This was a game I've been looking forward to since its announcement. It claimed to be a mix of Animal Crossing and the Sims. I thought "What's not to like about that?" Well, turns out, the game doesn't live up to being either Animal Crossing or the Sims...it lies somewhere in the middle.Heh, but keep in mind: this review is based on a 5-night rental.
Gameplay
In the beginning, you're given the task of naming your town, then creating your Sim. You can adorn your Sim with various styles of clothing, hairstyles, eye designs, and such, that you'll probably spend a nice chunk of your time creating your character. I know I sure did.
Building in the main element of MySims, and it's pretty well-thought-out, like it should be. You are given the freedom to design and build your house and all the furniture in the game. Other Sims will request you to build certain things for them. This pretty much makes up the whole game, so the system must be robust. The interface for building is a simple point-and-click system. You're given an assortment of blocks to build furniture and some pre-set objects, such as windows and doors, to build houses. While building houses is easy-enough, you're only limited to the unlocked objects and a two-story house. The way you design your house doesn't even really matter because the interior will always be the same one-story design.
Building furniture is more complex and you're given a lot more freedom. While you still have to unlock certain types of blocks, you can build a lot of things with just the default ones. But since it's more complex, the controls are a little frustrating. A lot of the time, you will struggle to place a block in the exact place you want to. But you still have the freedom to create some crazy designs. For instance, a Sim requested a podium for her to deliver speeches on. I designed the basic podium, but was able to add more stuff to it. I ended up creating a wall around the speaker so that if she decided to use it, you wouldn't be able to see her. Of course, as long as you meet the basic design requirements on each blueprint, the Sim will accept it and love it no matter what.
MySims lacks the social aspect of a normal Sims games. While you are given very basic interactions between Sims ("Be Nice" and "Be Mean"), your relationships with other characters doesn't really matter. Sure, being nice to a particular Sim will give them the "Friend" status on your status screen, and being mean to them will make them an "Acquaintance." However, this doesn't really matter in the end. The Sims will still talk to you and make requests of you despite your relationship with them. The only thing affected is the type of essences you get from them.
Essences are items you collect that give your creations a certain, well, essence! You can make things cute, geeky, tasty, and other adjectives by painting your creations with these items. Characters have certain likes and dislikes and will request that you build their furniture or other items with certain essences. It's a way of giving you objectives more detailed than "make a chair." Essences can also be used as wallpaper and carpet in the interior of houses.
There are various ways to collect essences, you can find Apple essences by shaking trees that grow them. You can find Stone and other various essences by prospecting them, which involves playing a "Hot or Cold" game with a metal detector. Fishing is also another option to collecting essences. Certain essences are representative of moods, like Happy and Sad. You acquire these by pleasing of displeasing other Sims.
The point of the game is to improve your town's star rating. You do this by getting more people to move into your town. You do this by building them things, from houses, to restaurants, to flower stands, to pizza ovens.
With your progress through the game, you get an item that unlocks access to new areas where you can find new essences.
A big bummer is that there is no multiplayer in this game whatsoever. The game allows you different save slots for different towns, but no more than one person can live in a town. The game is a single player game through and through.
Presentation
And that's pretty much it. On the technical side, this game suffers from a lot of problems. This game likes to load...a lot. You will see load screens for everything little thing you do, from getting requests from other Sims, to going to your workshop, to decorating your house. Playing this game also presents the LOUDEST my Wii has ever been. Your Wii will constantly be "clicking" as it's always loading something. Stutters are also not uncommon while playing the game. It becomes clear that the game wasn't very optimized to be on the Wii.
Graphics-wise, the game looks nice. Your Sims are very "chibi-esque" and quite cute. The animations for your Sims as they interact with one another are also pretty detailed and on the cute side. But the animations are also pretty limited. It's not unlikely that "Being Nice" to another Sim will net you with the same animation twice in a row.
The music in the game is pretty forgettable. It's your standard Sims music. It can get a little repetitive at times. The Sims speak their usual Simmish language. What's neat is that you can customize the tone of your character's voice.
The Bottom Line
The game is fun, and the possibilities of the stuff you can build is astounding, but if you're looking for more than building your own furniture, then you're bound to be disappointed. The lack of social aspects makes the game fall short of a real Sims game. The lack of multiplayer makes it fall short of being a viable Animal Crossing replacement. The load times can be a hassle, and it doesn't feel like a very polished game due to the technical problems.
I'd say this game deserves a rental if you're in to this type of game. If building stuff isn't your cup of tea, then this game doesn't have much to offer to you.
Score
7/10
