Review: The Urbz: Sims in the City (NDS)

The Sims has been a runaway success story, and versions of the game have appeared on most consoles in one form or another, including the 'urban' update, The Urbz. The GBA saw it's own Urbz game last year, and it's this particular iteration that the Nintendo DS game is based around. In fact, take away the lower screen and shrink the top display a little, and there's very few differences, and we'd perhaps better start this review with a simple fact: if you've already finished the Gameboy Advance Urbz, don't bother with this one.

Despite some effort to differenciate between the two portable versions, visually they're incredibly similar, the only real changes are the obvious ones - the touch screen and the dual screen display. In that sense, The Urbz is the perfect DS game: the touch screen interface is a joy to use, the main game graphics are always kept to the top screen and it subscribes to that 'quick go on the bus' mentality that portable games should be all about.

For anyone unfamiliar with the game, the basic concept is quite simple - you're solely responsible for the day to day events in your Urbz' life, from cleaning and eating to sleeping and socialising. When you need to do these things is governed by two factors - the progress of the game's 'story' and the emotions of your Urb displayed at the foot of the upper screen. Keep an eye on your avatar's hunger levels - feeding him or her pizza; keep an eye on their fatigue - and force them to go to sleep.

When any of these levels are dangerously low you'll not be able to interact with the other characters walking in and around the ever-expanding play area (the available areas governed by your progress through the game) and it's through this social word play and errand-running that you'll unlock new goals, and ultimately complete them. The DS version of the Urbz is actually split into 7 separate story sections - complete one and move on to the next.

Your character is controlled with the d-pad, and can interact with objects and characters nearby with a tap of the A button. Most other controls are handled via the touch screen, and EA have successfully incorporated this even to the point of 99% of screen presses being able to be done with your finger, rather than reaching for the stylus. The large buttons mean that you can quickly switch between the d-pad and the touch screen, which in game acts very much like a PDA. From the PDA you can access your pockets, your goals and a map, amongst other things.

Whilst the graphics aren't ever going to change the course of portable gaming, they're adequately drawn (entirely in 2D sprites) and it's always easy to see what's going on. Collision detection is sometimes a bit odd though, and it's often tricky trying to maneouver your character into the correct place to activate the 'interact' arrow, meaning that a lot of the objects will be overlooked because they're not highlighted well enough. Progress is also fairly linear, and whilst each goal can be attempted in any order within each section of the story, further division of the goals reveals a very stepped structure. You'll also have to resort to rudementary 'jobs' to keep your head above water, as you'll need to pay bills on your house and buy new furniture at the thrift stores.

There's nothing particularly wrong with The Urbz, but it just didn't excite us as much as we'd like it to have done. For fans of The Sims on PC it's probably too limited, but for anyone wanting to take on another life for a while there's plenty to recommended here. Best taken in light doses of no more than half an hour a day, The Urbz will last a considerable length of time, constantly evolving and expanding, and always rewarding.

Rating: 5 / 10

Words by Alex Carroll