The Sims: Bustin' Out
- December 16, 2003 00:11 AM PST
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Sim-questing and the ability to visit other houses is nice, but it?s still mostly the same ol? Sims.
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Bustin? Makes You Feel Good
The Sims: Bustin? Out is essentially a further extension of the ?Get A Life? mode from the original console Sims game. Instead of spreading your attention across several Sims, you focus on only one and his ?quest? to (A) get promoted, (B) perform tasks in order to unlock more items and Sim moods, and (C) stop the greedy Malcolm Landgrabb from terrorizing the Sim community. The big hook is that you?re free from the confines of just one house: Now you can visit any location you?ve unlocked at any time and even permanently move in if your career path points you in that direction. It finally brings some meaning to the job you choose for your Sim.
The new hook is only marginally successful. While the game is paced well enough so that you do, indeed, want to accomplish these pseudo-RPG-ish goals (people turned off by the original Sims may actually like this one better simply because there?s a point), the problem is that The Sims core gameplay wasn?t really designed with single-character, goal-oriented gameplay in mind. Square peg, round hole?you know how it goes.
Similarity
The presentation and control scheme are about identical to those in the original console incarnation of The Sims?nice but slightly sloppy 3D graphics, generic-sounding (though endearingly intentionally so) pop-rock soundtrack, and the jabbering Sim-speak that?s become an audio icon in the mainstream game universe. The control scheme works nicely during day-to-day play but starts to get messy once you decide it?s time to build a house from the ground up.
Every version has its strong suit: The Xbox version has the smoothest graphics and fastest loading; the GameCube version links up with the Game Boy Advance version to enable object trading and Animal Crossing?style visits; and the PS2 version lets you trade unlocked objects and visit other online players? games if you have the Network Adaptor. Of the three, only the PS2 version seems prone to annoying split-second jitters and pauses that break up the animation.
Oh, Life Is Bigger
If you?re a Sims fan, Bustin? Out will hold your attention for a while, but it?s certainly not the second coming that Sims 2 promises to be. Yeah, the Sims finally get to move out?but it?s really about time they moved on.
