9-Jan-2004 Puddles of pee on the floor, a dirty ring round the bath, flies buzzing around festering piles of rubbish. Sounds like a scene from the latest Sims game, right? Wrong! This is what your house will be like once you get hooked on The Sims Bustin' Out.
You'll devote your days to tending to your little Sim's every whim. You'll pamper them in hot tubs, tuck them in at night and even talk to them in that strange Sim gibberish speech. But that's okay. There are millions out there like you.
Mind Control While some may be heartily sick of the Sims phenomenon, it's clear that the franchise is as popular as ever. The console versions may not havethe gameplay depth of the PC series, but Bustin' Out deftly side-steps the disadvantages and enhances the more console-friendly elements. The controls will never be as fluid as they are on PC, and your Sims still move at an infuriatingly slow rate, but at least you now have a speed-up button (R1) to fast forward the action if you want to.
At the start, you get to create your own Sim from various body parts and funky new clothes. For some reason there's a parrot looking on as you do this. Weird.
This time around the Sim models are much more expressively animated and detailed. You get to pick everything from their eye colour to nose type, and more clothing and appearance options can be unlocked as you complete goals during gameplay. You can even choose personality traits. A shy, retiring or just plain cranky Sim will find it harder to make friends or to get promoted in people-friendly careers such as Fashion Victim or Movie Star. As a Counter Culture Vandal, however, they'll be perfect.
Malcolm In The Middle As with the previous Sims console outings, Story mode is the main focus of the gameplay. This time evil (and very pale) millionaire Malcolm is stealing Sims' gadgets and gizmos with his fiendish vaporising prod. It's your task to get a job, move out of Mom's house and eventually earn enough money to get your stuff back. You can only get promoted if you learn skills, make friends and generally keep those green 'key motive' meters topped up. And yes, that includes walking them to the loo and making sure they keep their little tums filled. Each time you move into a new house you will have goals to fulfil, such as tricking someone to pull your finger so that you can fart in their face. Strange how that doesn't usually work for us in job interviews.
The differences between the console formats have been fully acknowledged. The Xbox has clearly the best graphics, the PS2 has an exclusive online option where you can trade items with other players. The GameCube and GBA versions have possibly the most exciting exclusive option, with players able to download special mini-games to their GBA which will earn them Simoleons and other goodies to use in the Cube game.
The Sims is not for everyone, and can be frustrating at times, but Bustin' Out is a fine attempt to properly present the phenomenon to the console generation.
In the sort of cutting-edge experiment that only CVG would ever dare to attempt, we split two Sim couples up and observed their social intercourse. And that's not rude, it's a scientific term. Probably. Think of it like Wife Swap on your console...
But it’s a different kettle of caviar for Tru. Gardening in the trailer park involves pruning cacti and fighting off mosquitos
At Gothic Manor, ornate topiary (that’s hedges to you, mate) and cucumber sarnies are the order of the day…
Meanwhile Bella never had it so good. She’s getting waited on hand and foot by Spike. What a gent he is, eh ladies?
Pampered Tru ain’t gonna like this. Dudley forces the poor girl to clear up the trash and cook him grits on the barbecue
Bella gets the better half of the deal in
our opinion, moving in with the hunky Spike and his big organ
Tru gives up her former life in a splendid, luxurious Gothic manor to live in Dudley’s stinky trailer for a week
// Sex And The Sim City
Single and totally hopeless in love? Who cares, when your Sim can be sweet talking, back rubbing and before too long French kissin' a hunk or honey. Let's be honest here. What most Sims fans do is spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get some blurry bits Sim-on-Sim action going on. Or is that just us? What do you mean it's just us?
It all starts with an innocent ‘back rub’, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more
Finally, you actually end up in bed together. It’s very tasteful though. Pity
Then, before you can say Sim in love, you’ll move on to a bit of hugging and kissing. Tongues are optional for this part
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
