The Sims (PC CD)

The idea behind The Sims is this: the ultimate goal of life is to achieve happiness, and the way to achieve happiness is to satisfy your Sims' needs. That's right, The Sims allows you to create, direct and manage the lives of SimCity's residents. Each need (eg: Hunger, Comfort, Hygiene) can be met by interacting with other Sims or objects--throw a party with the help of a rocking stereo system, and watch your Sims' Social and Fun ratings improve.

Mismanage your new, simulated family, and you'll be faced with the worst of MTV's The Real World: jealousies will ignite, fights will break out, jobs will be lost and the house will fall apart.

One gameplay goal is to improve your Sim so he or she can climb the career ladder, which nets him or her more money, which allows the purchase of higher quality stuff. Eventually, your Sim will have a mate, kids and a mansion with an indoor pool.

Triumph or tragedy, each significant event in a Sim's life is captured in a snapshot and saved in a photo album for later viewing. Players can also take photos any time they wish and the best part is that you can upload the album to www.thesims.com and share your Sims' sagas with the world. Entire families can also be uploaded and downloaded, as can houses. Want to re-create and manage your own version of Friends? Download the free face and body editor and make Sim clones of Ross, Rachel, and the rest. With The Sims, you can create whatever--and whomever--you desire.

Toying with the lives, successes and emotional states of dozens of little Sims is undeniably fun--limitless gameplay, endless variety, cool Internet features, and the ability to play matchmaker/landlord/counsellor The Sims a great way to increase your own Fun score. --Mike Fehlauer, Amazon.com

Pros:

• Unique, addictive, fun gameplay
• Included photo album feature records triumphs and tragedies
• Free uploads and downloads expand the game and allow swapping with other players
• Sims are smart--it's sometimes best to just let them act on their own

Cons:

• Addictive gameplay may cause loss of sleep, job
• Complex behavioural modelling program--requires serious computing power
• No pets other than fish