The goal of the Sims is to direct the lives of the city dwellers in the game. Their actions and destiny is tied to the decisions you make in their daily lives.



The game is set in a suburb of the city, but this is not your average suburb. The inhabitants are small polygonal characters whose actions you control. They behave in human like ways, they talk to each other and make gestures and hunker down for TV. They even fight and hurl insults. They tell jokes and even take baths.

The audio for the game is quite good, the background music is quite excellent and the sound effects such as door slamming and toilet flushing are close to authentic. Their speech is mostly gibberish but they are easy to understand due to facial expressions and tonality.

The graphics are of the quality Sims fans have come to expect, quite detailed and colorful.

You can start the game with a pre generated family or a single character. Each character has his own personality traits and job skills. These come together to determine how well the Sim will do at his job and be able to provide for his family. The Sim has to look through the paper to find a job and once he does, a car appears at the same time each day to wisk him off to work. It is vital your Sim finds a job because he can't buy things if he isn't employed, including food.

You must also watch over your Sim's needs. Each has a lifebar for such indicators as hunger, comfort, energy, fun, and bladder. The bars continually drain and then fill back up when you meet a need. If you neglect your Sim, he will suffer and possible die.

You also have to help your Sim buy appliances so he can cook, and furnish his house as it must always grow or his room meter will drain out.

The Sims is a lot of fun and is a unique sort of game which will get you hooked on it. It's good for some laughs and unexpected things happen frequently like your Sim catching the house on fire while cooking. It takes a lot of work to monitor your Sim to keep him safe and happy.