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The Urbz: Sims In the City Review
Written by Modojo Staff on Sunday, January 30, 2005
The DS version offers a small improvement from the GBA.
Is the next-gen really about small improvements over the GBA?
...Continued From Page 1 Visually, The Urbz: Sims in the City is horrific. Its graphics are strictly GBA quality, but of course that makes sense because it's based off the GBA version of the same game. The isometric perspective works well and the environments are certainly detailed, but EA's launch title doesn't showcase the power of the DS at all. It certainly doesn't have to because great graphics don't make a great game, but at the same time, there's no reason why fans of the GBA version should be experiencing deja vu after dropping bigger bucks on Nintendo's latest.
And if someone asks you to turn down the volume, don't be disappointed. The music isn't catchy, nor is it even worth listening to. It certainly serves its purpose to create atmosphere, but it's definitely not one of the game's highlights.
The ability to navigate through numerous menus using the touch screen is definitely useful, but it's not exactly thrilling. There are other things you'll do with it (such as extracting a mosquito from a piece of amber), but as far as launch games go, The Urbz: Sims in the City is a huge disappointment. In a time when Nintendo needs games that show off what its hardware can do, EA's title is pathetically below average in this respect.
Throughout this review I've been pretty hard on The Urbz: Sims in the City, but don't take what I'm saying the wrong way. The DS game is very much like its GBA counterpart, and its new content (Splicer Island, menu navigation with the touch screen, creating pets) definitely makes it the best version to get. It's actually a pretty enjoyable game if you have the patience, but mine wore thin after an hour. The gameplay is tedious and none of the mini games are fun, while simple tasks are made more difficult because your Urb is a huge pain.
Also, I was put off at how the game puts you into a category from the outset based upon responses given to questions. There are several groups, including Nerdies, Streeties, Richies, and Artsies, which is fine, but I would've been happier carving my own path as I play. Because I like money (!), I'm labeled as a Richie.
The Urbz: Sims in the City is a deep life simulation that's full of so many things to do you'll likely get lost for hours. However, as a DS launch title it's pretty lackluster, and it doesn't make good use of the system's abilities. That's not necessarily a strike against the game, but the fact that it's basically the GBA version with some lame touch screen stuff keeps it from being a must buy.
