The Sims

God Games have taken a leap forward with the release of The Sims,
the latest game from Will Wright, creator of SimCity and its
successors. In all of them, you take control of a situation - a
city in SimCity, an island in SimIsland, the whole of creation in
SimLife!

Some, such as SimTown and SimSafari, neither of which I have seen,
are aimed more towards kids. Some, like SimSafari, are pure
entertainment, others, such as SimEarth, are more serious and can
be classed as edutainment.

Where does The Sims come on this scale? Even after several weeks
of play, it's hard to say. In some ways it is a glorified dolls'
house; create your characters, dress 'em up and move them into
their new abode, which you can also create from scratch. Kit out
the house by working out the layout, decorating it, and buying
furniture.  The characters, your Sims, can be lighthearted
versions of Ken and Barbie or you can try to recreate your home
environment by laying out your own home and adding members of your
family, selecting their looks and characteristics, making them as
realistic as you can.  Spooky!

Once your Sims have moved in, the fun begins. As in life, they
have needs and drives, for food, sleep, comfort, fun,
companionship etc. The better you manage these drives, the happier
the Sims are. Do you want to make them well balanced or totally
screw them up? It's completely up to you. You also have to
organise a job for them in one of a range of professions. Will
they train and aim for promotion or be so lax about getting to
work on time that they get the sack? Again, you can decide this
for them.

My first attempt was with a chap called Michael who came with the
program. He had his own bachelor pad and his job was at the bottom
of the ladder. He disliked it, but because I was having so many
problems getting him to eat, pee (yes, you have to tell them to do
that too!) and sleep, he didn't study or train. Things went from
bad to worse. When the neighbours came round, they'd talk about
things he wasn't interested in, and vice versa. His relationships
went downhill and he got more depressed. In the end, as soon as
anyone spoke to him, he started to weep. I was equally depressed
and started again.

I felt 12 again, as I laid out a house from scratch, building
walls, adding doors and windows, selecting wallpaper and carpets,
choosing furniture ... I'd always wanted a big dolls house when I
was little, and now, at 40-and-the-rest, I had one.

I created a new person too and selected a basic personality
similar to my own, hoping that familiarity would give me an edge
when it came to making her happy. She moved in, found a low paid
job in the paper, and her new life began. The neighbours came
round to say hello, and she got on well with some of them. Through
studying, she has had two promotions with the promise of more to
come. She gets a lot of her entertainment from books, and life in
general is looking pretty rosy.


Though certain aspects of personality are laid down from the
start, mostly derived from the Sim's birth sign, they will still
show individuality. My bookish Sim got a bit low at one stage, and
reading didn't seem to satisfy her. I bought her some basketball
equipment and shooting a few hoops gave her spirits a huge boost.
They can also take an instant dislike against certain furnishings.
The first time she saw a (cheap) table that'd I'd put in the
kitchen, she made 'no, no' noises, and waved her hands from side
to side in clear negative fashion.

The Sims don't speak as such; they make 'blah, blah' sounds, but
from their tone it's easy to tell if they're happy or sad,
enthusiastic, cheesed off or telling a joke. They also have speech
bubbles of sorts which contain pictures of what they're talking,
thinking or dreaming about. This can give clues to their
personality, though like with us, their priorities can change from
time to time. It's quite easy to tell what the symbols represent.
If two Sims are trying to be friends, the amount of time that
their speech bubbles coincide will improve their relationship. On
the other hand, if one is talking about politics and the other
about skiing, as in real life they won't make a connection, let
alone stand a chance of creating a true friendship or a romance.
But when two Sims are on the same wavelength, their conversations
gets more animated and their friendship rating increases. If it
gets high enough, they will turn into close friends, then love may
blossom, and you'll get other options such as hugging.

Once you've met someone you have the option to ring them (if you
have a phone) and invite them over. But if you ring someone you
don't get on with, they may very well cut you dead.

If romance really blossoms, there is an opportunity for marriage
and children. I haven't seen anyone get on that well yet. Marriage
is a fairly flexible arrangement and there is no divorce. They can
marry someone who is already married, and if they subsequently
fall out, the relationship just fizzles and they separate.
Children start as babies but never get past the junior stage -
now, isn't THAT a nightmare for all parents? But neglect a child,
and he or she will be taken away by social services! When they

pee or shower/bath, Sims are "fuzzed out" and there is also no
voyeurism when they have sex so as not to offend anyone.

Options turn up whenever you click on a person or item. For
example depending on the time of day, there will be different
options for various meals and snacks when you select the fridge.
Newspapers, delivered by the paper girl in proper American fashion
(ie pitched onto the lawn) can be brought in, read, searched for a
job or recycled. The phone can be used to ring a friend, dial up a
pizza delivery service, hire a maid or gardener, or call various
emergency services. All other items have similar appropriate
ranges of choices.

I feel I have only scratched the surface of this game, both in
this review and when playing it. Maxis are supporting it well with
regular downloads of extra furniture, pre-built houses etc. Fan
sites have proliferated over the Net and you can even design your
own Sims using a skins system (giving the term a whole new
meaning). It takes quite a bit of juggling to keep track of their
mood bars, watching when they go from green to red, and taking
note of the danger signals such as tantrums and mood swings, then
seeing which of your actions have the most positive effect. I
wouldn't have missed the experience for the world!

                                                       Sue














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