Let’s face it; you either love The Sims or you hate it. You love it because it closely resembles your real life or because you don’t have a life of your own to enjoy. You hate it because playing it almost feels like a part time job rather than a way to relax. That or your wife/girlfriend/whatever is so wrapped up in their virtual life that they don’t spend any time with you.

Basically, there’s no way you’ll ever change your mind about a Sims game. Right?

Wrong.

Baby Steps

Life Stories is a Sims game for those who don’t like Sims games. While you can still play through the completely open-ended version of the game on this disc (albeit with a slightly retarded feature set), the main goal is to play through two linear story lines. Choose a character and deal with different situations as they come up, including getting a job, finding love, and buying that dining room set you’ve totally had your eye on for like…ever.

Life Stories is all about socializing, but in a very streamlined, user-friendly way. There are keyboard shortcuts for just about everything. And the game even runs in a window so you can use other programs – AIM, e-mail, internet porn sites – in tandem with it.

In short, it’s an entry-level Sims game for those of us who find the series too open-ended or boring.

Your So-Called Life

The down side is this: if you’re a Sims fan, this isn’t the Sims game for you. Series vets will find Life Stories aggravatingly easy, to the point where your Sim will take care of the most minute, mundane tasks him or herself.

Some folks will love the lack of whining Sims wetting themselves due to a momentary lapse of player input; others will contend that it takes away from the very point of the game.

And Life Stories, while obviously based on The Sims 2, isn’t compatible with any of the expansion packs currently available. In other words, if you’ve spent a lot of time and effort on a previous game, you won’t want to start all over with this one.

Rookie Rat Race

Life Stories is a difficult game bag on, though. Just consider it The Sims for Sims newbies. It so completely caters to its intended audience that it’s an enjoyable, if slightly too easy experience. Whether the game has any longevity will rely entirely on downloads and expansion packs, though the title feels more like a simple jumping off point. EA is likely hoping Life Stories will convert a new group of fans so they can run out and purchase The Sims 2, or the inevitable The Sims 3.

Article by: Greg Sewart
Video produced by: Michael Leffler