User Reviews (1 - 11 of 184)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

So far so good....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 149 / 169
Date: January 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Just got this game yesterday and so far I am impressed. Wasn't sure how controlling it would be after having played it on the computer. I have all the previous expansion packs, etc for the PC and I love the game. So far, I'm impressed, you really get to personalize the characters far more than you could on the PC. The "Get a Life" section of the game is great. You have certain goals you must complete in each house, starting out in Mom's house, then renovating a fixer upper, having a roomie, having your own, all the way up to havine two children and then retiring and buying a yacht. For those that bored easy with the PC version, having specific goals to complete might make this more attractive for you. However I could play the Open ended play forever and be happy and with this, I can do that and more. Having just gotten this I haven't delved to far into the 2 player mode but found it great fun also. An example is working against your opponent in a museum to make friends so that you can eventually ask them for money. Who ever collects the most money obviously wins. This is almost everything great about the PC sims but with extras and no delay in playing or getting kicked out. I can't wait to play some more. I suggest everyone to check this out, it's completely different from anything else out there.

Can't tear my girlfriend away

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 45 / 52
Date: January 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Okay, please realize that there will be a transition period from the computer game. Those of you who have every single expansion pack and play The Sims 16 hours a day, this isn't THE SAME game.

I'll address some of the earlier reviews first.

1. There is fast foward/pause in the form of L1 / R1 on the Dual Shock controller.

2. There aren't as many options - no pets, no downtown, no 2nd floor, no vacation. (another reviewer referred to this as "the best of" the original)

3. It's not slower than the PC version. Depending on your computer, it could be considerably faster.

4. The controls do take some getting used to, but become intuitive once you get them. Took me a half hour to an hour, and my girlfriend about the same.

5. It's Just As Addictive As The Original.

6. Characters are more customizable than ever - everything down to the face shape & eye color. On the down side, you can't download outfits from the Internet.

We brought it home last night and I was able to play a bit. At first I thought "gawd these controls are awkward... building this house is sooo tedious," but I played for a long time after that.

Then this morning I woke up and my girlfriend was playing. She's been playing for 8 hours. I wanted to turn on the TV and I paused the game and turned on the TV... followed by her screams. Luckily I was able to hook up the PS2 to the PS1 LCD screen (use an 1/8" stereo male to dual RCA female jack (tell them that at radio shack). Plug the yellow out from the PS2 into the white plug, and the white out from the PS2 into the red plug).

We did some of the two player challenge games that get unlocked in "Get a Life" mode. I'm going to have to learn fast about the other two player modes or I might lose my girlfriend to this game forever.

In short, this game as just as addictive as the original, plus it has two player & goal oriented play. Maxis did it again!

Great on PS2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 20 / 20
Date: January 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I HATE THIS GAME! It keeps me up all night and destroys my life! There should be laws against games being this FUN! Ok, I've been playing 'The Sims' on PC for a few years now so I pretty much knew what I was doing as soon as I started my PS2. I did expect a bit more from it. First of all there is the Sim's skins. You can make them look more individual by changing the shape of their faces but you can't change their body weight very much. The fattest a person can get still looks like a super model. And you can't make them look really old either besides giving them grey or bald heads. Also, I was hoping for more clothes. The game itself is almost identical to the PC version. The only difference is graphics and control. The Sims talk and move exactly the same as in the PC version too. You also have less options of what to do with your Sim than on the PC. 'Hot Date' and other expansion packs have not been included on this game. So it's basically the first installation of the PC game. There is the mission mode and 2 player but I think most people play the classic way. With all the Sims has for PS2 and all it is lacking of the PC versions it is still an extremely addicting game.

Graphics: 4.0 It's 100 times better than the PC version but also 100 times worse than the great PS2 games out there.
Sound: 4.0 Most of the sounds have been directly copied from the PC to the PS2. I was hoping for something a bit different.
Control: 4.5 The PS2 controller works great for this game but it's still a lot easier using a mouse.
Fun Factor: 5.0 If you start playing you wont stop.

Most addictive PS2 game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 23
Date: May 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've never played the Sims on PC, so I only had a vague clue about what I was in for. I had no idea the game would be this much fun and so addictive! This is the only game I've ever played where I don't have to kill anything, and it still provides hours of entertainment! I'm a big RPG and action-adventure fan. Being able to create my own unique characters and neighborhoods appealed to the rpg fan in me. The only real "action" in the game is trying to get your Sims in and out of trouble!

The game starts off in "Get A Life" mode. You are stuck at home with mom, and your goal is to borrow money from mom, get a job, and move out. From there you go from level to level, meeting various goals such as keeping your job, redecorating your home, making friends, and getting promoted. You must always complete certain goals to advance to another level. Once you've advanced as high as you can in "Get A Life", this unlocks another game-play mode. You can start creating your own neighborhoods and little Sim families. I really get a kick taking care of my little Sims....making sure they eat properly, get enough sleep, and go to the bathroom! You also have to make sure they learn various skills to get up in the world! Such as making them read books to learn cooking or mechanical skills! Making them excercise to get body points. Having them practice instruments or art to improve creative abilities. This is a very unique game for the PS2 and I hope the Sims continue on the PS2. I would like to see it keep getting better and better.

My favorite part of the game was creating my Sims....everything from their facial features, eye color, hair style, clothing, and personality traits! So it's kind of a let-down you can't really see them close-up in the game. What's the point of picking their eye-color if you can't even see it in the game? I loved designing the Sim homes and furnishing them. The houses can't be two story though. If the makers started releasing new skins, furniture, hair styles, clothing, etc. for the PS2, that would be great! It's fun and challenging trying to get the Sims to advance, but the poor things have to work every single day! If they miss two days in a row of work, they get fired. Give 'em a weekend off already! I had some pretty haggard Sims at times.

The only really lame thing about the game was the two-player mode. I didn't find any of those game particularly interesting. One game consists of eating as much food as possible in the park. Still, this is one of the best games out there on PS2, even if you don't have to kill anything (your Sims can die if you don't teach them cooking skills and the house sets on fire, so watch out!).

Best version yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 24 / 29
Date: January 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've never been a large fan of The Sims on PC, but it's hard not to respect what Maxis acomplished with the original game, both in terms of a life simulation and in terms of universal appeal. But I always had some issues, that and the game had a chain of very slick, very logical expansions.

However, for me, the game moved way too quickly and often because an act of tedium rather than a fun experience.I purchased the PS2 game for a number of reasons, the tweaked progression scales, a mixture of items from all of the expansions (I never got any of the expansions myself), a host of neat original PS2 items, a fun mission mode, competitive mini-games, and open ended co-op. Plus I had bought way too many PC games as of late, and needed something for the ol' consoles to play into the wee hours if I became entranced...again.

I had some worries and doubts, and while I disagree with some things Maxis and EoR did with the conversion, I have to say this is a HECK of a good game, is faithful to the PC version, adds a ton of ..., the game isn't nearly as tedious to play, oddly enough controls like a dream and most importantly:

The co-op is INCREDIBLY well pulled off. Simply great co-op, since I grabbed the game, I've sunk about 10-12 hours with a pal into it in crazy night long plays. Establishing house by house a dual-neighborhood full of neat characters is too much fun and offers so much play time it's scary, and I've just scratched the surface.

The co-op neghborhood set-up takes from the insanely miniscule ammountof things that Animal Crossing did right (I'm not comparing the two titles, however, it can't be done) it allowing the importing and exporting of characters and even houses.

But really, the co-op in The Sims is just hard to explain why it's so darn fun,you'd sit there and figure it would really suck, I assumed it would at least, but no, it's like miniscule Sims online without the massive lameness OF the Sims Online, or even the original PC game faults. It just clicks, working together to accomplish goals, dividing out tasks, establishing relationships and throwing parties, great fun.

The Get a Life mode is pretty darn slick as well, hosting 8 missions (the later ones being QUITE long and offering good challenge) and offers a nice levy of unlockable features (mini-games, items, the neighborhood mode itself) it's been pulled off a lot better than I expected.

The classic free play is just as good. Building houses with the PS2 controller also works really well (I cannot stress how sweet the controls are on this compared to the PC, they just work so damn well)

The 3D visuals are pretty good too, it's fun to see all the old 2D PC game objects in 3D. The game is decently detailed, can fit a lot of characters on screen and has a good sense of charm to it. It runs smooth and the camera panning is SUCH a nice feature comparied to the ... fixed rotations of the PC title. The music...well, The Sims never really relied on music, The Sims probably has by far the greatest sound effects and voice acting ever, but if you snag a stereo there is some entertaining stuff, all sung in Simish of course. Nothing beats Sim rap, hilarious stuff.

In the end, a lot may like it more than the PC edition, others may not, I love it myself, and to say the least it's a fun value packed version of The Sims that erases a lot of the tedium and flaws presented in the original.

I love my co-op.

Much better than the PC verison

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: January 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've never been a large fan of The Sims on PC, though it's hard not to respect what Maxis acomplished with the original game, both in terms of a life simulation and in terms of universal appeal. But I always had some issues, that and the game had a chain of very slick, very logical expansions.

However, for me, the game moved way too quickly and often because an act of tedium rather than a fun experience.

I purchased the PS2 game for a number of reasons, the tweaked progression scales, a mixture of items from all of the expansions (I never got any of the expansions myself), a host of neat original PS2 items, a fun mission mode, competitive mini-games, and open ended co-op.

Plus I had bought way too many PC games as of late, and needed something for the ol' consoles to play into the wee hours if I became entranced...again.

I had some worries and doubts, and while I disagree with some things Maxis and EoR did with the conversion, I have to say this is a heck of a good game, is faithful to the PC version, adds a ton of goodies, and the game isn't nearly as tedious to play, oddly enough controls like a dream and most importantly:

The co-op is INCREDIBLY well pulled off. Simply great co-op, since I grabbed the game, I've sunk about 10-12 hours with a pal into it in crazy night long plays. Establishing house by house a dual-neighborhood full of neat characters is too much fun and offers so much play time it's scary, and I've just scratched the surface.

The co-op neghborhood set-up takes from the insanely miniscule ammount of things that Animal Crossing did right (I'm not comparing the two titles, however, it can't be done) it allowing the importing and exporting of characters and even houses.

But really, the co-op in The Sims is just hard to explain why it's so darn fun, ..., it's like miniscule Sims online without the massive lameness OF the Sims Online, or even the original PC game faults.

It just clicks, working together to accomplish goals, dividing out tasks, establishing relationships and throwing parties, great fun.

The Get a Life mode is pretty darn slick as well, hosting 8 missions (the later ones being QUITE long and offering good challenge) and offers a nice levy of unlockable features (mini-games, items, the neighborhood mode itself) it's been pulled off a lot better than I expected.

The classic free play is just as good. Building houses with the PS2 controller also works really well (I cannot stress how sweet the controls are on this compared to the PC, they just work so well)

The 3D visuals are pretty good, it's fun to see all the old 2D PC game objects in 3D. The game is decently detailed, can fit a lot of characters on screen and has a good sense of charm to it. It runs smooth and the camera panning is SUCH a nice feature comparied to the...fixed rotations of the PC title.

The music...well, The Sims never really relied on music, The Sims probably has by far the greatest sound effects and voice acting ever, but if you snag a stereo there is some entertaining stuff, all sung in Simish of course. Nothing beats Sim rap, hilarious stuff.

In the end, a lot may like it more than the PC edition, others may not, I love it myself, and to say the least it's a fun value packed version of The Sims that erases a lot of the tedium and flaws presented in the original.

I love my co-op.

The Drudgery of Life Played Out on Playstation 2

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 21
Date: February 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Playing the virtual "life" can be interesting to some gamers, but The Sims at times might seem too insipid and lifeless to a first time player (like myself). The Sims brings out the timeless, but often forgotten, question of video gaming, "Why do we play computer games?" This game, however, brings this question to a new level. Against all logic of gaming, your "virtual character" goes on with his virtual joyless life doing everyday activities, such as watching TV, eating, boozing, cleaning after himself, etcetera. Ordinary things responsible citizens do everyday (maybe except for the boozing part). Do we really need to do all these activities twice, in real life as well as in our video games?
Gaming is imagination. The taking on of a persona almost impossible to attain in real life (ex. Super Commando, NHL Player)is key in video gaming. The rewards of venting stress or anger through video game violence, touchdown dances, and empire conquering are impossible to attain in the The SIMS. This game, however, makes the gamer live through (or remind them) a life dominated by schedules, social dispositions, and economical inadequities. What do players get by working everyday for a week in this game, a new virtual futon. This reward system is all to familiar to all. In short, this game is not FUN!!!
I have many more suggestions and complaints about this game, but the brevity of this review prevents me from mentioning them. In short, here are some of it:
-your virtual character can't get a shot gun to greet the robbers when they enter your home
-there should be a "nightlife" option, where your character doesn't eat nor sleep and in a constant party state.
-no drug dealers, no gang members, no bootleggers to antagonize... the "building up of relationships takes time" should be non-existent.
-there is no city to go to in this game. There should be clubs, dangerous alleys, and empty warehouses where your virtual character can get into trouble with the POLICE or the hoodlums.
I never seen a game this boring. This game brings out the BANALITY of life. Playing old Pac-Man games is more enjoyable than this. At least you are a round, dot-eating monster instead of a boring lifeless suburbanite.

Old School Sims players might be disappointed.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Sims makes the leap from PC to PS2! Sim fans may be a bit disappointed, but those who have never played the Sims before should have a blast.

The Sims for PS2 is a bit different from that of the PC. The PS2 version is broken down into 2 different games.
The first game, Get A Life, is a goals oriented game. That is, you have to have your sim satisfy a number of goals before moving onto to the next level. You start out creating your sim and living in your Mom's house. Your goals are simple in that you have to clean the house, make breakfast, lunch, dinner for your mom. As you complete small tasks e.g. fix mom's TV you unlock special items for your sim to buy. One neat item is the Vanity desk/mirror. The Vanity desk allows you to change your sims appearance on the fly, something you couldn't do with the PS2 version without downloading a skin.
Hair and eye color, skin tone, accessories (hats, glasses, earrings) can be modified with the Vanity desk.
After completing the goals on one level, you move out of mom's house into your bachelor pad. From there you complete another set of goals, moving out and getting married. Each task unlocking more and more different items for your sim to purchase and make sim-life much easier.
For the most part, Get A Life is a single player game, but as you play and complete task you unlock 2-player mini games. The first 2-player mini game being Trip To The Museum. Here you and another player compete in making friends and trying to borrow the most money from all your buddies.
If Get A Life doesn't interest you, you can play the regular version of The Sims. You can start off with the pre-built Goth or Newbie family, or you can create and import in your own family and micro manage them to your hearts content.
It is here in the regular game that 2-player game takes off. Now you and a friend can interact Ala sim. When you play in 2-player mode, the screen splits diagonally and player actions e.g.; move, eat, kiss, hug...etc are color coded so not to confuse you. I think this is the best part of The Sims for PS2 since the only time you'd get this feature is with The Sims On-line.

Now I said that Sims fans from the PC may be disappointed in this game since it doesn't have any of the features of the latest expansion pak, which at this writing is Unleashed. So fans may be crestfallen that they don't have the ability to buy pets, or vacation somewhere other than the confines of their own home. I would have thought that EA or Maxis would have allowed the PS2 version of The Sims to allow PS2 users with network capability to download skins or objects, or even play with current Sims On-line players. It would have been a neat feature to have and probably keep the current Sims fan base happy.
Another disappointing feature of The Sims for PS2 is the building tools. Quite frankly they are difficult to use when you try to wallpaper. I can't count how many times I've tried to wallpaper the kitchen in the Get A Life mode and end up wallpapering the outside of the house. It takes alot of practice to get it right and the game isn't very intuitive when it gets down to this task.
Also maneuvering objects to be placed, say an ice chest is somewhat difficult, especially when you are trying to rotate the object so the front of the chest is facing away from the wall. Its a simple matter of hitting the L1 or R1 button to rotate, but the color scheme they picked for hi lighted objects it makes it difficult to tell if the front of a particular object is facing towards or away from you.
Another annoying problem is zooming. You can't zoom close enough as the regular PC game. Zooming is controlled by the right analog joystick. You can zoom way out so you can see the entire house and property line, but zooming in doesn't allow you to get as close as you could in the PC version. This makes it hard sometimes to see particular details that were enjoyable in the PC version.

So, The Sims, should you buy it? If have never played The Sims before, this might be an enjoyable game for you to own.
If you are a frequent player of the PC version, you might want to stick with it since the added features of Get A Life don't really justify spending money on this purchase.

One storie game...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: April 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you played the PC game, then stick to the PC game because this should have been titled "Sims Lite" for PC users who own a PS2 too. On the other hand, it's a great game for anyone new to the Sims universe and may not be able or willing to invest all of the time (and expansion packs) into the Sims.

Being that I think the PC version ran it's course after the release of Hot Date, this may be a good game for formerly serious Simers to use to get a quick fix now and then.

The Bad:

- You can't build second story homes.
- Interior decorating (walls, floors, windows, doors, etc) are seriously lacking in selction.
- The amount of stuff you buy to put in your home is limited to the job level you are at.
- I do not like that I can't go anywhere to down-load new walls, papers, skins, etc. to add to the variety of objects in the game.

The Good:

- Watch your sim in beautifuly rendered 3d graphics.
- Play some semi-challenging game modes.
- The core game play of normal Sims mode is here.

Disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

To start, I am a huge Sims fan. I hve all the expansion pacs and am constantly checking te website to see what new things are happening in the Sims universe. So when the PS2 version of the hit PC game came out, I rushed to buy it...bad move. To begin with, the level-based gameplay is not all its cracked upto be. What's great about the Sims is its openess - you, the player, choose what your goals are, be they loads of money, love, oroverall succes. The level-based gameplay. however, throws objctives at, limiting your free-will. You may be saing, "But you can also play the Sims normally on PS2." Well, yes, you can. But its so different from the computer game its depressing. In the PC version, your mood is readily availible for you all the time. In PS2 version however, you must press "up" on the joysitckto view your mood, and when you remove your hand the mood disappeas. This can be irritating to those used to the PC game. Furniture is confusng to purchase, because the PS2 game lacks bigger pictures of the furniture, a descrition of what it is, and ony ls you see exactly what it is after you buy it. But what about the 3D graphics. In the PS2 version, you are allowed to give your characters nice lillte extra details, but in the actual gameplay, the camera does not zoom in enough for you to see them. Although the graphics are nicer, they are not worth your money, considering te rest of the game does not live up to its standards. So for those who own the PC verson, I suggest you rent before buying, to see for yourselves Maxis' new "hit."

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions