Sims 1

The Original Sims

It’s been a long time since I played the original Sims games. My mum still plays them, she has always preferred the first to the second and third. The Sims revolutionised video games in my eyes, and since that day I have never stopped exploring new games. It’s thanks to the Sims that I love gaming so much. The Sims 3 pets is coming out soon, so I felt like reminiscing about the old days when Sims was simple.
It wasn’t meant to be the relationship building game that it is today. Originally, it was meant to be based around building houses and architecture, rather than seeing how many Sims your can sleep with in one day (or is that just me?). Building a house for your Sims to live in can take up hours of your time. In this game and the other two it’s very easy to build a house using the wall tool, roof tool and various coverings for the outside of the house. It’s time consuming, but not in a bad or boring way – it’s actually a lot of fun. Aside from torturing and controlling the lives of my Sims, the building was one of the best parts. You could create a massive two story building filled with luxurious furniture and expensive flooring/wallpaper, or you could give you Sims a shabby little shack in which they could hardly move. You can also choose how much land they get to build on, whether it be a humongous lot or a teeny tiny one in the corner of the game map.

Sim Creation

Creating your first Sim is simple. The heads and bodies are not customisable but there is, however, a limited supply of pre-determined ones for you to choose from so it’s simply a matter of choosing a name, skin colour and gender. You are also given an attribute list so that you may decide how neat, playful, active, out-going etc your Sim is. Once that is done you can move them into a lot or house that has been placed in your neighbourhood. Don’t forget, you only start off with 20,000 Simoleons (sp).

Messing around with the lives of your Sims

There aren’t many ways to kill your Sims in this game, but the ways in which they can be killed are rather enjoyable. Starvation and fire are the two main ways in which to murder your Sims and both are equally entertaining (or distressing). Fires can be lit by either placing fireworks indoors (a favourite of mine) or removing the fire alarm when a Sim who can’t cook decides to make dinner. Starvation is caused by removing the fridge from the house.

Forcing your Sims to have affairs with other Sims can create interesting results. A married man can invite his lover into his home to live, and the wife doesn’t always have much to say about the situation. However, once you make the man (or woman) and their lover make out in front of the spouse, Hell is unleashed and the adulterer gets the beating of a lifetime(I find it amusing to say the least).
However, some people like to allow their Sims to live a trouble free, easy life in which there is few problems and they can work hard to earn money for their families, working their way up the career ladder. Several expansion packs include new career paths for Sims to follow, as well as new furniture, flooring and walls. Jobs are highly important for Sims to have and maintain otherwise they will be without income and will likely die from lack of food. Aside from jobs there are few or no other means of earning money (except selling pets in the Unleashed(no pun intended) expansion pack).
A downside to this game is certainly the fact that Sims don’t really age. for example, if you make an adult, that adult is somehow immortal unless murdered or involved in accidental death. If a baby is born, it will only grow into a child(at least in the Sims 2 and 3 your Sims age and are able to create family trees through having children). If your Sim children fail at school they will be sent to military school and never return, so ensure your Sim children do their work and study hard. There are also NPC’s (non-playable characters) wandering around for your Sims to interact with. In a neighbourhood with a few other families that you have created, the NPC’s can provide the social interactions your Sim so sorely needs in order to survive. You’ll find out what I like to do with NPC’s later (head out of the gutter, people).

Valhalla’s Human Zoo
Being the cruel controller of Sims that I am, I often created Human Zoo’s in which the NPC’s and families in my neighbourhood would be trapped as attractions for the family who lived in the house. I would throw a load of parties so that all the NPC’s and residents came over and then trap them in rooms and outdoor fences. The fridge was in the middle of the room with a fence around it (for torture) and those who behaved were allowed access to the luxury room in which there was food, toilet, entertainment and bed which they would never use). When the Sims Unleashed arrived I was able to capture the neighbourhood pets, which I always looked after well. It was a fun little project. Sometimes I would kill them, sometimes I would let them live(it all depended on which ones I liked). There were windows on the inside of the building so that visitors could watch the humans behind bars. The reception desk, I created, would sign visitors in or track them for new stock. Yes, I’m evil to my Sims.

Expansion Packs
The Sims had seven expansion packs, and they are listed below with a little bit of info on each one.

The Sims: Livin’ it Up
- New careers, items and features (such as the chemistry set to turn Sims into Frankenstein monsters)
The Sims: House Party
- Hold awesome parties
- New items (cake with man/woman inside for example)
- Drew Carey guest stars when a party is really good
- The Mime appears at boring parties
The Sims: Hot Date
- Travel to new destinations (Downtown)
- Eat out with other Sims
- Go shopping/carry items in your inventory
- Give your lovers and friends gifts
- New items (love items such as the love bed)

The Sims: On Holiday
- Travel to “Vacation Island” alone or with family and stay away from home for a while
- Go to the beach, forest or mountains
- Buy souvenirs
- New items, characters and vacation features

The Sims: Unleashed
- Become a gardener and harvest your crops
- Neighbourhood expands from 10 lots to 40
- Commercial lots introduced to the main neighbourhood (Coffee shops and pet stores, etc)
- Buy your Sims a pet or two
- Breed your pets
- New NPC’s

The Sims: Superstar
- Become a celebrity
- New items (like the mud bath tub and runway)
- Studio town (like Hollywood) is created, allowing your Sims to shoot films and look popular
- Impersonate famous celebrities like Elvis and Christina Aguilera

The Sims: Makin’ Magic
- Cast spells and brew potions
- Baby dragons can be bought as pets
- New neighbourhood area
- Baking skill
- Hold magic shows
- New items


Gameplay
For the time the graphics and style was something else. It blew my mind and I knew I would never go back to the days where video games didn’t take up a segment in the pie chart of my life. The language of the Sims was inspirational and imaginative; the way they had free will was curious and something I had never seen in a game. I don’t really know how to fault this game, I’m tempted to give it a 10/10 for just being amazing.

Note from Titus:
Being a huge fan of Sims myself I would like to comment on the Gameplay.
Sims is a game that no sane person should be able to live without. It reflects life immensly well and provides players with the means to get back at bullies(in their own way(or is that just me?)) and laugh as they create their favourite characters from books and then dress them up stupidly and parade them around like trained monkeys(poor things). This gives players the godlike control that every being craves in life and is disallowed. The graphics are surprisingly good for a game layout that is not enirely pre-determined.
Despite it being all this is more I don't agree with Valhalla's rating of 10/10. It mimics life to closely, seriously, I see myself in the children when they have tantrums, it disturbs me. I also believe that Valhalla is often to generous with his ratings because he's a big lump of squidge and totally needs a mental workout. I rate this game at a generous GGGGGGGGg( little g = half a Gamer point) because It's a common sort of game these days and I think that the creators need to be more creative and give it something that will totally blow my mind.