The Urbz: Sims in the City (Nintendo DS) Review

Unlike most Sims games where the 'storyline' is to just live and make a successful person out of yourself, The Urbz takes this one step further. You have to gain a reputation in the outside world, communicating with different generations and helping different people to try and expose 'Daddy Bigbucks' for the evil person that he is. Bigbucks has fired you from your job as a window cleaner in the local law building and kicks you out into the world to fend for yourself. For some strange and wacky reason, you are unhappy about losing your job and need to gain reputation among other people to expose Bigbucks' plan to turn your city, Miniopolis, into a huge theme park. A theme park sounds better to us than window cleaning, but obviously not in the Urbz.

EA have obviously made the game to appeal to the teenage generation of people. This is pretty obvious from just about everything in the game, from the sound to the game objectives. But the thing that stands out most is definitely the graphics and the way the game is laid out. The main screen in which you are watching most of the time is traditional Sims; the old birds-eye view. The Touch Screen, which is used as the menu in the game, is in the form of a 'boom box' to try and look cool. The menu works quite well, it's just the way it looks; EA have tried so hard to make it look 'cool', that they've made it look cheesy. The top screen looks alright though. The graphics are no hotshot, though, being just about GBA standard, but that isn't really a big factor in a simulation game. It is quite easy to see, with no sign of any slowdown or blurry graphics that make it unplayable, it is typical Sims style.

The game has a pretty good soundtrack. It doesn't contain any tunes that will stick in your head like Wario Ware music, but it is very suitable as to where you are. During the day, the music is brighter and a bit more cheerful, whereas after 6:00pm it suddenly quietens down a little and gives a good feeling for the change in day and light. The tunes also change when you walk into a building or place, for instance if you enter a Gym, the music will become a little more fast-paced as if it is a work-out routine. Early on in the game when you get into big trouble with the police, the music changes from quite cheerful to a down and embarrassed melody. The music is good, and you'll be whistling along to the tunes as you play. However, the sound effects aren't quite as good. When you pick something up there's an annoying little sound which will get on your nerves quickly, and then there's the noise other people make when you talk to them. The grunts or laughs that other Urbz make grate very quickly. And you'll be hearing them very often, unfortunately.

Since the DS launch, newspapers, websites and people have been questioning the DS' Touch Screen. There have been some really quite unjustified comments about the touching feature. One that springs to mind is "It is obviously just a gimmick". Well, we all debated before release whether or not it was, and it's probably 50-50 at this early stage as to whether it is a great addition. Games like WarioWare Touched! and Project Rub make excellent use of the Touch Screen, and make a great argument for the cause, however, there have also been some launch games that do not quite do it as much favour. Unfortunately, The Urbz would have to fall under this category...

On the back of The Urbz's box, it has bullet points to try and entice gamers. The final bullet point reads "Touch Screen support & more!". EA are not telling us porky pies here as the game certainly does use the Touch Screen, just not very well. All it's used for is the menu really. This isn't really a bad thing, as it saves the player from stopping their game to check some statistics or pull an item out, but the problem lies in that it is all it's used for. The game contains 12 minigames, which can earn the player money or just play them for a bit of fun. However, these games are played using the D-pad and the A button, not the Touch Screen and stylus. The minigames do work quite well, but they would have been better if they used the stylus on the bottom screen. Sorry EA, but The Urbz doesn't really do anything for the Touch Screen.

After opening the box and loading up the game on your DS, you are greeted by a list of different options; 'Create-an-Urb', 'Load-an-Urb', 'Settings' and 'Minigames'. You can select the one you want by spinning the record on the Touch Screen, but this is awfully fiddly and a lot easier if you use the D-pad. Create an Urb obviously lets you make the character who you will be playing as. You can customise in many ways to make him or her as you want. It's obviously not as detailed as the home console versions, but still quite easy to handle. After creating the appearance, you will be asked to answer a few questions to determine which 'Rep Group' you'll be in. If you're a money grabber you'll be cruising with the Richies, whereas if you just like to chill and hang out you'll be living it up with the Streeties. Load an Urb lets you load a saved game, but with only two save slots, this is rather disappointing if you wanted a whole variety of different Urbz. Settings lets you determine options about the Backlight, Language and the like, and Minigames let's you play any minigames you've unlocked in the main game as much as you want.

The main game acts as a Story mode. Your Urb is a window cleaner for a law firm and likes his or her simple lifestyle. However, all is not well, for an evil Miniopolis fat cat named Daddy Bigbucks has bought the building and fired you, casting you into the outside world. However, before kicking you out, he reveals what he plans to do to the city you live in. Being the heroic one, you try to stop this, but nobody with the power to stop it believes you. It's time that you got your cool shoes on, you need the reputation, dude! Reputation will gain you more respect from people, especially others with the same type of personality as you. Reputation can be gained by showing people how cool you are, buying a house and doing it up to look the biz or just generally do everything you can to impress. There are 26 different locations in the game, so there are a lot of people to acknowledge your existence. The DS version even has an exclusive area, which plays a crucial part in the game...

To gain acknowledgment and reputation, you need money. You can earn money in a variety of different ways; recycling rubbish, doing jobs for people, or playing minigames. The minigames are by far the most fun way to do this, even if they don't use the Touch Screen. The first minigame you'll come across is one of scrubbing bird excrement of windows. This is more fun that it sounds, running from left to right, tapping A when a bird flies over and drops when. If you are unfortunate and one hits you, dash over to your bucket to wash it off. A smelly Urb isn't a popular one! Another minigame is playing Basketball to earn you the cash. Line the hoop and the ball up perfectly to get extra points, which means extra money too. You can also impress others by being the best at minigames!

The Urbz isn't actually that bad a game. If you're a Sims fan, you'll absolutely love it and won't put it down for ages. However, if you aren't a great fan of simulation, it won't appeal to you at all. At times, it feels like a chore to play, having to regularly keep your Sim in good shape otherwise it'll refuse to perform actions and do things, but at least the game is keeping to tradition. It has made the translation from house to city very well; you can still buy a house and decorate it, but also explore the vast world of Miniopolis at the same time. However, the story is very weak and quite hard to understand, and isn't helped by some massive cheesiness in the game. EA have tried to make the game appealing to teens, where the 'cool' features in it are comical. Then again, it is easy to pick up and play at any time, and if you find yourself bored one evening, you'll find an hour of The Urbz very satisfying.