E3 '07: MySims DS Hands-On

July 16, 2007 12:56PM PDT

With a resort town in trouble, the Sims come to the Nintendo handheld for some urban renewal.

Though similar in concept to its counterpart on the Nintendo Wii, MySims for the Nintendo DS has a feel all its own thanks to the console's dual-screen presentation, stylus and touch-screen interface, and an urban-renewal focus that has more to do with redecoration than from-the-ground-up creation. We had a chance to see and play the DS version of MySims at EA's hotel space at E3 2007.

As in the Wii version of the game, you're still tasked with reinvigorating a run-down town full of NPC Sims who you will interact with and get tasks from. In MySims for the DS, however, you'll be living in a resort town, and the goal is to bring both new shop owners and plenty of money-spending tourists into town in order to progress in the game. Each area of town has at least one citizen that can perform special abilities, such as a tailor you can visit in order to customize your Sim's clothing.

MySims will feature 10 minigames you can compete in to earn cash for new items for your homebase. We saw a couple of these on hand during the demo, including paragliding (which we wrote about in our last look at the game), as well as racquetball, which challenged you to hit a ball against a wall painted with a target. In order to pass the challenge, you had to hit the middle of the target. Still another minigame--scuba diving--tasked us with swimming along the ocean floor and snapping pictures of fish as we swam by. The better the picture, the more cash we earned for them. Though each of the minigames will require a small entry fee, if you manage to beat the goal, you'll earn more cash than you paid to get in. You can even head to a casino to trade your cash for chips, wager to increase your payout, and then trade in those chips for more items.

You can then take the money you earn from the minigames and purchase items for your home. Unlike in the Wii game, you will not be creating your house from scratch, but you will have many items that you can buy for the interior. In one example home, we saw furniture and accessories such as radios, televisions, dressers, and chairs, with many more to earn as you go. In addition, the various houses you collect will grow as you progress through the game, from a little shack early on, to a huge mansion near the end of the game.

As Sims move into town, they'll give you tasks to complete; once you do so, you'll earn new rewards to keep building on your success. One mission might require you to bring wildlife back into the resort, and you'll be charged with the care of the various animals that make their way into the town. The more tourists that move in, the more stars your budding resort town will earn, and then more items will be available to buy.

By the look of it, MySims for the DS definitely wears its Animal Crossing DS influences on its sleeve. Still, for those looking for a kid-friendly alternative to the sometimes complex world of the PC Sims games, MySims DS seems like it's heading in the right direction. The game is due for release this fall.

By Brian Ekberg