MySims – Your New Best Friends

MySims is a twist on the Sims franchise, taking away the daily man management tasks of cleaning, washing, eating and replacing it with an emphasis on build, build, build! This is not your standard Sims game and if your looking to go to work every day, go take bathroom breaks or even Woo Hoo then this game just may not be for you but if you have a creative mind, love cute graphics and enjoy a game where you can play at your own pace then you may have found the first must have third person title

Gameplay

The gameplay is fairly straight forward, you move into a run down town and your job is to rebuild it into a prospering neighborhood, and the only way to do this is to build businesses and house’s to increase the towns popularity.

When you first move into the town you meet the Mayor who talks you through all the things you are going to need to now about the game, from building right the way through to essences. The building mechanics in the game are straightforward but the results are limitless, you start off with a set of building blocks, as you progress with your town the range of these blocks becomes extensive allowing you to build anything your heart desires. If you want to build a Sofa shaped like a crocodile then feel free, as long as fill in the blueprints then the rest is up to you, let you imagination roam free. Now essences are the other big thing in this game, they are items you need to go round and collect to give your creations colour and life. There are over 80 in the game and can be found all over your village, the forest or even in the desert. They can be picked up by fishing, shaking or prospecting, I did get confused when I digged up some bacon and chocolate cake but its all part of the fun!

To progress in the game you move people into your town, build their houses/businesses from the ground up and once they have a place to live in its time to start building to their demands, be it a pizza over for the chef or a sculpture for the museum each sim requires furniture to be made, and with certain essences needing to be used, essences are the currency of the game, the more you have the better, and more choice your creations will have.

There are also many characters in the game whom you can move in and out of your village as you please, with over 80 who you can move into your town it will be hard to pick which ones will stay and which ones will go! There are also six different personalities in the game, each having their likes and dislikes, for example the Goths love the scary essences where the Cuties like the Flower essences. Also having certain houses next to each other effects the Sims behaviour, giving it a nice addition to the strategy of the game.

Graphics

The graphics for the game are fairly solid, they are bright and colourful and even the most darkened of person would find it hard not to break a smile. The game looks like a giant toyland and it fits the game perfectly, a great effort made on EA’s part

Sound

The music in this game fits the graphics, bubbly and fun. A good inclusion is the change in music when you walk by peoples houses, walking by the Goths will result in creepy music being played where as walking by the restaurant will results in some cheesy Italian music blasting out.

Conclusion

The game is marketed towards young children but I think anyone can pick up and enjoy this game, it fun orientated and an open ended game letting the played do whatever they so choose. Although the game is good it does have a few problems which I feel could have been sorted out before release, the game sometimes freezes mid play while the loading catches up with itself and the constant loading between entering building can get tedious. These problems aside it is a good starting point from EA games showing their intentions and respect they have for the Wii, if only all other developers took the time and effort EA have taken and there would be a lot more must have game. Overall a good game, though linear at time, I would recommend it for a rent first, you either love it or hate it.

Final Rating: 7/10