MySims for Wii: Just like Real Life!

MySims is not the first Sims game to come out for the Nintendo Wii, but it's the first one to be completely unlike any other game in the series. The focus of game play shifts from controlling people's lives to building them cute little houses and tables painted with bacon... really.

When you start the game, your informed by the mayor that the town has fallen on hard times and they need a new "creator" to use things called "essences" to refurbish the town and get people moving in. While an intriguing concept, the game does get repetitive. Most of your time is spent building items for people in the town, or building homes for new residents to move into. In between you can shake essences from trees and bushes, or fish (both share rather practical usage of the Wiimote's motion detection)

The main problem with MySims is it's similarity to the popular Gamecube title Animal Crossing. It's as if the creators were making a placeholder game while they finish the new installment of AC for the Wii. While the similarities are painfully obvious, separate saved games cannot interact with each other. This is on thing the game should have taken from Animal Crossing.

The characters in the game are hilarious! Every type is represented from goth to perky to hard-headed to hard working. There are particularly memorable characters such as the morbid museum curator, the obviously drugged up rave DJ, and the self-centered mayor. The way the characters interact is humorous and entertaining throughout the game.

Another problem with the game is the that the Sims you use in the game look so similar in shape and rendering to the Mii's used for games like Wii Sports that many thought the MySims character editor was going to be an advanced Mii Editor allowing users to further personalize their Mii's with custom clothes. Unfortunately Nintendo missed the boat on that one.

Overall:

MySims for the Nintendo Wii is worth at least a rental. Especially good for those with a creative personality, the game allows you to build completely fabricated items and house as well as giving you many blueprints to base your design on. Character interactions are humorous and some characters are quite memorable. The lack of an advanced character editor and the similarity to Animal Crossing hurt the game, but it's a great casual game to pick up when trying to relax.