Product Description

For the first time ever, two players can play the Sims together! Play the game with or against your friends as you challenge them for popularity points and bragging rights. You can save your houses and Sims on a memory card and play them on a friend's system. Customizing the appearance of your Sims reaches a whole new level of detail on the PlayStation2. Like never before, players can 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 have a multitude of new features. Just like in the original version of The Sims, players will be able to create the perfect Sim home, customize the Sims who live there, and control their lives. But in this version, players can explore an entirely new 3-D world that harnesses the full power of the PlayStation2 console. There is also a cast of wacky neighbors 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 PlayStation2 console!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3453 in Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Model: 14633145977
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .50" h x 5.25" w x 7.25" l, .20 pounds

Features

• You'll start out with just one Sim, living in a shack. Help him advance through life's important moments and make a better life for himself
• Meet and interact with your neighbors, flirt with attractive members of the opposite sex, and move into bigger houses
• Play with a friend as you play two-player Sims -- each person controls their own character in the same environment
• Customize your Sim's appearance to a new level of detail
• Play with special objects and characters found only on the PS2 version

Amazon.com Review
The Sims has much in common with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater: There's a great emphasis trial and error, it encourages personalized solutions to problems, and overall success comes down to both balance and timing. Also, like the Tony Hawk games, The Sims is a very addictive game.

Players micromanage the lives of a family of virtual people and influence the outcome of their lives, be it success or something akin to a nervous breakdown. The bestselling PC version of the game has, in recent years, been upgraded with elements like parties, pets, and vacations, but this iteration is closer to the basic formula.

You start the game living with Mom in a one-story suburban house. You are immediately presented with certain life tasks, such as fixing the TV and making lunch, which are aligned with the skills you'll need for the game's main challenge--keeping your sims in balance on eight conflicting categories. For example, eating will have an impact on your sim's hunger rating, but it will also impact his bladder rating. You'll have to make sure that he keeps himself and the house clean, that he sleeps to restore his energy, and that he also has time to keep himself entertained. The free will option lets your sims coast a bit, and you can also save time by stacking tasks together. Time passes at the rate of about one minute per second in the game, but you can fast-forward sim time when you need to, such as when they're sleeping.

The controls are justifiably complex, but adjusting to them is not difficult. You see your sims from an overhead perspective that you can both rotate and zoom. You direct their actions by moving a line cursor to where you want them to go or to what object or person with which you want them to interact.

The game is surprisingly funny. Neglect your sims and they'll shout and wave their arms to get your attention. Allow one's energy to get too low and he or she will likely collapse and sleep right where they were standing. When that happens, Mom is likely to serve them dinner on the floor.

Gamers may find that it takes a while to get the hang of The Sims' style and control scheme. Stick with it and you may find real time fast-forwarding by. --Porter B. Hall

Pros:

• Interesting, open-ended gameplay
• Lots of quirky humor
• Two-player split-screen option

• Can be frustrating for those unfamiliar with strategy games
• Controls take some getting used to
• Long save times

Amazon.co.uk Preview
The bestselling PC game of all time is finally making its console debut as The Sims arrives on PS2, allowing console gamers to create and control their own little computer people, with new level-based gameplay and swanky 3-D graphics.

Many would’ve assumed that The Sims could never work on a console, but one look at the work that has already gone into the PS2 version will easily prove them wrong. In fact, without the temptation to fall back on a mountain of confusing mouse-operated icons and online patches, this could well end up being 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 it allows you to zoom in and out on the action, and feels a lot less sterile than the original. Things are still as customizable as ever too, especially via the Create-a-Sim option.

Perhaps the biggest change to how the game plays is the PS2’s 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 PS2 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 is really trying to make this a proper worthwhile console experience, and not just the cheap cash-in many would’ve expected. --David Jenkins

Manufacturer's Description
For the first time ever, two players can play the Sims together! Play the game with or against your friends as you challenge them for popularity points and bragging rights. You can save your houses and Sims on a memory card and play them on a friend's system. Customizing the appearance of your Sims reaches a whole new level of detail on the PlayStation2. Like never before, players can 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 have a multitude of new features. Just like in the original version of The Sims, players will be able to create the perfect Sim home, customize the Sims who live there, and control their lives. But in this version, players can explore an entirely new 3-D world that harnesses the full power of the PlayStation2 console. There is also a cast of wacky neighbors 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 PlayStation2 console!

Customer Reviews

So far so good....
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.

Great on PS2
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.

Can't tear my girlfriend away
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!