Product Description

The bestselling PC game of all time makes its console debut. Create and control your Sims on the PlayStation 2 with new level-based gameplay and 3D graphics. Customize your Sims' personality and appearance, then move into the neighbourhood. Get a job, make friends and advance through your career and life's big moments. Unlock new objects and bigger houses along the way. Meet, flirt and fight with a neighbourhood full of wild characters. You can also load your Sims into a friend's game and play two-player games.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2406 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2003-01-31
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.co.uk Review
The bestselling PC game of all time is finally making its console debut: The Sims allows console gamers to create and control their own little computer people with new level-based gameplay and swankier 3-D graphics.

Many would have assumed that The Sims could never work on a console, but one look at this version proves them wrong. In fact, with the temptation to fall back on a mountain of confusing mouse-operated icons and online patches removed, this could well be the definitive version. For starters, the graphics now look much better than before, being in full 3-D instead of just isometric 2-D. This not only looks better but also allows you to zoom in and out on the action and feels a lot less sterile than the original. Things are still as customisable as ever too, especially via the Create-a-Sim option.

Perhaps the biggest change to how the game plays on consoles is in the new level-based missions. The PC original had no real goal; you just designed a family and let them get on with it, interfering with their virtual life as much or as little as you wanted. The console version adds some goals and rewards to the gameplay, which should help to attract the more attention-deficient among console owners. There's even a rather odd two-player mode, which, even if it seems a little pointless, is yet more proof that EA are really trying to make this a proper worthwhile console experience and not just the cheap cash-in many would've expected. --David Jenkins

Official PlayStation 2 Magazine
"An innovative, engrossing and life-affirming game. 8/10."

Manufacturer's Description
For the first time ever, two people can now play The Sims together. Play the game with or against your friends as you challenge them for popularity points and bragging rights. You can now save your houses and Sims on a memory card and play them on a friend's system. Customising the appearance of your Sims reaches a whole new level of detail on the PlayStation 2. Like never before, players can now create and tailor their Sims with accessories such as stylish hats, trendy glasses, cool hairstyles and an enormous variety of clothing options. Your Sims will now have a multitude of new features. Just like in the original PC version of The Sims, players will be able to create the perfect Sim home, customise the Sims who live there and control their lives. But now in this version of the game, players can explore an entirely new 3D world that harnesses the full power of the PlayStation 2 console. There is also a cast of wacky neighbours to interact with that can! 't be found in any other Sims game. The new controller-base game interface makes manipulating the Sims through the triumphs and tribulations of their daily lives both easy and amusing. Whether it's level-based fun, two-player challenges, or classic Sim-style open-ended game play, the Sims are new for the PlayStation 2 console.

Customer Reviews

The Sims - PC or PS2?
I have been an avid player of The Sims Pc version for a while now - and all of the add on packs have kept my interest high. I was delighted to hear that the PS2 version was available, and was sure that with dedicated game play, then things could only get better.
I wasn't disappointed, the play is quicker and allows you to choose if you would like to have a 'mission' and achieve set objectives, or if you would like to just go with the flow in a regular Sims neighbourhood. Having set goals in 'Get a Life' is new to The Sims and is, I believe, a positive enhancement.
The only negative that I have found so far is the slightly poor picture quality - for some reason it seems to be less clear than the PC version.
Overall I believe that this is a great addition to The Sims family of games, and look forward to being 'God' a lot more in the future!

What can i say
This is the first time i have ever played the sims. I have never bought it for the PC. The sims has been one of the most sucessful games for the PC. It has now finally made its way onto the PS2.

First of all, the graphics are absolutely great. The play the sims mode is also the very best. This game is very challenging and you need to take care and look after your sims all the time. You can go to work and get a career and also get promotions. Make Friends and Lovers. You can also get married, which is all just like real life.

In addition to this, you can build your own dream house with pool tables, pianos and also basketball hoops. Overall, this is definitely the best game i have ever played and is definitly a must for any gamer.

Strangest Game Ever
You shouldn't like this game, there's no explosions except maybe a cooker catching on fire, there's no big cars or planes, there's no jumping from platforms or battling with demonic creatures. Yet somehow, you're hooked within the strange little existence of The Sims.

The experience can only be described as like watching Big Brother but with you in control of what happens as you move each of your characters to perform quite mundane tasks like going to the toilet, have a shower, make dinner, watch tv, and sleep to name the most common few. However, performing such tasks are vital to the happiness of your Sim and leaving the bladder meter to go to low for example will result in the Sim wetting themselves, is not a pretty sight, or if you don't let your sim sleep they will simply fall over. It's all quite comical and is the equivalent of a light entertainment computer game, but it's what the game does to the player is what amazes as you begin to care about their welfare like they're some kind of fragile pet and it's then that you realise you have to get out some more.

It's not all about bodily functions though, there's a level based mode curiously entitles 'Get A Life' (you can't help but feel this a note to the gamer) and through this you have to complete certain missions like looking after mum or getting off with a party girl at a roomies party etc which all lead to you unlocking some great products which you can buy for your dream home. If you don't want to bother with that simply complete some of the missions and start on the general game which allows you to create your own sim family and build their dream home from the little money you have. Once your sims show their disgust in your cheap taste in wallpaper it's time to get them a job and make some cash by building up points such as body, logic, charisma, cooking etc by using the domestic appliances you can afford. For example a bench press will build muscle, while a cook book will steadily increase your cooking expertise, so if you want a promotion at work and more money say as a Counter Intelligence Officer then get playing chess to improve your sims logic. This does add another dimension to the sims that is slightly less mundane as you the sim now have another purpose rather than going to the toilet and eating a lot.

The game is slightly more easier than the PC version and in my opinion a little better, there are many items, though for obvious reasons none which you can download from the internet which limits it a bit, but there a few more problems, like with the sim only being able to build a house with one floor, and then there's the time issue, as the 24 hours pass rather quickly trying to benchpress and keep awake can be difficult, and then there's the chore of trying to have a social life and keep a job, it's a juggling act that can irritate. The Sims will not be to every gamers taste but those who enjoy watching soaps and Big Brother can in some ways create the gaming equivalent as the story of each sim unfolds. Even though I'm convinced The Sims is a government experiment and not a game those who still want a break from the noise of guns and explosions will be able to sit back and chill out to the strange little world of the sims.