I decided to go ahead and review an older game for two reasons: One, I just found my old DS and my games. Two, to improve my reviewing skills. Bonus, I just wanted to.
No, no, this game is an actual game, where you get engrossed in inconvienent alien invasions, goths who are obsessed with eggplant-colored lipstick, making some sick beats, and gambling. Lots of gambling.
For this blog post's sake, I chose Create-A-Sim and started a new game. This is where things start off. You see the bad Sim graphics right away when you name your Sims and choose a hairstyle. Unlike most modern Sims games you have a disappointing amount of hairstyles, most of which come with an ugly hat you can't customize in any way. But, that's enigmatic.
You also get a disappointing amount of face styles, but again, it's not that important. Plus, they're not as awful as the hair. As for the clothes, you actually get a good selection. You have your shirts and pants and full outfits, along with sleepwear, formal and swimwear. So the clothes aren't as lacking. (But compared to Sims 2 PC and...Every other Sims game, there aren't as many options.)
And the last step of Create-A-Sim, personality. Because this isn't a make-your-sim-have-a-family-game, the Family Aspiration isn't available. Only Fortune, Popularity, Romance and Party. They all have their advantages in the game; I chose to go with Popularity, because you can enhance your relationship with others quicker, which is needed when you start the actual game.
Finally, you begin the game. You find yourself in Strangetown with a broken-down car talking to some angry dude named Jebediah S. Jerky. And the wacky Sims game starts.
Basically, the hotel caretaker runs off, leaving the hotel of Strangetown in your care. Now, it's not as lame as it may sound, so don't judge it just yet.
There are a few things totally new to The Sims which are worth mentioning. One of them being that this game doesn't run on Sims time, it runs on real time, so when a guest comes to the hotel to stay, they actually stay for three real days. This gets very annoying. In another review of this game, the reviewer said that it seems like the makers wanted you to pick up the game and play it for five minutes, put it down, and pick it up the next day and play it again. That is sort of a good way to explain it, only if you don't like all the extras.
Another thing you don't have to keep up with your Sims needs. You just have to keep up with the Sanity Bar. Which can be replenished with eating and peeing and, of course, gambling.
And of course there are the biggest differences. You actually have a main game. You have to rent out your rooms, keep the hotel clean, protect the town from aliens and who-knows-what-else and that's the best difference. As you progress you get more extras and things of the like, and that's my favorite part. You learn about the "secrets" and make friends with people like Goopy. Yes, Goopy.
You get guests who are somewhat "Evil" and give you missions to do. Those can be annoying, but just because they're incredibly easy. There are very few hard challenges, but I assure you, they're all fun and entertaining. *I don't own the picture below.
Even after you finish the game there are things to do. Friendly ghosts like to visit and people always check into your hotel, so you have that to look forward to at least.
A part from the bad graphics, real time, practically no customizing to anything, and it's really hard to earn skill points and interact with other Sims successfully, it's a really fun and entertaining game. As any Sims game would be. It's different then the other Sims games, so if you only like building houses and killing Sims on torturous deaths of awesomeness, then this game isn't for you...But if you wish The Sims had more of a main game and you like the idea of having missions and being Ratman, this is the game for you.
Pure Gamer's Rate: 3 stars
