by:	November 10, 2005

The Sims has been around for quite awhile—unless you have been living under a rock it is a game that lets you basically simulate life as it is. The Sims 2 finally comes to the Xbox, and if for some reason you didn’t buy the computer version of the game, you can now get it on the system, but a few things about the game just don’t add up. I don’t know if it is me or what but I had a hard time finding the fun in the game. In the game you have a lot of new stuff you can do, allowing you to create families, a lot more building options, and somewhat better artificial intelligence.

There is a story mode in the game, which isn’t really story mode, as much as it is you build a family. Basically you have to choose a life goal such as becoming a teacher, or a doctor, or student, or finding romance. Each one of these goals, you have wants and fears, with the wants being side goals, and fears basically being things you should avoid or it will slow you down. If you fulfill a lot of goals at once you get a gold or platinum mode, which means you have filled a good amount of goals. The only bad thing about all of this is your environment is more or less, unresponsive. So to keep your mind off of the bad AI, you will end up buying a lot of stuff, and trying to form your life into a considerable well off living. Still most of the story mode is constantly unlocking and collecting stuff. It can get tiresome at times, but if you’re that kind of person, you will find great joy in it. The interface in the game is done proficiently, but sometimes and can still get cluttered with messages, and the talk of the Sims characters in the game. The game is still basically a virtual pet, as you need to feed their needs of food, sleep, going to the bathroom, and so on. You repeat a lot of this over and over again, and for some reason when you go to work, you don’t get to play that part. The game controls good for the most part, allowing you to manually move your Sim or click in an area for them to move. Moving items around with an analog stick can be a bit cumbersome but it works for the most part.

There is also the addition of split-screen multiplayer. This feature is a sort of added bonus to tack on some more replay, but it still works well enough that you and a friend or family member might give it a few goes. You can go around in open-ended environments together, yet you can’t really do much from a goal point of view.

Visually the game is what you would expect—it is a Sims game after all. The areas and characters are brightly colored, they move a lot smoother, and have more animations than in the past Sims games on Xbox, overall it looks just as good as the PC version, but that isn’t saying a lot as the PC version has very low requirements and is made to be a mass-market title. Still it gets the job done. The sound in the game is as loveable as ever, with the Sims gibberish sounding pretty neat, like their own little Sim language. The soundtrack for the game is of a good variety as well.

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Sims 2 is an all right game if you like going around collecting items, and going through goal-oriented gameplay. It is presented well, but it has some gameplay, and computer intelligence issues that might hinder your experience. If you already have the game for PC then doesn’t worry about buying this one, otherwise rent before you buy.

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