MySims (PC)

A cuter, more cartoonish Sims universe for younger players who like to build.
12/3/2008 7:20 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 2

MySims originally launched on the Nintendo Wii, the first attempt by EA to port its mega-cash cow franchise The Sims for a console audience. The fact that we're now getting a PC port of the Wii game based on the hit PC franchise is confusing enough, but add the fact that MySims came out around the same time as the Wii/Nintendo DS follow-up, MySims Kingdom, and it's enough to set your head spinning even more.

To be perfectly clear -- because even EA wasn't when we asked for a copy of the game and were sent MySims Kingdom instead -- this review is going to take a look at MySims for PC.

MySims was designed to spin off the Sims franchise in a more kid-friendly direction, and that it did. Instead of a realistic world filled with heady challenges like getting a job, paying the rent and finding a life partner, what you get is a simplified Animal Crossing-style town with empty lots for you to fill with houses, restaurants, a museum, an arcade and other fun stuff to entice a more stumpy and cartoonish group of Sims to move in.

Gradually, your run-down town will transform into a thriving neighborhood. One of the most rewarding aspects of the game is simply watching the different Sims interact with each other and the environment. They'll chat (in their random Sims gibberish, of course), gesturing with their cute little stumpy Sims arms. The little Italian chef Sim pulls tomatoes out of his apron and starts juggling them, the creepy museum curator draws arcane symbols on the ground and holds a séance, the stuck-up boutique owner preens into her mirror, and so on.

There's a carefree aspect to MySims that isn't present in the rest of the Sims games. Basically, you're free to eat ice cream, dance, sleep, splash in the fountain, play arcade games, and whatever else you choose, and these activities have no bearing whatsoever on your physical or mental well-being. There are no stats to obsess over, no depression or loneliness, no money worries, no endless schlepping from the fridge to the bathroom to satisfy those two most basic and essential bodily functions. The only goal you have is to grow your city; the rest is all just eye candy, and much of it terribly cute.

Unfortunately, growing the city introduces a different kind of tedium. Before a new Sim will agree to move in, they need a house, which you must build by piecing together the body and roof, as well as windows, doors, chimneys and even fences and lawn ornaments.

Once the new resident has moved in, though, it's just the beginning. They will start issuing demands about various bits of furniture that they simply must have in order to function properly. The ice cream girl, for example, isn't satisfied until she has a fridge, a sink, a counter to hold the ice cream, a table and a chair for her customers to sit on.