The URBZ: Sims in the City

This time, it's Sims in the concrete jungle?and the resizzults are dope, yo!

The Sims keep going on; now they have to keep on keepin' on. In the latest installment of the long-running relationship simulator, The Urbz: Sims in the City, the gibberish-spouting creatures have taken it from the relative safety of the 'burbs--provided you leave the ladder in the pool--to the buzz of the big city, with its neon lights and wide variety of city dwellers. As a result, the locations and other "Urbs" they meet have the tendency to be varied in appearance and personality, which isn't an unwelcome change from previous takes on the concept.

Urbz and Spice

Reputation is key to rising in social circles, and The Sims have always centered on that aspect. In The Urbz, the main goal is to make relationships with the 45 Urbs inhabiting the world and earn money through different jobs. However, you have to play chameleon more than ever: When you hit Kicktail Park, for instance, hanging with the punkier skaterz crowd means your efforts will be on board tricks and more physical skills. Cozmo Street is more musical and you'll make time with Black Eyed Peas (yes, those Black Eyed Peas--and the band's music in Simlish is hysterical.)

Keepin' It Real?Virtually

By building your relationships, new social skills and moves help you make friends in each district. There are many challenges that come up along the way, which is where your XAM device comes in handy: It's your PDA, phone, text messenger, and overall status checker, giving you info on how your relationships are coming together (and where you need to make more effort), the inventory of items to customize your world and, most importantly, to see what goals you have left to achieve in each zone. Oh, and again you need to balancing your main needs, such as eating, sleeping and, uh, personal hygiene.

Diggin' the Scene

The Urbz is virtually identical on each system, with some minor consideration for hardware differences. Unfortunately, there's a lot of repetition of sound and animations as you pursue relationships, though the addition of new actions along the way opens up new animations. Also, the jobs you take are different in each district, but the control-pad actions are the same: You need to reproduce four-button sequences as they appear onscreen, which quickly moves from challenging to tedious (though necessary if you're going to earn enough Simoleans to buy items necessary to enhance your rep). The Urbz offers a nice, fresh twist on the Sims experience, for both veterans and newbies alike. Yet, despite seeing the goofy characters in a new fish tank, there isn't enough freshness throughout to keep you down wid it. It's not bad, it's just not baaad?you feel me?

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