Amazon.com: The Sims Life Stories: PC: Video Games

39 Reviews

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (39 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not great, February 11, 2007

By	Sherry Berry (Elgin, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

I was able to finish both stories in one day. The stories were OK but could be improved. It's good for beginners like another review said but for fans who are used to the usual Sims games, it may seem a bit tedioius. There are some obvious differences in the game, such as the game can be played as "windowed mode", which minimizes it to a smaller screen so the player can e-mail and chat at the same time. While the feature is a nice idea, I find that having such a small screen minimized (esp. for laptop users), makes it harder to find certain objects in a house or character and I just don't even bother playing it in windowed mode. Here are some pros and cons of the game.

Pros:
1. The story mode actually makes the game feel like there's a purpose to it than make babies and get a promotion then die.
2. The stories were decently interesting, although a bit predictable.
3. Riley's story was probably the best since there are some twists to the ending that I kind of saw coming but didn't really see it coming.
4. With Vincent's story, it was more like the user got a nice choice in determining the fate of Vincent. I won't spoil it but I'm interested to play it again just to see the other ending.
5. In free play mode, there are now 4 wants and no fears, which makes it easier to make your sim happy.
6. As you move along in the story, you can get some really, really nice rewards. These rewards can add to the house and not something that would be found in the buy mode.
7. Loading times are so much faster, but that's a given with the laptop-friendly feature.
8. When you create a family in the free play mode, you get 40,000 to start out instead of the usualy 20,000. Then again, the houses are more expensive but they usually include more objects than the Sims 2 game so you don't have to buy everything once you go into the lot.
9. Most sims that are acquired already have a cell phone. otherwise, you don't have to go to a community lot just to buy a cell phone now. It can be bought under the electronics category in buy mode.

Cons:
1. Riley's story ended way too fast. I had a "that's it?" feeling at the end of the story. Like, I got so caught up into the story just to have it end.
2. Vincent's story was longer but it was kind of tedious, doing the same things over and over. It seemed like the creators failed to have a balance of intersting story and length but it's still fun. (HINT: When you get any extra rewards in Vincent's Story, don't place it on the lot anywhere, just keep it in the backpack).
3. No real replay value to the game besides maybe Vincent's story.
4. Seems like the only way to replay a story would be to reset the game by moving the original folder somewhere else and renaming it. No in-game option.
5. You get the same objects and hairstyales and clothing choices as Sims 2, only a lot less of them.
6. After the stories are done, even if the story rewards have been unlocked for Riley and Vincent, it remains locked for the new sims that you create. And there were some pretty nice reward objects as well. Maybe there's a cheat to unlock them but I have yet to see it.
7. Besides story mode, the other aspects of the game is pretty much the same.

Overall, it's a pretty good game. For those who like to torture sims for the fun of it, it's harder to do in story mode since the story won't move forward if you don't complete a goal. So get this game if the pros seem to outweigh the cons for you. In my case, it does.

EDIT: Something else I have noticed... it seems that the sims don't get bills anymore! I love that feature since I always forget about the mailbox when I play Sims 2. With the windowed mode, one thing I have noticed is that the size of it varies from computer to computer. On my boyfriend's computer and my laptop, it's minimized to about 75% or less so it was relatively small on the screen. On my PC, it stretches all the way across the screen. The only annoying thing is that if you move the cursor to the edge of the screen it doesn't scroll through the lot like it used to so it gets annoying trying to get to certain objects. The nanny bug that is infamous in Sims 2 is also in The Sims Life Stories.

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46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, If you haven't played The Sims before, February 18, 2007

By	C. Wiley "nomadic_mouse" (Hideaway, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

My thoughts on this product.
1. OVER PRICED. Not worth the $40s. Might be worth $25 like an expansion of The Sims.
2. MEMORY HOG. I haven't put it on my laptop, but I can see this program would make your system slow to a crawl.
3. Liked the "Goal" part of the game.
4. Liked that relationships didn't deteriorate quickly, if at all, when you haven't contacted a Sim in a while.
5. Liked the story mode. Wish Maxis would add this to Sims 2. Wish they added a "story outline" feature to help user create a goal oriented story.

Over all I wouldn't have purchased it and saved the money for the "Seasons Expansion".
If your new I still would spend the $40s on "The Sims 2" and NOT "The Sims Life Stories".

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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I wish there were more stories, February 9, 2007

By	Michelle "wrestlingprincess" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

I got this game the first day it came out. I have been playing the sims ever since the 1st sims game. Its really not worth the 40 dollar price tag for only 2 stories. After you are finshed with the stories, you then get to play in classic mode, witch is just the same as the oringal sims. If I were you, I would save my money and just go buy Seasons when it come out later this month.