Nintendo Wii - MySims

Format
Nintendo Wii
Publisher
EA Games
Developer
EA Games
Country of origin
US
Genre
God sim

My Sims

By David Rasmussen
10th Nov 07

Sure, at this point the Wii continues to experience a world of success as it is still top of the food chain (with it’s affordable console price and list of eccentrically fun games), but with the XBox360 (and PS3 in the coming months) picking up steam it looks like now is not a good time for the Wii to become too cocky as they are in for the gaming fight of their lives this coming holiday season. Too bad that, if Nintendo’s actions in E3 and the Tokyo Game Show are any indication, the Wii seems certain to become too cocky for their own needs. Maybe a game trying to ride to caboose of Animal Crossing addiction can be the cure all for the Wii’s ills… maybe.

Come up with a short list of promised Wii games that have yet to see the light of day, and I’m sure at the top 5 of a good deal of lists people are writing up the game “Animal Crossing” is sure to be prominently placed in a high position. Yes, the sequel to Animal Crossing was a GameCube release in Japan, but seeing how Nintendo didn’t bother rushing this game out prior to the dissolving of the Wii way back when Nintendo’s few vague rumors are all die hards of the franchise to grasp onto for hope.
These urban myths place Animal Crossing as part of the next gen of launches way back when the Nintendo Wii was just the Nintendo Revolution, and the system was still in it’s infant stage.

With that said we are now rolling towards the first year mark of the Wii and yet no word as to when Animal Crossing Wii would launch. Sure, given that they’ll have to take it back to the drawing board and rework it to work with the Wiimote it might not be out for awhile, but given the long amount of time between Animal Crossing 2 (Japanese only release on the GameCube) and now you think somebody would be well on their way to translating the game for English Wii players by now.

Well it seems the fine folks of EA Games may have that little fix to carry you Animal Crossing fans through the long haul until Animal Crossing Wii (or AC : Wild World 2) hits. Straight from the ever de-evolving cesspool that is the Sims franchise (lest we forget the awful failings of The Sims 2 : The Pets on both the Wii AND the GameBoy Advance (probably the Nintendo DS too come to think of it) comes a breath of fresh non polluted (or watered down) air in the form of My Sims, a world that dares you to combine the Sims with the trappings of Animal Crossing and (in the case of My Sims for the Wii) an advanced construction system that takes the world building mechanics of Dark Cloud 2, vastly improves on it, yet also simplifies it for the marriage of Sims/Animal Crossing that is My Sims.

First off let’s get one thing out of the way, and that is the significance of My Sims’ release, and by that I don’t mean in regards to it’s trying to appeal to Animal Crossing fans as much as I do it’s relationship to a new “trick” Nintendo is rolling into the marketplace of late.

After their arrogant act in E3, showing off only so much innovation and abit of hooey (besides the already seen Wii Microphone and Boogie, we have the Wii Board and Wii Fit, the Wii Zapper and Resident Evil : Umbrella Chronicles… and probably a new Wii-fied guitar for Guitar Hero 3 though I heard nothing of the sort myself), and their MIA status at the Tokyo Game Show (where Nintendo’s 3rd Party developers were forced to pick up the slack for the missing mother company, with games like No More Heroes carrying on like true troopers, keeping the hype and buzz on the Wii even without the mother company‘s presence at said Tokyo Game Show) how much more anti-gamer could they get? Come on, people, with the PS3 finally getting their legs under them (and people finally noticing the strong line-up the XBox360 has always sported) this isn’t the time to wimp out. Too bad the only progress in the Wii-arsenal seems to be a gimmick that may be sure to fail, mainly the concept of dual releases of Wii/DS games.
This gimmick mostly seems to serve no other purpose other than to milk as much money from the consumer, even if said dual release really makes zero sense other than just to milk cash from people who probably don‘t know any better but to buy into the dual release hype without checking to see how the games “interact“ with each other.

Should I be really making that much of a fuss about the new dual release thing? Well of course if these releases were in the category of, say, Poke’mon Diamond and Pearl slash Poke’mon Battle Revolution for the DS/Wii respectively then maybe it’d be alright. Yes, the reference is slanted as all hell as only the DS Poke’mon is worth owning, but at least these were interactive with each other even in a cosmetic sense. However if My Sims for the Wii and DS are any indication, this new batch of dual releases (and future releases to come) will mostly serve to trick consumers into plunking down cash on two games on two different systems without giving back even the slightest bit of interactivity between the two.

Why? Well because you’d think a dual release on the Wii/Nintendo DS would yield the ability to interact between the two. Hell, even Dungeon Siege : Broken World (PC) and Throne of Agony (PSP) had a bit of interactivity with the ability to use “codes” from each to unlock certain things in the other game. But My Sims doesn’t even seem to have that kind of interactivity between both versions of the game. And let’s not forget that even the Sims has a better version of interactivity in it’s history. Remember Sims : Bustin’ Out? Surely you remember that game. Do you remember how the GBA version could link with the Game Cube (via the very hard to find link cable) so you could take your Sim out on the road by transferring them to your little town in the GBA game? And do you remember how, once you were done traveling, you’d send your character back to the GameCube and continue playing from there (complete with whatever simoleons you earned in the GBA version)? Remember that? If not don’t worry, I just explained the important part of the game and how it relates to My Sims.

Truth be told I would have liked to have seen that kind of interactivity between the Wii and the DS version of My Sims, if only to justify having My Sims on the Wii AND the DS, but forget it since the two games are two entirely different beasts in the one-trick pony aspect (which equals no interactivity between the two at all). That is a shame since the Wii does have the ability to link with the DS (through a special sensor bar you hook up to the Wii which specifically links to the DS’ WiFi capability), and this should have been taken advantage of better. It’s not, so you better be darn sure you love this game because there is no real reason to own both other than you have some sort of addiction to this cash cow franchise.

Speaking of cash cows there is a second thing to mention, in that this is EA Games latest attempt to breath fresh innovative life into The Sims (which was tried with The Sims 2 series) thinly veiled as something fresh or original. That doesn’t mean your Sim allergy should be working overtime, because as fresh reboots go this one really is fresh and nice. It’s not as deep as the original Sims or Bustin’ Out, and won’t make you nostalgic for the originals (though I do wish they would port the classic Sims’ Bustin’ Out onto the PSP). Still this game works well enough, and as far as fresh launches go it’s OK.
This is just as well since I am sure nobody remembers or cares much about The Sims 2 anymore, so having a fresh launch for a fresh audience is going to do wonders for the game (and imagine how much more this game will be beloved when they add in the missing content and really make the world perfect).

OK, let’s make no bones about it, both games of My Sims has a singular one trick pony concept that drives it’s appeal. That is an inescapable fact of life. Be it the mini games in the DS or, in this case, the advanced building mechanics of the Wii version. Yes, there are more to do in this village than building, but other than essence gathering, people recruiting, and talking to people (and getting orders for furniture or homes to build) the meat and potatoes of the game is the whole building mechanics. Followed up by the essence gathering (which is vital for building custom furniture orders which is frequent) and finally PR (public relations) which also (oddly enough) plays into essence gathering (more on that later).
The one trick ponys in these games are both fun, for short bursts of gameplay, but once you really tuck into the games (both of them) you realize these are short term funs that you’ll play for awhile then put away until the urge rises again. For the record? The Wii’s one trick pony will keep you playing longer than the DS’ one trick pony.

In the Wii version you are enabled with the power to rebuild the Animal Crossing like valley village that you have moved into. Once upon a time the village used to have this special “person”, and he or she used to have this power to manipulate the world around them by collecting and using these “essences” (from simple inorganic building stuff and trinkets, organic life, right down to the very emotions of people themselves) to make things… well, not exactly to build things as building materials appear magically out of nowhere as essences are used to “decorate” things and add little touches to thing. Yeah, hours and hours of finding rare essences just to use them as bling on a piece of furniture. Does the thought of that make you as disappointed as I am? Well you won’t stay disappointed for long as this game features one of the most detailed construction mechanics I’ve ever seen. Not only can you custom make a house to exacting detail (with new stuff unlocked as you play) but you can also hand build the furniture within the home or business (which plays a large role in you restoring the village to it’s former glory as you’ll see.

The main thrust of the game is to restore the village to it’s full potential, however unlike Animal Crossing where this goal was a good side quest, here the goal of restoring the village at any cost (as it is the fuel that moves the story forward in both the Wii and DS versions of this game).

You have a 5 star rating system, and the more stars you got the more you open the village up for exploration (through the use of specific tools whose use the town’s mayor authorizes for you as you go from 1 to 5 stars, each which yields fresh essences to collect along the way as well as new places to set up residents to live). Unlike the DS version, however, you have a completely hands on approach to how you bring up your village’s star rating. Build more homes (customize them as you gain more stuff to work with), furnish them with more furniture (And yes even the non-business owning residents will have demands, but not as obvious as the businesses as their requests won‘t go into your workbook. You‘ll just have to remember what kind of person they are and give them stuff that suits their personality (of which there are six different types to appease)), make the people who live in these homes happy (or the business owners more successful) and you’ll raise the bar on your rating until you are making 1, 2, 3 and up stars until you have a 5-star village in your hands.

What happens then I am not entirely sure, right now I’m working to my 4-star village, but hopefully whatever happens makes the trip to 5-star village worthwhile.

And thus the whole one trick pony thing.
Other than constantly checking the hotel (recruiting the people you want to move into your village, which you do every morning) and the endless harvesting of essences to “pimp your furniture” the game focuses entirely on you building things. Building homes, building furniture, building more furniture, and so on and so forth. Basically if you love building things (either by following the blueprints or daring to draw outside the lines and redesign in your own special way) then you won’t mind the endless building of things (and the endless search for the many essences to build.

This is done, by the way, by stealing time old traditions of Animal Crossing. Stuff like fishing, foraging for fruits and flowers as well as killing/planting trees, digging for stuff (but only in specific areas as opposed to the ability to dig willy nilly like in Animal Crossing) and so forth. Things you are familiar with basically, but not a total loss as this game also gives you a taste of what these skills might be like when you play AC Wii in the future. Using the Wiimote to physically yank the fish out of the water, digging by Wiimote’s vibration (not as strong as the vibe on the GameCube controller but stronger than that of the wireless GameCube controller), and so on and so forth.

Otherwise once you hit this basic truth you’ll find little else in the game will hold your attention other than this one trick wonder. And if you can’t get behind doing constant almost endless building (and endless essences searches) then this isn’t the game for you.
I don’t know if any of the first waves of Wii slash DS combo releases will prove to be better (and use the dual release in a better way) than My Sims but anything is better than average gameplay.

It’s cutesy, and might satisfy AC fans for awhile, but the soon to be apparent relentlessly repetitive gameplay and lack of options (unlike AC) will drive AC purists away. It is a good start, but much work is needed on My Sims 2 before it can truly be a perfect game.

My Sims for the Wii thus gets 3 open houses out of 5.

-- David Rasmussen 10th Nov 07

Nintendo Wii MySims Images