The Sims (Mac)

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Product Details

• Our recommended age: 12 - 20 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 0 months and up
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004TFJC
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.2 x 1.8 inches ; 15 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 25, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,173 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Video Games > Mac Games > Simulation > Life
  #13 in	Video Games > Mac Games > Strategy

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
The idea behind The Sims is this: the ultimate goal of life is to achieve happiness, and the way to achieve happiness is to satisfy your Sims' needs. That's right, The Sims allows you to create, direct, and manage the lives of SimCity's residents. Each need (Hunger, Comfort, Hygiene, Bladder, Energy, Fun, Social, and Room) can be met by interaction with other Sims or objects: throw a party with the help of a rockin' stereo system, and watch your Sims' Social and Fun ratings improve. Have one of your Sims whip up some food from the refrigerator, and you'll satisfy the Hunger needs of your guests. Or have your Sim engage another Sim in a game of chess: not only will their Fun and Social moods improve, both Sims will gain some points in their Logic skill rating--which might help on the job.

Mismanage your new, simulated family, and you'll be faced with the worst of MTV's The Real World--with a touch of teenage angst drama thrown in for good measure: jealousies will ignite, fights will break out, jobs will be lost, and the house will fall apart. Bringing about such a calamity is almost as much fun as guiding these Sims to material paradise, and takes considerably less time.

A good general rule is that the more expensive the object, the better its ability to satisfy Sim needs. One gameplay goal is to improve your Sim so he or she can climb the career ladder, which nets him or her more money, which allows the purchase of higher quality stuff, which lets you improve your Sim even more. Eventually, your Sim will have a mate, kids, and a mansion with an indoor pool.

Before you decide how to fix your Sims' health and happiness, you need to craft each of your simulated people: pick a name and a gender, decide on personality/astrological sign, and then choose a look from a variety of heads, bodies, and skin tones. After the creation, the next step is to find a place to live. Again, the player can choose from among the empty houses in the neighborhood or decide to buy some land and design a dream house. Building houses is a blast, and the easy-to-use house design interface could almost be its own game: players design the floor plan, put up walls, pick carpet, wallpaper, and siding, and fill the house with furniture, decorations, fixtures, and appliances. You're limited only by your imagination--and your Sims' pocketbook. But the choices you make in designing and decorating your Sims' house are vital.

Triumph or tragedy, each significant event in a Sim's life is captured in a snapshot and saved in a photo album for later viewing. Players can also take photos any time they wish. The photo album feature is cool by itself, but the best part is that you can upload the album to www.thesims.com and share your Sims' sagas with the world. Entire families can also be uploaded and downloaded, as can houses. Want to re-create and manage your own version of Friends? Download the free face and body editor and make Sim clones of Ross, Rachel, and the rest. Want to go really crazy and perfectly re-create the set? Snag the free wall and floor texture editor. With The Sims, you can create whatever--and whomever--you desire.

Toying with the lives, successes, and emotional states of dozens of little Sims is undeniably fun. In the same way that SimCity players develop a condescending attitude toward real-world city planners, The Sims players will begin to see life as a series of needs-satisfying challenges; the game gets in your head. But that's OK: limitless gameplay, endless variety, cool Internet features, and the ability to play matchmaker/landlord/counselor/God makes The Sims a great way to increase your own Fun score. --Mike Fehlauer

Pros:

• Unique, addictive, fun gameplay
• Included photo album feature records triumphs and tragedies
• Free uploads and downloads expand the game and allow swapping with other players
• Sims are smart--it's sometimes best to just let them act on their own

Cons:

• Addictive gameplay may cause loss of sleep, job
• Complex behavioral modeling program--requires serious computing power
• No pets other than fish

Amazon.com Product Description
From Will Wright, the creator of SimCity, comes a strategy game that hits close to home. You are in charge of a neighborhood of Sims, and it is up to you to show them that they're living in your world now! Force them into a life of crime or help them live life in the fast lane. Build them a sprawling mansion or dump them into a dilapidated shack. Let them party like swinging singles or fall in love, get married, and raise a family. They can live out your wildest dreams or experience your worst nightmares. It is up to you to decide--their fate is in your hands.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my laptop battery is running low, November 15, 2000

By	turtley "bibliophile" (planet claire) - See all my reviews

Be very careful with this game. It is so much fun and so addicting that you will find all your conversations beginning with : "Guess what my sims did today?" I have had this for 2 weeks now and most of my spare time is spent playing the game. I do not normally play video/computer games! It is complex, challenging and SO MUCH FUN.

Create ex-boyfriends - stick them in a room, then delete the door. Watch them die! (if you have a sick sense of humor). Make all the women sims fall in love with each other! Think before you have a baby. You'll never have fun or peace and quiet again.

You can drag your mp3s into the music folders (music->stations->rock or latin, country, classical) and have the sims listen to the music you want!

For the mac version, to use the cheat to get more simoleons : hold down shift+command+c in the upper left corner you'll get a window, type in rosebud. This cheat is wonderful if you like to build big impressive houses, castles with moats even! Why make your sims work when they can be millionares and concentrate all energy on falling in love?! If you aren't a cheater then buy a computer which makes job hunting so much easier. Find the cheat to see your sims au natural online...

This game is sooooo addicting that you may find yourself dreaming of sims - thinking of things to do to them while you are away from your computer and then wondering how _your_ bladder is doing!

Love, life, food, death, drama, music, money! What more could you want?

I can't wait for Livin' Large to arrive at my door!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive fun for a wide range of ages, December 28, 2000

By	Donna Pistole (Durham, NH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought the Sims for my 16-year-old daughter for Christmas. Both she and my 20-year-old son home from college for the holidays have had a blast with it. They've both played it individually for so many hours that it's already paid for itself. When they sit down together with it, the comments and laughter that flow from them are a delight. I have spent a bit of time with it, mostly creating and recreating a house (I made it so big the first time that I had no money left over to buy a toilet - my Sim would not have lasted long, I think....). You buy or create your own house and furnish it; create your character(s) [physical aspects, personality]; see to their needs, have them do all sorts of things from dance to tickle to take a shower and get a job. In addition, the computer generates random events (burglars, for example, and visits by other Sim characters). It's a pretty complex and involving game. In fact, be sure that you have enough RAM to play it properly (it works smoothly on my PowerPC 8600 and my son's G3 powerbook, but I'm having to buy additional memory for my daughter's iMac). My one complaint is that you have to have the CD in your machine in order to play, which means only one person can use the game at a time; I assume this is essesntially copy-protection, but does the manufacturer really expect you to buy the game separately for eachperson in a single family? I do highly recommend the game.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drag me away! I need to sleep, eat, bathe, relax,, August 7, 2000

By	[e-mail] (SAN DIEGO, CA) - See all my reviews

Not to mention social interaction, empty my bladder and clean the house. The only thing I am not needing is fun! This game is great. I played it here and there on the PC version, waiting for the Mac version to come out and now that it has, I might not emerge from the computer room til Christmas! I pre-ordered this and what a surprise when the box arrived at my work. I eagerly took it home and after a couple of initial problems, got it to work fine. Here, I am GOD. It didn't take long to figure out how to make these sims fall in love, marry, get all the spouse's money and then kill them. There are several ways to kill a Sim, figuring it out, or stumbling across this is a bit of fun. I have a household with four people who are all in love with the other three. Glee. Getting them to stop slapping each other and having social interaction, stay in love and not making the other Sims mad is quite a challenge. But FUN FUN FUN. I highly recommend this game, even more so for those with a slightly evil sense of humor. The possibilities are limitless. Also, Alex, the game just came out for the Mac, The PC version had no downloads for the first few weeks. Don't worry, in short time, there will be fan sites, official downloads etc. (they have already put up the moosehead and the first game update to version 1.1.1). BUY THIS AND NEVER SEE DAYLIGHT AGAIN!