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The Sims Bustin' Out Review for PlayStation 2 (PS2)
Posted on Thursday, January 01, 2004 @ 03:21:23 pm E.S.TThe Sims made its first appearance in the gaming world over three years ago. When The Sims craze hit, it spread like a bad virus throughout the PC gaming world, thus making a console counterpart inevitable. Surprisingly, over these three years, nothing has really been done to truly evolve the game. Although Maxis has made steps in the right direction with the various PC expansions, the basics of the game have never changed. The latest installment, The Sims: Bustin’ Out is the series’ second endeavor at console excellence, and is undeniably another step in the right direction.
Graphically, The Sims has never made jaws drop. While Bustin’ Out doesn’t do a great deal to improve on this, it does boast a plethora of amusing animations. Your Sims become much more pleasing to watch, as they complete basic tasks in their day to day life, this is due, almost entirely to the countless number of animations. Bustin’ Out easily accommodates these numerous animations simply due to the fact that there’s much more for your Sims to interact with. These visuals remain pretty consistent, albeit the occasional stutter during double time or while rotating the camera.
Bustin' Out allows your Sims to cruise from place to place in some nice rides.
As far as sound, there isn’t very much to say. While there is no real soundtrack here, you’ll hardly notice. Your Sims, no matter what, live a pretty busy life. Due to this, they are often chatting or making a clatter with various items, making the need for a soundtrack diminish to basically none. Once you become involved with the gameplay, you’ll find that you care much less about the sound and visuals, and become quite involved with your Sims' life.
Bustin’ Out features two key modes of gameplay: the classic “free-build” mode and the all new Bust Out mode. Both of these modes are very interesting, and have their pros and cons. Either way, you’ll start out by creating your Sim. This time around, you’ll find even more options in the customization of your Sim, including more clothing choices right down to facial features. Although the PC installments of The Sims still feature many more options, Bustin' Out is a definate improvement when compared to previous console installments of The Sims. Upon completion of your Sim you’ll begin playing the game.
Bust Out is the newest improvement to the gameplay of The Sims. In this mode, you start out as an average young Sim living with your mother. Soon, you are told to get a job, and make a life for yourself. The game begins by having you select from a wide variety of careers. Immediately after this, you move in with a friend and begin making your way from rags to riches. As you learn new skills and earn promotions you’ll unlock new items, actions, job classes and even places to visit. Along the way, you’ll also have a list of goals to complete, an element of gameplay entirely new to the Sims series. This mode alone should keep any interested gamer entertained for quite some time, due to the wide range of goodies to be unlocked and the various locations you can gain access to through different career choices. Even after the most hardcore players think they’ve done all they can with Bustin’ Out, the classic free-build mode will be waiting, and it is just as enjoyable as ever.
A dive like this could be painful.
The Sims reputation was built around its free-build mode, which originally, was the only mode offered. The premise of this mode is simple, create several families and their homes and start a community. You can truly let your creative mind run free here, as the building options are nearly endless. Homes can vary as you desire, and keeping your various Sims social healths in good standing can be quite a task. The replay value can be endless here, that is, if The Sims Bustin’ Out is really your type of game.
In addition to these modes of play, this particular version offers online play. This supports two players, and disappointingly is more or less a fancy way of trading game data. With the online play you can meet similar Sims and unlock some new items, although there is not much to do. Checking out other homes can be interesting, and the voice support is certainly a nice feature, and although this can be interesting from time to time, the single-player gameplay is much more involved and offers a deeper experience.
What The Sims series has always boiled down to is personal preference. If you have enjoyed the past installments in the series, chances are you’ll enjoy Bustin’ Out just as much, if not more. Although there has never been a better reason to get in on the Sims craze, the gameplay may not be as gripping to fans of more action driven gaming. Fans of the series will want not want to miss The Sims: Bustin’ Out, although there isn’t a whole lot to bring in a new audience of gamers. Review By: Kent Mackowiak - 2525 Reads
The Sims Bustin' Out Review Scores for PS2 :
| Gameplay |
| 9 |
| Graphics |
| 7 |
| Sound |
| 8 |
| Replay |
| 9.5 |
| Overall |
| 8.4 |
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