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> Results: The Sims: Life Stories
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The ESRB Found:
Crude HumorNothing too offensive, but the Sims do have real world bodily functions that will make kids laugh. Sexual Themes:You can kiss, make-out, and even have sex (it's all hidden by a cloud) Violence:This is kind of a stretch, but, admittedly, the Sims can engage in fisticuffs and some players like doing nasty things to them. After selling an incredible 70 million copies worldwide since it debuted seven years ago this month, Electronic Arts' (EA) "The Sims" series is now reinventing itself with a new line of products, designed to be more focused, story-driven games opposed to open-ended life simulations. Called "The Sims Stories," these $40 digital diversions for Windows-based computers follow the paths of specific characters and challenges gamers to deal with life-changing events thrown at them. The first in the new series is "The Sims Life Stories," which lets players choose to play as a young woman, Riley Harlow, who finds herself caught between a new beau and a (potentially rekindled) old flame, or a second story starring Vincent Moore, a successful high-tech entrepreneur in search of someone to share his comfortable life with. Consider "Life Stories" a romantic comedy, if you will ﾖ but without Hugh Grant. Each story takes place over 12 chapters, plus players can also choose to "free play," which is more akin to the classic "The Sims" story-less game-play. In case you've never clicked through a game of "The Sims" ﾖ the best-selling PC game series of all time, and played by as many women as men ﾖ you must micromanage the lives of virtual people ("sims") by having them eat when hungry, sleep when tired, develop relationships with other sims and take on a job to make money so you can buy items to customize your home. The game is viewed from an angled top-down perspective, but players can zoom in or out or rotate the camera around to get a better view of the action. You can also change the appearance of the player by toying with the game's intuitive editor. The game mechanics work more or less the same in "Life Stories," except players now follow a specific story. For example, in Riley's tale, she first falls for the handsome Mickey Smith, who she spends time with watching TV, playing darts, or enjoying a quiet dinner at the nearby Starlight Café and Market. But in a telephone conversation with a girlfriend, she soon finds out an old boyfriend is back in the neighborhood. At this point, it's up to you to decide how it all plays out. Each decision affects the story, of course. For example, your advances on Mickey upsets a jealous friend, Agora, who chews you out for pursuing him, and storms out of your aunt's house, where you're staying. This isn't the end of her, of course. Similar to past "The Sims" games, much of the humor lies in the gibberish language spoken by the sims, along with the cute animations, such as tickling someone, tossing out a stinky bag of trash (no, not Agora!) or the pixilated body parts when your sims need to use the toilet. "Life Stories" offers a fun twist on the tried-and-true "The Sims" game-play, but the game isn't perfect. For one, a number of artificial intelligence problems can disrupt the experience. In one scenario, Vincent called a lady friend over to the house, and although she said she'd be right over, she never came; a pop-up window appeared five minutes later, however, which suggested you invite her over. In another instance, Riley was just picked up in a car for work, but before it drove away, the carpool driver kept honking the horn for her to come out of the house. Another such problem is related to time, which sometimes seems out-of-sync between the different locations; it was after 2am at a nearby park, so Riley was instructed to go home and to bed as she had to work the next day, but when she arrived home it was only 10pm. Other odd behavior might also be fixed with a downloadable update from EA: Riley can serve drinks at a house party in her underwear, yet her guests don't say a thing. She can sweet talk with her new beau, Mickey, and him give romantic hugs, but when she tried to hold his hand, he freaked out and walked away. Despite these shortcomings, "Life Stories" is a very fun game, whether you've played any of the past "The Sims" games or not. In fact, players may find they're more interested in what will happen to their sims than they admit to! EA may yet again have another hit franchise on their hands.  
The Sims is a life simulator and even though this is a more self-contained version of the open-ended main game, it still features the semi-controversial features the series is known for. Parents who seek to shelter their kids and teens from things like dating, relationship and life issues, and intimacy, should stay away. Other than that this is a lot like playing with interactive dolls.
Kid Factor by Andrew Bub
This review edited by Andrew Bub Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: The Sims: Life Stories |
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