The Sims Deluxe Edition

Published by EA Games
Developed by Maxis
Platform: PC CD-ROM
Price £34.99
Released: Out Now

What can you say about The Sims that hasn't already been said? The people simulator created by Will Wright has taken the world by storm and sold more copies than any other PC game in history. But what if you're among the very small amount of gamers who for some reason have yet to experience The Sims, or maybe you've always played the game on a friends PC and now finally you want your own copy. Well EA have made The Sims doubly attractive with The Sims Deluxe Edition.

So what does this Deluxe Edition contain then? Well for starters it contains the original The Sims and the first expansion disk, The Sims 'Livin' It Up. You also get The Sims Creator, which allows you to make a custom Sim and even add your own face to a Sim head, and you also get an additional 25+ exclusive new objects and 50+ clothing styles. Let's look at these features in a little more detail.

The Sims

In case you've been on the moon for the last 3 years we'll give a very brief rundown of what The Sims is about. The Sims is a people simulator. Basically you create a Sim, move them in to a home and look after their needs. You don't control your Sim directly but you give them orders and attempt to steer them on the correct path. Essentially though Sims have a mind of their own and they have to be in the correct frame of mind to carry out the orders you give to them.

Each Sim has the following needs: Hunger, Comfort, Hygiene, Bladder, Energy, Fun, Social, and Room. Most of these are self-explanatory. Bladder for instance indicates when your Sim will need to go to the toilet. If your Sim's Social rating becomes too low they will get depressed so it's best to make sure they have company from time to time. Room is a reflection of what your Sim thinks of the room he/she is currently in. You can improve a room rating by buying better furniture or items but of course you'll need money for this.

When you first begin a game of The Sims, and create your family/single Sim, you'll have 20,000 simoleans (the currency in Sim world) to spend. This money will buy you a house, or a plot of land on to which you can build a house, and the basic items that you need for your Sim such as a toilet, fridge, bed, television etc. This money won't stretch very far though and you'll soon be looking for employment. Jobs can be found by reading the newspaper or searching the Internet on a PC (if you bought one that is). Should you accept a job your Sim will disappear for a certain amount of time per day to go to work. You don't actually see your Sim at work though. There are many different careers in the game and they all have requirements for moving up the career ladder. These promotions are dependent upon a certain level of one of your Sims personal skills (Cooking, Mechanical, Charisma, Body, Logic and Creativity all of which can be improved in the home by interacting with various objects), the amount of friends you have and the happiness of your Sim. Every three days you'll receive your bills, so making money is a must.

Your Sim can fall in love, get married and have children (that never grow up). Children have to go to school though and don't get to hang around the house all day. You can start the game with a full family if you wish but maintaining control of more than one character can be confusing to begin with, although you can pause the game and dish out the orders if you want to. Relationships between the Sims in the game are perhaps one of the main gameplay elements and each of the Sims has a different personality so finding the right Sim to get along with in your neighbourhood can be a tricky business.

Although the game is essentially a single player game, many Sims can be created and placed into the same neighbourhood. This means that other players can put characters into your neighbourhood and have their Sim interact with your Sim, which can be great fun. This means it's possible to play your game and find that your Sim has made new friends whilst you've been away. Having multiple players participating in one neighbourhood can make the process of making friends very easy indeed.

One of the appealing features of The Sims is that its gameplay is open ended. There are no set goals for you to achieve. You don't have to get a good job if you don't want to. Basically speaking it's the PC version of a soap opera where you decide what happens to your Sim. Jealous fights and loving relationships are all possibilities and just some of the reasons why the game just keeps on selling. Of course the prolific releases of the expansion packs is another reason for constant sales and the first of these is included in the Deluxe Edition.

The Sims 'Livin' It Up

The first expansion and it addressed the most common complaint. Not long after its release most players of The Sims wanted either a bigger neighbourhood or multiple neighbourhoods. This expansion added four extra neighbourhoods, making a total of five. The disappointment came when you realised that each of the neighbourhoods were identical, except for the fact that the Goth and Newbie families didn't appear on the extra ones.

The expansion pack also provides extra careers such as a journalist, slacker and hacker. There's extra carpets, wallpapers and household furniture. There's extra Sim clothes and heads etc., that will help you make your new Sims look even better. For those really smoochy Sims a vibrating love bed was also included for enhanced bed-time activity. A robotic maid called Servo has been included to help with those household chores. There are even a range of wacky characters, such as the grim reaper and the clown who appears if you become too depressed. Purchasing a lamp and cleaning it can bring forth a genie. He'll give you a choice of what you want but be warned as your wish doesn't always go as planned. Livin' It Up was a good first expansion pack, not as good as some of the latter ones such as The Sims Unleashed and The Sims Superstar, but nevertheless it was a good one.

The Sims Creator

Don't like the look of the Sims that are available when you are creating your own characters? Well The Sims Creator is for you. Not only can you create a Sim of your own, with the clothes you want, you can also put your own face onto the Sim. This certainly seems a brilliant addition. However in practice this is very difficult to do with some of the head models, as the image you put on the face often leaks onto the back of the head. Some head models were fine though. You can even add logos to the Sims clothing if you wish or modify some existing clothing with the paint tools provided. The manual does a good job of explaining how to use The Sims Creator software so you needn't worry if you're the kind of person who usually finds this kind of software complicated. If you want your Sims to have that custom look this is the software to do it with.

New or existing Sims player?

There is no doubt about it if you don't own a copy of The Sims, and are interested in purchasing it, the Deluxe Edition is absolutely a must as it represents outstanding value. In addition to what I've mentioned above the pack also includes 25+ objects and 50+ clothing styles that you won't find anywhere else. If you already own The Sims, but don't own the expansion pack, then the choice is a little less straightforward. Personally I would say it's worth it for existing owners of The Sims providing you don't own the Livin' It Up expansion (which is very difficult to get hold of now) and will make good use of The Sims creator.

Overall Game Rating: 9.0/10
Quite simply a superb package for anyone looking to purchase The Sims for the first time.

Deaf Gamers comment:
The Sims is absolutely fine for deaf gamers. The conversations are all depicted via icons and all important noises, such as the telephone rings are shown visually by the use of sound arcs.