Something completely different.

User Rating: 8.9 | The Sims (DVD) PC
Every so often a game will come along that is totally new. The Sims is in this category. Unlike the majority of games which are, lets be honest here, rehashes of games that have come before them, The Sims was at its time of release unique and revolutionary.

Going one step further from the Sim City games, The Sims allows you to control the lives of your own virtual families. It's a damn addictive game that is inventive, funny, and is based around a premise completely different from anything that has come before.

Now if a sequel hadn't been released I would find it very difficult to come up with criticisms, as The Sims 2 takes everything one step further and is practically unbeatable. Maxis will struggle to make the same size step forward to a Sims 3, if it were ever to happen.

In terms of gameplay this is a fantastic game. Your Sims have certain needs that will keep them happy, and it is up to you to maintain these needs so that your Sims will be successful socially and job-wise. It is important for Sims to have a career as this is the only consistent way of gaining money to buy new and better stuff. The top-of-the-range products are often funny, genuinely helpful, and will make maintenance of your Sims easier.

The graphics are not stunning but it is a colourful and attractive looking game. The camera panning and angle adjustments tend to be slightly unresponsive, though there are no other significant glitches in the game, and I have never had it crash on me.

Aside from guiding your Sims to through happy lives this game can also bring out your vindictive side, where you may subject your Sims to a lifetime of misery, toilet embarrassments, social failure, and ultimately premature death. This method of playing the game is not recommended though as it will soon become boring. It is much more fun to actually work hard to make your Sims succeed, thus allowing you to spend time building them luxurious mansions furnished with the best products.

The sound is really good, and really enhances the fun feel of this game. The Sims themselves speak in a nonsensical language, though it is possible to see what they are talking about from the images in the speech bubbles. The background music through the loading screens is effectively elevator music, though it is upbeat and cheerful enough that it shouldn't become irritating. Indeed this style of music has become synonymous with Sims games.

Sim couples can have children, either through adoption or more natural means. These children will never grow up and will exist forever going to school and playing with toys. Short of seeing your virtual creations experiencing the miracle of childbirth there is ultimately no point to the children. It is good when they are babies though as this is when the game is most challenging. The babies require frequent attention in a variety of forms from their parents for three successive days. This is hard work as the babies will begin their insidious wailing usually while your Sims are busy looking after themselves, thus leading to grouchy babies and grouchy, unresponsive Sims who are desperate to eat, sleep, and use the toilet simultaneously but have to feed their little bundle of joy instead. The danger is that if baby is left unattended for too long a social worker comes and takes the baby away, so it is necessary to give them priority over the needs of your adult Sims.

Apart from growing from baby to child, your Sims will never age, which is a major flaw in the gameplay. It means that there is nothing to work towards. This issue is resolved in the phenomenal sequel though. Indeed, now that the sequel has been released the original Sims game becomes a little redundant, as all of the little gameplay problems have been addressed in The Sims 2, and it generally is a much more complete, intelligent and rewarding game. This is no discredit to the original at all. I can therefore only really recommend this game to people new to the franchise completely, as if you are familiar with The Sims 2, you will probably find it too much of a step backwards to then play The Sims. This was the original though, and it is a groundbreaking game. It is one of the rare games that does something completely different from anything else, and is seriously addictive. It is possible for the lives of your virtual people to become more important than your own almost! I have certainly lost many, many hours of my life to this game.