MySims Preview

The tale is an old one – the town thrived and someone with Essences helped that by creating buildings that were both unique and entertaining for the residents.

Woah, wait a minute … Essences? 

That’s right, Essences; it’s a unique ability to change the structures. When the original builder moved away, the town was lost. Sims began to move away. But rumor has it that a new builder is coming to this wayward small town, and Sims are returning in anticipation of a thriving, happy city once more.

Ok, maybe it is not an old story but that is the backdrop for MySims, from EA. This is yet another version of a town-building simulation but unlike SimCity or even Sim Societies, with a decided LEGO twist.

You create a character and arrive in town to start renovations. Of course you have to meet with the mayor and that will embark players on a tutorial of the game’s mechanics. The game has some simplistic elements that mask a deeper game, in some ways.

Building houses and businesses evolve around a building plot where you can drop shapes from a decent selection of building components, and then one-touch paint them. To start with, you will need blueprints to get the basic ideas down, but as you progress, you can use the basic building blocks to create your own furniture and accessories.

Don’t worry if you get a little lost the first few spins around the town. There is a map and you can click on a location to bring up in-game navigation.

And then there are the essences, which initially come into play as you enter the painting mode. Later, you can use them to build (like the red apples you initially collect) to make items appeal to Sims more.

If you are starting to think this sounds a little familiar, you are right. MySims launched on the Wii and Nintendo DS in September of 2007. The major difference between those titles and the PC version is, of course, the game controls and the amount of content available on the PC. The PC version has much more in terms of characters and things to create. There is even an online mode where players can play together in a shared game area, and will even be able to show off newly created items through e-mails and IMs.

The controls for the PC version, though, were not without a few problems in the beta build received. You can use the WASD to move, but the camera is rotated with the Q and E buttons, and when you are in build mode, you rotate objects with keys in the same key framework. Spreading out the keys a bit more might have helped.

The look of the game is cute and very much geared for younger players. The sound is also lively and bright.

MySims is a nice little creation game that should be a good introduction to the classic Sim building simulations for younger players. Older players might find it charming but the game is not without a few bumps as it stand now.