The Urbz: Sims in the City (PS2)

Author's product rating:   

Gameplay/Playability	Excellent - great gameplay & playability
Graphics	Good graphics
Sound	Good sound effects & music
Value for Money

Advantages:	easy to pick up, addictive
Disadvantages:	bit too addictive, limited appeal?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I vowed never to get addicted to another Sim game after ‘Bustin’ Out’, as it put considerable strain on my relationships with real people, as I’d picture them all with blue diamonds above their heads, and hear them all talking in Simlish.

However, ever since I saw the advertisement for The Urbz just before Christmas, even my intense hatred for Black Eyed Peas couldn’t keep me away from it. I finally picked it up last week on sale for under £20, and, as with most Maxis Sim games, it’s been worth it, as it’s a bit too addictive.

WHAT SORT OF GAME IS IT?

This is a sim game, as in a ‘simulation’ of real life. There are loads of these games around, such as Theme Park World and Theme Hospital, but the most famous ones are the Sim series from EA Games. They started out with Sim City, where you had to build your own city and keep the inhabitants happy. They then moved onto simply The Sims, where you just had to keep one (or more if you could be bothered) Sim happy.

The first time my friend Paul told me about The Sims, I thought what an utterly pointless pursuit it would be, and then I spent about eight hours solid playing it.

DO I HAVE TO HAVE PLAYED THE OTHER SIMS GAMES TO ENJOY THIS?

Not at all, it isn’t an add-on pack, and there’s no storyline you have to follow which goes through the games. Obviously playing the other Playstation 2 Sims games (‘The Sims’ and ‘The Sims Bustin’ Out’) will be good practice as the controls are the same, but otherwise it’s a standalone, which is an expansion on the other Sims games.

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT TO THE SIMS GAMES ON THE PC, OR THE OTHER PLAYSTATION SIMS GAMES?

The PC games, and all their expansion packs, I always found addictive for a while, but basically a bit boring after two weeks. The lack of goals to work towards meant the games were basically like having human virtual pets, and I’d usually end up trying to kill as many as possible, and then building huge graveyards, and getting the ghosts to haunt the newer Sims.

Once The Sims moved to PS2, they added more goals to work towards; in the first game, the aim was to keep your Sim happy enough in their work to get them to get married, pack the kids off to private school, and then retire early. Bustin Out was basically the same, except you could move to more different houses, each one with its own career path.

The Urbz is yet another expansion on this theme, with your Urb being able to move to different districts with different jobs, only this time you’re not aiming to retire early, but to be the coolest Urb in the city. To do this you build ‘reputation’

Other than that, there are slight changes to the way you play. The ‘needs’ of each Sim have gone down from eight to five (they’ve taken away comfort, surroundings, and socialisation). The career paths are slightly differently executed, and are a definite improvement. Of course, there are loads of new objects to play with and buy, but to be more realistic, each area has a shop where you buy things, with each area having slightly different things to buy.

WHAT IS THE BASIC STORYLINE?

It’s VERY basic. You’re the new Urb in the city, and Darius is the coolest Urb. You have to build enough reputation to become cooler than Darius, and then you can nick his penthouse.

There are little side stories as you go along, but really they fall into ‘missions’ and don’t add anything to the story. Then again, we’re not playing a Sim game for the twists and turns in the plot are we?

I’VE NEVER PLAYED ANY SIMS GAMES BEFORE, AND I’M LOST.

Okay, let’s go through this one step at a time. Feel free to skip the next few questions if you know what a Sims game involves.

WHAT NEEDS DO THESE ‘URBZ’ HAVE?

They’re just like us! There are five basic needs; toilet, hygiene, energy, fun and food. The little green bars become red as their needs get more urgent, and if it goes totally red, the light will flash and your Urb will get more and more upset; if the toilet bar flashes, they’ll wet themselves, if the food bar flashes for too long they’ll die, if the energy bar flashes, they’ll fall asleep, and if the fun or hygiene bar flashes, well, they’ll be unhappy!

The five needs together make up the Urb’s mood, shown by a face in a red/green circle. There are about five expressions, going from a frown to a huge beaming smile, and this reflects what needs your Urb has.

Social needs are not taken into consideration in The Urbz as in other Sims games. They won’t get grumpy if they don’t talk to other people, as long as their other needs are met. However, socialising is still important, but we’ll talk about that in a minute.

IT SOUNDS A BIT BORING HAVING TO TELL SOMEONE TO GO TO THE TOILET FOR KICKS!

It’s something you’ll either love or hate, and whilst I love it, my husband can’t see the point.

HOW DO THE CAREER PATHS WORK IN THIS ONE THEN?

The thing I always hated about the other games was the fact if you went to work needing the toilet or some food, you came home with the same needs, and it didn’t really make sense. In The Urbz, each career can be done whenever you like between the hours of 4 am and 11 pm, and don’t take all day any more.

To start a career, you need to find the object with a yellow Simolean (the currency in Sim world) floating over it. When you click on it, it will give you the option ‘Take a job’, and then the three levels of career for that area. You must do a successful day of level one before level two is open, and so on.

Each career path works in the same way. The first level of job has three needs which must be satisfied, in much the same way as the Urb’s needs. One is always to construct something, like fireworks, sushi, whatever. This is done by pressing the buttons shown on screen in the right order, in a similar manner to a dancing game. The other two needs are random, and might include hygiene, energy, staying cool, keeping tidy, and so on.

In the second level, socialisation is added, and in the third level you get an assistant who has his own random need to be fulfilled. If it sounds complicated, don’t worry, it’s very well explained within the game, and each time you take a job, it will ask if you want an explanation.

The careers vary depending on the area. For example, Central Station is a punk area, so your job there is a piercer, and Cosmo Street is where Black Eyed Peas hang out, so your job there is a bartender. Some of the jobs sound a bit strange, like making fireworks, or taming ferrets, but they’re all basically the same thing.

HOW DO I BUILD MY REPUTATION, AND WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Rep is built by socialising with people. Each area has six characters, one who owns the place where you work, one who owns the clothes shop, and four others. Becoming friends with them will unlock different missions and social interactions.

There is a line above the needs bars which gets filled with yellow stars. The number is based on your relationship level with all the people you’ve met. Once the bar is full of stars, you unlock something else; a new level, a new ‘backstage’ area, a new place to live and so on.

Building rep is the only way to carry on with the game once you’ve started, as without more rep, you can’t go to new areas, buy upgrades for your skill building equipment, or get in any backstage areas.

WHY IS THERE A CLOTHES SHOP?

Each area has its own style, and without looking like the other people in the area, they won’t interact with you, and you won’t be allowed past the bouncer. The clothes cost money, but usually having the right shirt for the area is enough, so you don’t have to waste too much money. It’s fun changing your clothes though, especially when you have enough money to just buy everything, and enough reputation that you can wear anything and no one cares.

WHAT ARE THESE BACKSTAGE AREAS YOU MENTIONED?

In each area is an area protected by a bouncer. To get past him and to the good stuff, you’ll need enough rep and the right clothes. Once you get past the bouncer, you can go after midnight and meet Darius, who will give you ‘power socials’ to try out on other Urbs, and on the ‘enemies’ in each area.

POWER SOCIALS?

These are special social interactions which are very powerful, and require an object to do them. If you run out of objects, you can do a ‘dumpster dive’ and try and find some more, or Darius will give you them. To start a power social, it is like any other interaction, but then you are given a grey bar, and you must press the X button at the right time. Again, it’s well explained within the game.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK AND SOUND LIKE?

There is an amazing amount of detail, which unfortunately makes the loading times pretty long, and I’ve even had the whole game crash when there’s a lot on screen, which is annoying.

However, the graphics themselves are a notch up from those on Bustin’ Out, and everything looks more ‘realistic’, if you can really say that. The game has a definite style to it, which isn’t photorealistic by any means, but still feels real when playing it.

The sound can become annoying, as like all other Sims games, they speak Simlish, a curious English sounding language that doesn’t have any words. Amazingly all the songs are also in Simlish, even those by Black Eyed Peas, who re-recorded some songs for the game.

HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY PLAY IT? HOW EASY IS IT TO PICK UP?

It’s very easy. The left analogue stick moves the cursor, and the X button selects an object. Then you can move through the options brought up, and then select the one you want. L1 pauses, for those moments where you need more time, and R1 speeds up, for when you are sick of waiting. Other than that if you need to press circle, square or triangle, it’ll tell you on screen.

The square button opens the XAM, which is a type of mobile phone, inventory and goal list in one. It’s easy to use, has a help feature, and can be customised. Without it, you’d be a bit lost.

WHAT SORT OF MISSIONS DO YOU HAVE TO DO?

Each level has similar missions, which fall into three categories;

1. To unlock new areas or careers – five goals, which include getting enough rep to open the next area, enough rep to open the backstage area, and completing each of the three jobs.
2. To unlock five new social interactions – become friends with two named characters from the area, and complete the three jobs.
3. To get some cash – between 2 and 4 missions, one of which is to defeat the villain in each area. The others are interacting with named characters in different ways, such as stink bombing, kissing, or mugging them.

ARE THERE MULTIPLAYER OR ONLINE MODES?

There is a two player option, but no online mode. I don’t really know how this would work as a two player game, but if I ever find anyone to play it with me, I’ll update this.

IS IT ENHANCED WITH AN EYE TOY, DANCE MAT, OR ANY OF THE OTHER BEWILDERING ADD ONS?

It is indeed eye toy enhanced, but not very much. You can’t put your face over your Urb, which is a crying shame. What you can do however, is change the image on the posters all over town; at the start of the game, Darius is everywhere, but then as your rep builds, you start appearing all over. However, if you want to change that completely and just have shots from your eye toy all over the game, you can do that, and even have ‘humorous’ shots of yourself. My current one is me with a comical black moustache and hat a la Pringles man. It’s great fun, for about five minutes.

IS THERE ANYTHING I NEED TO DO OR TO COLLECT IF I WANT TO BE A COMPLETIST?

You can move onto new areas simply by building rep, but you do need the money from the jobs to stay alive too. Each villain will drop a piece of ‘Darius’ secret machine’ when you defeat them, and when you defeat all of them, you unlock his penthouse, and can go and live there. Other than that, to be a completist, you’ll probably want to complete all the goals, and to be a perfectionist, you can get your relationship with everyone at maximum (100) and buy all the outfits. Other than that, there’s not much else you can do.

HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO TAKE ME TO COMPLETE IT, AND IS THERE ANY INCENTIVE TO PLAY IT AGAIN ONCE I FINISH IT?

I completed it in about ten hours, and I’m playing again with a male instead of a female, but after that, I can’t see myself playing it again, or even trying to get a prefect game on this one. It’s very hard getting everyone to like you at maximum without upsetting other people in the meantime.

YOU SEEM TO LIKE THIS GAME, IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT?

Apart from the loading times, no, it’s a perfect game of its kind, and a great way to kill a few hours. It’s the best Sims game so far, as it’s the most goal oriented and the most realistic. I especially like the career paths, and the way if you fancy having your Sim working on their skills for a bit, they don’t start beefing about being lonely.

Another great feature I haven’t been able to mention until now, is the changing weather. To be honest I didn’t notice for ages, but as well as the sun setting and rising, the weather also changes, most noticeably when it rains, and all the Urbz put things over the heads and run about.

WHY ARE THE BLACK EYED PEAS SCATTERED SO ANNOYINGLY THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE GAME?

I can’t answer this one, but it was very gratifying spraying paint on Fergie and getting paid $1000 for it.