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IGN Review of The Sims 2: Pets
Unless you've been hiding in a box for the last decade or so, you've heard of The Sims before. The multi-million dollar franchise got its start on PC, and has since progressed in a campaign for worldwide domination, hitting every major console and handheld with variation after variation of Sim goodness. With this being the first of many Sims games on Wii, we weren't sure exactly what to think going into it. Yes, EA is putting its best foot forward (so many times that it's building into a steady jog at this point), but The Sims isn't exactly a high-priority game when balanced against things like Madden, Tiger, SSX, and FIFA, especially when there's a fully-realized Wii-exclusive title in My Sims releasing just around the bend. Pair that in with the fact that The Sims 2: Pets has been out for nearly a year on all other consoles, and you've got a recipe for rushed port goodness.
Surprisingly enough, this isn't the case with The Sims 2: Pets for Wii. Yes it's an uber-casual game, and the hardcore won't want to spend more than 10 minutes looking at the borderline childish content (that's eerily complex, oddly enough), but it's a solid title nonetheless, and one that Sims fans should look out for. The Sims 2: Pets doesn't promise new content or "revolutionary" controls - in fact, we've seen little to no marketing at all from EA on this one - but it does deliver solid IR incorporation into a surprisingly addictive title.
The Sims 2: Pets acts like any other Sims game before it; just with pets this time around. Players enter a fictional city, build houses on various sections of the map, and create Sims to occupy the bungalows. The Sims then interact with each other, get jobs, have a social life, and either flourish or flounder based on your skills as a city management guru. Put the uptight battleaxe of a lady-friend with the chill-lax, nerd-like, gamer-type dude, and you've got trouble. All the while the Sim characters will play out real-world situations like an interactive reality TV show, and you'll have a front-row ticket all the while.
Along with the main Sims characters, players now have the ability to create pets to accompany them. Go with either a cat, dog, or hamster, and your Sim will start taking care of the critter, and even enter them in competitions or take them to the park to interact with other animal owners; saucy. It's a very minimal addition to the formula, but when you consider that The Sims 2: Pets is the first Wii Sims game, and that the core system is entirely in tact (just with animal additions to it), it's still a sound choice. IR is used entirely throughout, making navigation and general gameplay all the more easy. Actually placing items in the creation tool is still done with the analog stick, which we first thought odd, but after creating property for hours on end we quickly realize why you wouldn't want to constantly be steadying your wrist for that long. The game has a strong mix of IR, rumble, and traditional control. Onscreen buttons click with rumble as you move between selections, and menu icons can be manipulated either with the analog stick, d-pad, or directional motion of the Wii remote: Lots of options.
As far as the actual gameplay is concerned, The Sims aims for casual gamers, but doesn't exactly make things simple on them. The game is so deep in its design that you'll need to use every button, read through tutorial sections from time to time, and really take your time to learn the game. This isn't as user-friendly as the future-released My Sims seems to be, and it's definitely one that'd be better for family play, as younger players may get overwhelmed quite quickly. There are also a few general issues with loading, as different furniture menus or clothing items take about two seconds to load between switching, allowing even enough time for an on-screen clock to pop up. It isn't a deal-breaker, but The Sims 2: Pets certainly wasn't optimized for Wii's hardware, as it still runs, plays, and looks like its GameCube and PS2 predecessors.
When it comes to the audio/visual side of The Sims 2: Pets, Wii owners won't likely be too impressed. The game runs in 16:9 and 480p, but there's very little that puts it apart from the previous versions, and it still has the same basic, almost "style-less" feel of The Sims franchise. Characters look decent, though still low-poly for Wii, and there's very little effects animation or engaging visuals at all. The same goes for audio, as there are a few decent tracks of ambient sound to go with the general gameplay, and the pets audio sounds like it was recorded from real-world breeds of animals, but it's still very basic. Granted The Sims has always been about the gameplay and not about the actual audio or visual presentation specifically, but it's still a bit of a letdown overall. Luckily the gameplay holds up on Wii, as this one is fun to play, but nothing special to look at.
©2007, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Surprisingly enough, this isn't the case with The Sims 2: Pets for Wii. Yes it's an uber-casual game, and the hardcore won't want to spend more than 10 minutes looking at the borderline childish content (that's eerily complex, oddly enough), but it's a solid title nonetheless, and one that Sims fans should look out for. The Sims 2: Pets doesn't promise new content or "revolutionary" controls - in fact, we've seen little to no marketing at all from EA on this one - but it does deliver solid IR incorporation into a surprisingly addictive title.
The Sims 2: Pets acts like any other Sims game before it; just with pets this time around. Players enter a fictional city, build houses on various sections of the map, and create Sims to occupy the bungalows. The Sims then interact with each other, get jobs, have a social life, and either flourish or flounder based on your skills as a city management guru. Put the uptight battleaxe of a lady-friend with the chill-lax, nerd-like, gamer-type dude, and you've got trouble. All the while the Sim characters will play out real-world situations like an interactive reality TV show, and you'll have a front-row ticket all the while.
Along with the main Sims characters, players now have the ability to create pets to accompany them. Go with either a cat, dog, or hamster, and your Sim will start taking care of the critter, and even enter them in competitions or take them to the park to interact with other animal owners; saucy. It's a very minimal addition to the formula, but when you consider that The Sims 2: Pets is the first Wii Sims game, and that the core system is entirely in tact (just with animal additions to it), it's still a sound choice. IR is used entirely throughout, making navigation and general gameplay all the more easy. Actually placing items in the creation tool is still done with the analog stick, which we first thought odd, but after creating property for hours on end we quickly realize why you wouldn't want to constantly be steadying your wrist for that long. The game has a strong mix of IR, rumble, and traditional control. Onscreen buttons click with rumble as you move between selections, and menu icons can be manipulated either with the analog stick, d-pad, or directional motion of the Wii remote: Lots of options.
As far as the actual gameplay is concerned, The Sims aims for casual gamers, but doesn't exactly make things simple on them. The game is so deep in its design that you'll need to use every button, read through tutorial sections from time to time, and really take your time to learn the game. This isn't as user-friendly as the future-released My Sims seems to be, and it's definitely one that'd be better for family play, as younger players may get overwhelmed quite quickly. There are also a few general issues with loading, as different furniture menus or clothing items take about two seconds to load between switching, allowing even enough time for an on-screen clock to pop up. It isn't a deal-breaker, but The Sims 2: Pets certainly wasn't optimized for Wii's hardware, as it still runs, plays, and looks like its GameCube and PS2 predecessors.
When it comes to the audio/visual side of The Sims 2: Pets, Wii owners won't likely be too impressed. The game runs in 16:9 and 480p, but there's very little that puts it apart from the previous versions, and it still has the same basic, almost "style-less" feel of The Sims franchise. Characters look decent, though still low-poly for Wii, and there's very little effects animation or engaging visuals at all. The same goes for audio, as there are a few decent tracks of ambient sound to go with the general gameplay, and the pets audio sounds like it was recorded from real-world breeds of animals, but it's still very basic. Granted The Sims has always been about the gameplay and not about the actual audio or visual presentation specifically, but it's still a bit of a letdown overall. Luckily the gameplay holds up on Wii, as this one is fun to play, but nothing special to look at.
©2007, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved