Sim games
by Emma

I don't play that many games but I guess the ones that do stick in my mind tend to be very similar. My favourites include, Sims 1 & 2 (although I haven't been able to get Sims 2 to work on my computer yet, but I have played it at friends' houses), Sims Theme Park, Sim City and Sim Theme Hospital. So I could really be a PR person for Sims eh?

The games are very addictive and can take up loads of your time, but they are so fun

The game I've played the most is Sims - the original one with various extension packs: Livin' Large, House Party, Vacation, Unleashed, Superstar and Hot Date. You create your Sims - choose the way they look, the personalities they have, build their houses, give them names, choose their vocations and run their lives. You can build neighbourhoods of Sims and get them all to interact with each other. They don't always get on but that's fun too. You can encourage them to get on with each other by learning about new things, reading books, listening to music, etc and can even send them on holiday together or to the shops. It's fun trying to get them to like each other - and often a challenge. This is a highly addictive game (for me anyway) and I have lost days playing it!

Sims 2 is a little more advanced. You control your Sims over a lifetime (some do die) and set them specific goals. - jobs, popularity, family, romance, etc. - and you can either help them succeed or make them fail. They can marry aliens in this version too. I haven't played this much but hope to in the future.

Basically you are given a set amount of money to construct profit-making theme parks. You are given targets to meet each time before you are allowed to move on to the next park. This game allows you to build rollercoasters, ghost trains, log flumes, etc. The idea of the game is basically to make as much money as possible. There's a wee guy that gives you tips too, which is very helpful and often points out the areas you need to make improvements on i.e. more janitors, engineers for a broken ride, unsatisfied customers, etc. It's great you should try it.

Works very similarly to Theme Park except you are given the task to build and run successful hospitals. This was the first Sim game I played, and I think it was on the original Playstation. Once I started playing though I was hooked and would play it for hours. Targets include keeping death rates low, cure rates high, researching new diseases, employing good staff and keeping the hospital clean. It's a fun game with bits of humour, especially the names of the diseases and how they're cured, e.g. Bloated Head Syndrome.

Sim City is a more difficult game which requires you to build a good city. It has a more serious feel to it than other Sim games. I find that the initial building of the city is both the most enjoyable and most difficult part. You have to provide electricity lines before you build housing areas, people don't like living next to industrial plants so you have to take this into consideration too as well as ensuring the safety of your citizens by providing adequate policing, fire and ambulance services and hospitals that can cope with accidents and natural disasters.

It's a great game but can be very irritating - especially when you've just finished building the perfect place and it's then destroyed by an earthquake or something. Such catastrophes are usually quite challenging though so they are fun too!!

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