popular SimCity series, The Sims, moves the action from city management to people management. You can play the game with either predefined Sims or Sims that you create. If you choose the latter, you decide how they look and what their personalities are (neat, outgoing, friendly, and so on). This determines how easily they'll make friends, whether or not their house is a pigsty, and how fast they'll move up the career ladder.
Once you've created your virtual guinea pigs, you need to get them a place to live. Each Sim "family" (the Sims in one household) is given $20,000, which is used toward the purchase of a house and a few belongings. Naturally, money is pretty scarce, so after you get a roof over your Sims' heads, you need to be pretty tight with your funds and forego the plasma television in favor of a cheaper black-and-white unit. Everything in the house affects the Sims' behavior and happiness in some way, so in the early going your little virtual people are probably miserable.
The real genius behind The Sims is its ability to mirror the real world, while still offering a compelling gameplay experience. To succeed, you must balance a number of factors, such as eating, sleeping, and learning career-building skills, all while making sure you get your Sims out of bed in the morning so they can go to work. And just as in the real world, there isn't enough time in the day to complete everything that needs to be done, so you must be extremely frugal with how your Sims spend their free time.
It's hard to explain in a few words how the game plays, because it sounds extremely simple but actually is exceptionally complex. One day you're cultivating friendships; the next you're recovering from a thief who has stolen all your electronics; still another day, you're trying to improve the mood of your Sims so they will go to work. And although there are some limitations built into the game--your Sims can't become serial killers, for example--you can do pretty much anything.
Building a Life
As with the SimCity games, the interface powering The Sims is a thing of beauty. Accessing the Build and Buy screens is extremely easy, and making the Sims interact with each other and their environment involves nothing more than a couple clicks of the mouse. All the items available for purchase are laid out by room or item type; just click an item to see what it is and how it will affect your Sims' lives.
On the surface, The Sims' graphics don't look as though they are hardware intensive, but don't be fooled--if you want to run this game at its highest resolution, you need a hog of a system. Even at 800-by-600-pixel resolution, scrolling across the screen can be slow and painful, which makes trying to manage multiple Sims frustrating. Still, the graphics are crisp and clear, and bring everything to life. The Sims themselves show off a wide range of animation, making it easy to identify their various moods and when they need something.
The Sims is one of those rare games in which the sound effects actually outshine the graphics. Every action has a corresponding sound, whether it be the whacking of a knife against a cutting board, or the blaring of music from the stereo. The dialogue, which is made up of gibberish, is humorous, especially when your Sims are miserable and trying to get your attention.
Shiny, Happy Sim People
A few annoyances rear up from time to time, which detract a little from the game's charms. Your Sims don't always do what they're told, even when they're completely happy, and they can't perform multiple tasks, such as use the microwave and answer the phone at the same time. Additionally, there is only one neighborhood, and if you want to make more friends, you have to exit out to the neighborhood screen and introduce new people. It would also be nice if your Sims could walk over to a neighbor's house.
As with the SimCity games, The Sims is totally open-ended. Unless you do something truly horrible to your virtual characters--such as place them in a room without a door and starve them to death, or kill them in a house fire--they'll live forever. And because anything can happen and disaster can strike at any time (just as in the real world), the game offers tremendous replayability.
Adding to the game's replayability is the support offered by The Sims' Web site, where you can go to download new families and houses to incorporate into your neighborhood. Editors for faces and for wallpaper and flooring are also available online.
The Sims is a pretty bold experiment--after all, how do you get gamers to buy a game that reminds them of the mediocrity and triviality of their own lives? The experiment pays off because The Sims truly has something for all gamers, whether they want to create an artificial and shallow megastar, or cultivate the biggest slob the world has ever seen. This is one game that people will be talking about for a long time to come.
10 feb 2000 - 22:20
GamePro.com gave The Sims a 5 out of 5, stating " ... The game is so unique, so simple to understand, so easy to play and utterly enjoyable. It's destined to be a massive hit."
The Sims
by Jason Samuel
Finally The Sims has been released. Questioning whether you should spend the money and get the game everyone is talking about? Ponder no more, we've played enough of The Sims to give you the scoop.
I finally got to sit down and play The Sims a few weeks ago and it has made me a true believer. The uniqueness of the game, the sound, graphics and the ability to control a little Sim life hooked me almost immediately. I found myself playing The Sims to the exclusion of any other game. I knew I had a Sims addiction when I told my girlfriend that my "hunger" need was low and that she should serve dinner.
Without a doubt The Sims is something unique. Even if you look at it as a sophisticated resource management simulator, it's the most original version of that model ever created. Not only original but also ingenious because of the simplicity behind it's concept. The resource players manage isn't gold pieces or Tiberium, the biggest resource is something we deal with everyday, time.
Time is the biggest challenge in controlling a Sim, there is just never enough of it to get things done. You'll want your Sims to make friends so they increase their relationship rating, but that means they have to call a friend and then spend time interacting, and that is time that could be spent studying for a job promotion, not to mention going to the bathroom, taking showers, eating, working and sleeping -- it's enough to wear a Sim out.
The learning process for the player is figuring out which activities can satisfy a need with minimal amount of time or satisfies two needs at the same time. And let's not forget money because that is one way to meet the time challenge. More expensive items usually satisfy needs faster, which gives you more time to engage Sims in other activities.
While graphics are a key component of the game, the sound often overshadows it. The Sims speak in this gibberish language that is extremely catchy. Some sounds instantly stick in your mind, like the jingles from TV commercials. I found myself at work singing along with a fake commercial in a language no one understands.
That's not to say the game doesn't have problems. The biggest of which is pathfinding, sometimes a Sim will waste valuable minutes trying to get past another Sim because the pathfinding code gets bogged down. Annoying when time is critical but otherwise not that bad. I would have liked more prefabricated houses because I didn't especially like building new ones, but I know some folks will really enjoy that part and new ones are going to be downloadable from The Sims website.
The overall fun of the game takes care of any of the bugs. The game is so unique, so simple to understand, so easy to play and utterly enjoyable it's destined to be a massive hit. Who hasn't wanted to be an astronaut or superstar, own a mansion, have a maid and live the life of luxury? Well if you haven't, you could always chose the life of crime path, live in your own filth and get into fights with the neighbors. In The Sims, you'll be able to live the life you chose.
For a lot of great tips on how to play The Sims, check out our ProTip Guide, with tips from Jason Samuel, Dan Amrich of GamePro and the Maxis development team, including Will Wright himself.
10 feb 2000 - 22:10
This week we have Five New Skins and Four New Wall Lights -- all created by your friendly Maxis Artists.
10 feb 2000 - 22:10
This week we have Five New Skins and Four New Wall Lights -- all created by your friendly Maxis Artists.
10 feb 2000 - 22:00
Our new contest is up and running! The theme: Valentine's Day. Your mission: Create a romantic couple, by February 15.
8 feb 2000 - 22:00
Bored at work or home? Try listening to TechtalkRadio's coverage of The Sims.
7 feb 2000 - 22:00
The Sims in the San Francisco Chronicle ... "The Sims lets control freaks run characters' everyday lives."
Playing Virtual God
The Sims lets control freaks run characters' everyday lives
Neva Chonin, Chronicle Staff Critic
You're having an affair with the handsome married guy down the block. While your husband is napping, you invite lover-boy over for a tryst. Hubby unexpectedly wakes up and joins the party. You slip away for two tiny minutes to freshen up, and when you return, Hubby and boyfriend are in each other's arms with Tchaikovsky's love theme from ``Romeo and Juliet'' blaring in accompaniment. A new daytime melodrama? No, a new video game. Correction: the most addictive video game to come along since Everquest turned thousands of Net heads into digital junkies. There are already a slew of Web sites honoring the Sims, and it only reached stores yesterday.
The Sims, a "domestic strategy" game from SimCity creator Will Wright is set to become one of the year's biggest hits, not by focusing on hyperfantasy but by simulating the vagaries of our own so-called lives. In the Sims, the player plays God over a neighborhood of jabbering little people, guiding them through their careers, setting up their families and circles of friends, instigating romances and generally making them as crazed or wholesome as he or she wishes. You can't change the world around the Sims -- the newspaper arrives every day and bills must be paid -- but you control how effectively the characters cope.
Sounds fun, sure. But sometimes playing God can bring out the worst in a player: In three games -- each individual household in the Sims neighborhood constitutes a game -- this reviewer toasted three family members in a grease fire, then evicted the surviving member and bulldozed the house; inspired a character's nervous breakdown; and had two kids taken away by child welfare authorities. Yes, responsible omnipotence takes practice. Fortu nately, in the Sims, there are many opportunities to get it right. Players can either choose existing Sims characters or create their own. Savvy gamers can even download images of their own family and friends to use as character "skins." Sims are assigned points in five categories (neat, outgoing, active, playful and nice -- 1 point for neat and you've created a slob, 10 a clean freak) to determine their personalities. The options are more varied than they sound, and in combination can create anything from an anti-social bachelor who works as a lab test subject to a family of eight ranging from schoolkids to astronauts and thieves. There are 10 career paths from which to choose. Daily life in Sims land is much like that in the real world. First characters have to deal with hassles such as bills and cleaning. Then, as they learn a few things and clamber up the career ladder, they can hire maids and gardeners to look after some of the mundane details while they devote themselves to buying more merchandise, adding onto the house (or buying a new one) and enjoying new friendships and relationships. These are all maneuvers the player decides for them, unless the "free will" toggle is used. But where's the fun in letting them make their own choices? The game has a point-and-click interface in which players click on a newspaper to find a job, click the refrigerator to grab a snack and so forth. Action is viewed from several zoomed-in perspectives.
There are a couple of technical downers. The game has 2-D, tile-based graphics that are functional but visually dull and encour age claustrophobia after 10 hours inside one household. Sadly, characters leave home only to go to work and can't go out and play. Friends come to them and are summoned by telephone. And as in the non-Sim world, nasty stuff can happen. Fires and fights break out. Thieves steal televisions. Wrong numbers wake up the household at 3 a.m. Spouses have affairs with other spouses. Kids go bad. Such is life. Some tips for a smoother game:
- Pay bills promptly, or those precious possessions will be repossessed.
- If the baby cries, feed it fast. Child welfare agencies repossess, too.
- The more material possessions Sims have, the happier they are. Blow the nest egg and buy the household a TV and a stereo. For a quick mood fix and a great way to make friends, splurge on a hot tub.
- Always flush the toilet. Plumbing clogs easily, and things get mighty ugly mighty fast.
- Be sure to provide Sims with fun things to do that complement their personalities. A quiet egghead will probably appreciate a well-stocked bookshelf more than a basketball hoop.
- There are no weekends in this game, but days off from work are fine as long as they don't happen two days in a row. A final word of caution: The power to control and shape the lives of virtual beings is a heady thing. When you find yourself inadvertently trying to click on your co-workers to make them take a bath, it's time to put aside the Sims for a while and take up something less habit-forming, like television.
This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle.
4 feb 2000 - 22:10
Reporter Anita Hamilton takes you through the lives of her Sims in Time Magazine's February 7 issue. Want to check out The Sims on Time.com?
FEBRUARY 7, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 5
BY ANITA HAMILTON
Hangin' with the Sims
A new game from the creator of SimCity lets you design--and control--your own dysfunctional family
I live alone in a shingled cottage by the shore. Every morning I get up from my feather bed, putter across my shiny parquet floors and eat breakfast in my sun-filled kitchen as I wait for the chauffeur to swoosh me off to my job--as a bookie for the local crime ring.
O.K., so it's just a fantasy. In real life I share a tiny apartment with a roommate and am lucky if I get to grab a bagel before racing to the subway each morning. But when I flick on my computer to play The Sims, the new game out this week from Maxis that lets me explore alternate identities in intricate detail, that fantasy becomes my virtual reality. Taking the genre of simulation games to the extreme, The Sims lets you play puppeteer and watch your own drama unfold. Whether it's a Norman Rockwell dream come true or a Stephen King nightmare is up to you.
Designed by Will Wright, creator of the best-selling SimCity game series (SimWorld, SimAnt, SimTower), The Sims allows me to dictate every aspect of my characters' lives: where they build their house, whom they live with, how nice they are, how often they brush their teeth. I decide when they eat, where they work and whom they love. Like elaborate humanoid Tamagotchis, the Sims' needs (like food, hygiene, comfort and fun) pop up on a little control panel on the bottom of the screen. Ignore the warning signs, and you'd better be prepared for trouble. "They're like human guinea pigs," says Wright. "It makes you realize how much of your own life is a strategy game."
Power, I learn, has its price. If I forget to have my Sims use the toilet, they'll relieve themselves on the floor, leaving unsightly puddles. If they don't learn to cook, the stove will catch fire. Forget to buy a burglar alarm, and you may wake up without a couch--or a house.
One day I created a married couple whose newborn baby gets taken away by Social Services. The parents had left their child out on the lawn and watched soaps all day while the kid wailed in vain. Another day I made a pair of bored, unemployed roommates--one a neat freak, the other a slob--and watched them get into fistfights as flies buzzed around heaps of garbage in their dingy living room.
My pride and joy, however, is my virtual Anita. From the moment I selected her sporty outfit and made her just a tad neater and friendlier than the real me, I knew we were soul mates. I spent hours fretting over the floor plan for her house, picking the blue tile for the bathroom and ecru wallpaper for the kitchen. After a high-paid but short-lived stint as a lobbyist--a job I found in the simulated morning paper one day--I could even afford to spoil myself with a swimming pool in the backyard, an oil painting on the living-room wall and a computer in the study.
But even virtual life isn't all sweetness and light. Time goes fast in The Sims, and I kept getting fired because I dawdled over breakfast and missed the carpool. Not that I minded. My gigs as lab technician and security guard paid horribly, and in these boom times I could usually find a new job the next day. I kind of miss being a military recruit, though, because I got to wear great-looking fatigues and get picked up by a jeep every morning.
Yet as much as I loved my self-indulgent life, I got lonely. I tried to find love with my studly neighbor Joe, but he was a total tease. He would flirt and kiss and eat my home-cooked meals, but I never got the gold ring. I asked him to marry me five times, and he always gave me some lame excuse: either he was too hungry to think straight or he didn't think we talked enough. Since when does a guy want to talk?
So I started making new friends. Bella, the sexy brunet next door, stopped by from time to time. But she was so sensitive. If I said one thing she didn't like, she'd storm off in a huff. Another neighbor, Sally, was cool--she worked as a bungee-jump instructor--but a couple of days ago, she came over with Joe and started kissing him right in front of me. The nerve! I never spoke to Sally again.
At least my job is going well. It takes a lot of creativity to be a good criminal, so all that quiet time painting in my study really paid off. Now I just have to work on my charisma. If I make two new friends, I'll graduate to con artist and earn $350 a day. Play my cards right, and I could become a Mob boss. I can dream, can't I?
4 feb 2000 - 22:00
Check out IGN.com's review by reporter Ryan Thompson. Ryan says he "uses his godlike authority to create a better, stronger, single male..."
First Impressions: The Sims (PC)
Brief: How does it feel to finally have a life?
After school today I picked up my copy of The Sims from EB. I was extremely excited about this title for a long time, and now I finally had it installed on my hard drive. Before starting a game I made sure to install EB's Official character pack, adding character models resembling a few familiar game personalities. The detail in The Sims is just amazing. I actually had a female Sim get angry at my male Sim for leaving the lid up on the toilet.
The following are the events that led to the fall of the Evils:
- Kane(from C&C fame)Evil and Notso Evil move into their new home, they are both single men who are roomates.
- Both find jobs, Kane finds a job as a mascot. Notso finds a job as a Mailroom worker. Movin' on up!
- Both are promoted at their jobs. They hold a party and invite the people nearby.
- Kane walks in on the wife of one of the guests in the bathroom. She gets upset and leaves the room. Notso flirts with her and makes her husband upset. Both leave.
- Kane apparently is jealous at the attention Notso is giving to the local women. Kane becomes depressed and quits going to his job. Two days later he receives a call telling him he is fired.
- Relations between Notso and Kane breakdown. A fight breaks out in the early morning hours, making Notso late for work. Kane cries, Notso yells.
- Burgler breaks into the House of the Evils, and steals pretty much everything. Both characters are depressed. Notso misses work. House is a wreck, everyone hates them.
- Ryan Thompson uses his godlike authority to create a better, stronger, single male and places him 3 blocks from The Evils. Let's hope this goes better.
So you can pretty much see taking on two Sims right from the start is probably a bad idea. I wasn't able to catch most of the events in screenshots because they are so unpredictable. I assure you, this entire story is true. We will have a full review up real soon.
-- Ryan Thompson