Simfantastic 2 - Life Stories Exclusive

Your Sims are living with their own Life Stories!

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On Thursday, December 1, 2006 I attended a Sims Fan Event in Redwood City, California where there were other Sim fans who owned fansites. That was the same date that all of us got to see the Seasons Expansion Pack, which you can read a review here. I was invited (Thanks to MaxoidMel) to this event to get a look of The Sims Stories, which is a new game series for The Sims that is laptop friendly. The game is basically made for new players that want to enter and explore The Sims world, but even if you already are a great fan of the game and you know a lot about it, this new product adds a unique ironic twist to your every day Sim lives. -When viewing the images keep in mind they were taken by a digital camera, and they were cropped. Also note that they were taken by a very reflective screen, so most pictures aren't the best quality.

FEATURES NOT IN THE SIMS 2

Basically this whole game is just a remake of The Sims 2. So if I explained everything that is already in the original game, there would be no point in writing about it. So I'll be starting off with the new features that are exclusively just for The Sims Life Stories.

First of all, the main feature is right in the name of the game, Life STORIES. The Sims Life Stories includes an all new story line to the game. This feature will replace the fears/wants section of your Sim's UI and make it into your Goals with your wants under it. Every time you finish what is required of you, you will see a next Goal make it's way there. There will only be one goal at a time, so you don't need to worry about getting multiple things finished at the same time.

This new feature will make you feel as if you are playing The Sims 2 for PSP or any other Sims game with a storyline, which is the first Sims product made like that for a PC (Laptop). As you progress through these goals and get through different missions of your Sim's life, you will unlock new objects that you can add to your home at any time, like an aspiration rewards panel. More details on the storyline can found further down in this article under the section called STORYLINES.

Another great and useful feature is the use of your laptop's keyboard (or your PC's) with the use of Hotkeys / Keyboard shortcuts. They setup, by default, with certain hotkeys, that when you press one it makes your Sim do a certain command. (For Example: If you wanted your Sim to walk towards a certain object, like a refrigerator and get food, you would press a letter key like "H" and your Sim would automatically get a random meal.) This is very helpful when you don't want to use your mouse to go through any menus.

One last feature before we move on has to deal with your wants. You can now change the order in which your wants appear in, and can move them around. This can help if you want to have an easier view on what you want the most.

(QUICK FACT! The Sims Life Stories is completely a different product from The Sims 2. It is NOT an add-on, Expansion Pack, Stuff Pack, or etc. to the game, it is a whole new game if you want to buy it. That's why it is called The Sims Life Stories, and not The Sims 2 Life Stories)

FEATURES EXCLUDED FROM LIFE STORIES FROM ORIGINAL GAME

Once again this is a completely standalone product. Some features were taken out for your laptops benefit, but doesn't effect much of your customization. One main aspect that may bother most players is the use of custom items. Because this game is made strictly for laptops, most usually aren't the greatest when it comes to powering up a great amount of items. Because of this, Maxis has disabled the use of custom content for this game. So you can't download any items from the web or have your own custom content. To make up for this, you can connect to The Sims Life Stories official site in your game and download only official items for your game. Those will be the only ones to work and they will be free (Unless someone figures out how to break through that).

(QUICK FACT! The Sims Life Stories can be taken on the go. Play all you want from making your own stories, playing the two main stories, or just playing in Free Play mode.)

STORYLINES

The Sims Life Stories adds two main stories that you can play with. They are both separate stories that you must move on in different ways. The first Sim you'll need to play with before you get to the next is Riley. She'll look like just an average Sim when you first see her, but you'll have to play and find out what her life is all about. It's really up to you to decide whether she moves on with her life or not.

The next character you get to play with is Vince. You must finish Riley's story in order to get to his for certain reasons. So if you are into the story playing idea, then he'll give you a good experience on that topic. I can't really say much at all about any of them, but all I know is that they are both an interesting way to start of with The Sims Stories.

In order to finish each story, both stories of Riley and Vince each have 12 missions / chapters to finish before you finish the story of their lives. Once certain goals are finished you will progress in each mission and chapter. If you are an experienced Sim player and know your way around anything Sims can do, you can complete this game in roughly about 8 hours with straight on gameplay. If you don't know much about The Sims, keep your head high and start working because you'll have a lot to learn.

LAST MINUTE COMMENTS

Ok, I think I got everything mentioned that I knew. If I forgot any details I apologize. So overall The Sims Life Stories is aimed to the new type of Sim players, but even if you are a well fan of the game, I suggest it anyway. It was fun to see that you could help a Sim perform specific tasks and help them advance. It truly is a fun game and is a great recommendation to any person. It is aimed towards the new players, though. Also If I'm not mistaken, you can also make your own stories, but the choices you have will be much simpler and limited, as to the 2 main stories. So I hope you have had fun reading this review and hope to see the game in shelves this February of 2007 on the 6th! Go get a grab onto it. Along with Life Stories look for Pet Stories and Castaway Stories coming 2007 - 2008!

Once again I would like to thank MaxoidMel (Used to be Community Manager), MaxoidDrea, MaxoidDano, and all of the other Maxoids and EA workers. I really appreciate the invitation. So thanks to everyone. Well that seems to be it, make sure you check out the following screens and other materials below, and most of all, enjoy!

Written by Michael (Simfantastic 2)

(P.S. Sorry for the delay of the review.)