What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know these games let players have their Sims
do any number of things, be it fall in love, eat breakfast, get
undressed down to underwear before slipping into bed, kissing
with someone on a couch, or getting into bed to "woo-hoo" with
other Sims (nothing graphic is seen, however). The game does
not contain any nudity, bad language, or any major scenes of
violence. The game's "Crude Humor" warning reflects the
belching, whispering a dirty joke to another Sim, or seeing
your Sims use the toilet (though the characters are pixilated
at this point, which makes them fuzzy).
Families can talk about why these Sims games are fun. What do you like to control about the lives of these little simulated people? How is their world unrealistic? For kids who have played other versions of The Sims, do you like this story-format better or not? Why?
Common Sense Media Review
After selling 70 million copies worldwide since it debuted
in 2000, Electronic Arts'
The Sims series is now reinventing itself with a new
line of products, designed to be more focused, story-driven
games rather than open-ended life simulations. Called
The Sims Stories, these $40 digital diversions for
Windows-based computers follow the paths of specific characters
and challenge you to deal with the life-changing events thrown
at them.
The first in the new series is THE SIMS LIFE STORIES, which lets you choose to play as a young woman, Riley Harlow, who finds herself caught between a new beau and an old flame; or as Vincent Moore, a successful tech entrepreneur in search of someone to share his comfortable life. Consider Life Stories a romantic comedy. Each story takes place over 12 chapters, plus you can also choose to "free play," which is more akin to the classic The Sims storyless game play.
In case you've never clicked through a game of The Sims, you must micromanage the lives of virtual people ("sims") by having them eat when hungry, sleep when tired, develop relationships, and take on a job to make money so you can buy items to customize their homes. The game is viewed from an angled top-down perspective, but you can zoom in or out, or rotate the camera to get a better view of the action. You can also change the appearance of your on-screen character by toying with the game's intuitive editor.
The game mechanics work more or less the same in Life Stories, except you follow a specific story. For example, in Riley's tale, she first falls for the handsome Mickey Smith, with whom she spends time with watching TV, playing darts, or enjoying a quiet dinner at the nearby Starlight Cafe and Market. But 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. 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.
Similar to past 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, or the pixilated body parts when your sims need to use the toilet.
Life Stories offers a fun twist on the tried-and-true Sims gameplay, but the game isn't perfect.
