"The Sims Life Stories" Review (PC)

Pros:

• 2 new neighborhoods of families and homes
• 2 stories to play through
• Makes "The Sims" easier on a laptop
• Good introduction to the series

Cons:

• Stories completed within hours.

"The Sims Life Stories" Features

• "The Sims 2 Life Stories" story mode features two guided stories to play.
• In the first story, Riley needs your help deciding between two men.
• Vincent needs your help finding true love and not just someone who is out to get all his money.
• After completion of stories, play Riley, Vincent, and the characters you meet in story mode in all new neighborhoods.
• Free play mode lets you decide the neighborhood story.
• Keyboard shortcuts that make doing everyday tasks, like a making food, quicker.
• Play while doing other tasks on your laptop.
• Game runs in windowed mode to make it easy to use multiple programs (email, browser, etc.) at the same time.
• "The Sims 2 Life Stories" is a standalone and does not require nor use "The Sims," "The Sims 2," or the expansion packs.

"The Sims Life Stories" Review

"The Sims Life Stories" Screenshot

Screenshot © Electronic Arts.

Maxis took the idea of every Sim having a story and pleads to make the series perform better on laptops, and gave us a new standalone game, "The Sims Life Stories." The game comes with directed-play that guides your player through a events. The Story Mode comes with two stories, one about Riley and the other about Vincent. Both of these stories are love stories about finding the right person.

Riley's story starts with her meeting a new guy, who she likes a lot. She later hears that her ex-boyfriend is in town, and soon is on her way to doubting who would make the best husband. Vincent's story is similar, except he has to sort through handfuls of girls who are after his money.

The stories in "The Sims 2 Life Stories" are moved along by giving you a goal that you have to accomplish. By completing the goal, it sets off a string of events. Sometimes small, sometimes large, all depending on where you are in the story. The goals start off simple - changing clothes or making a meal for example. Because the story progresses with the completion of goals, you can't stray from the storyline. Well you could, but you'd never finish the story.

The bad news is that you can't use existing or future expansions for "The Sims 2," and the game won't be expanded any further with expansions. Future Stories games will be standalone as well.

The intent of "The Sims Life Stories" was to give laptop owners a way to get their fix of "The Sims 2" while on the go. That is exactly who should buy the game. Well, mobile gamers and perhaps someone new to "The Sims 2." Desktop-only fans can pass on this incarnation of "The Sims 2."