The_Sims

The Sims (Plus all expansions)

Graphics 3/5
The graphics were very ordinary, there was nothing incredible about them. I think they could have done a bit better than that at the time.

Play Control 7/10
Usually easily controllable, there was a few times that the avatar your control would do some weird detours around the whole house just to get someone when he could have take a simpler path. Other than that, it was obvious and easy to control an avatar in the game. The fact that you could have as many avatars you wanted was fun.

Interface 9/10
A simple interface where all buttons were at the same location accompanied with a pop-up menu accessible with a right-click that differs depending on what you right-click on was quite interesting and very useful and saved a lot of time. A few glitches at game launch, but nothing major.

Fun 12/15
Perpetual fun where you could begin the game almost broke to end rich and famous! Actually, I thought about the concept of having a game where you would live the life of someone just like The Sims game years before it was even "in the making", so this is a sort of dream come true. The fact that you can custommize your avatar the way you want is nice, the fact that you can do what you want without being resticted with corridors of trees and mountains or a linear storyline like Final Fantasy for example, makes this game VERY fun to play and also addictive for some. A sort of game you go "Alright, it's late, I'll just play one more day and I'm going to sleep..." then four hours later "Just one last day and I'm going to sleep..." It's like the turn-based game where you always go "just one more turn..." quite addictive.

Depth 8/10
Initially, the game was pretty shallow, but the all the expansions, it becomes quite deep and a very long game if you want to try everything with the same character(s). The reason it is an 8 rather than a 9 or perfect score is that initially it was not that deep as a game, you went through it quite quickly.

Story 3/10
There is no story sort of speak, but I give it a 3 out of 10 because you are the one who actually makes the story which you could share with others on the web. A story or campaign mode with a mutliple choice story which would make you take different paths to different endings, that is what is missing fora perfect score here.

Idea 5/5
New idea, no one ever launched a game quite like this one before, and did I say it was a new original idea? They don't make such games anymore, everyone just wants to take someone's idea and warps it in his own way, which usually makes a worse product than the original, especially since the year 2000.

Non-Linearity 12/15
Quite non-linear, no two games will be alike, either by random events or player choices. Although, it becomes a bit repetitive after a while, there is not enough variety in the Sims to get a perfect score here, but it does get a higher score than most games.

Interpretation 10/15
I think the interpretation of the idea went pretty well for the technology at the time. There is no voice acting at all though, just some dumb SimTalk which means nothing and it's not very interesting... but it's a cheap way to make an internation game.

Completion 1/5
Like I said, upon launch, the game was rather shallow, after several hours, you had pretty much explored what the game had to offer. This is quite unfortunate since it is a great idea that is well interpreted with lots of potential. The fact that they released so many add-ons and expansion packs just shows how much they concentrate on making money rather than complete games, which is most unfortunate.

70/100 a decent game a MUST rent... if you like addictive simulations or raising/training games this is your game and is a must buy. If you're the kind of person who prefers to do the things in real life rather than a geekish no-life virtual world, then this is not for you, but try it at least. Don't download the game, buy it, the complete version with all the expansion is available for purchase at a quite low price. If you have The Sims 2 and which to complete the collection, I highly recommend it, that way you can see from where it started to where it is now. :)