The URBZ: Sims in the City – PS2 – Review

First came Sim City, a game
that revolutionized strategy and resource management entertainment.  Then came
The Sims, a game with just as much revolutionary content, but focused on the
lives of individual humans, not one gigantic city.

This Fall the makers of The
Sims are unleashing a console-exclusive spin-off called The Urbz.  Set in an
urban environment that’s cooler than any that exist in the real world, The
Urbz lets players walk in the shoes of an average Joe or Jane.  They live in a
world where appearance is everything, style is job #1, and the key to success
is how well you socialize.  That doesn’t sound too different from the real
world now does it?

It’s interesting that the
developers chose to make The Urbz a console exclusive.  It isn’t anything like
the games we’re used to playing on PS2.  You can break dance, but you can’t
jump on people’s heads.  Items can be purchased, but many of them are for
bragging rights, not for curing ailments.  The characters spend a lot of time
talking in the game, but you’ll rarely know what they’re saying – all that
comes out is gibberish.

This strange,
unconventional and seemingly unappealing concept is brilliant.  That
brilliance can be summed up in one word: entrapment.

The Urbz entraps its
players in the same way the previous games did: by giving us just enough
duties to ensure that we are never content to leave.  How can I exit when my
Urb (the cool word for "human character") has to go to the bathroom?  How can
I turn the game off when he’s hungry and in major need of entertainment?  Oh
great, now his socialization points are dropping.  Now I’ve gotta greet some
punks and pretend to fit in!

That’s your life in this
game.  Your life, your real life, becomes theirs.

The Urbz is intentionally
less demanding than The Sims due to the difference in console and PC gamers’
tastes.  Five individual needs must be met: Fun, Bladder, Hunger, Hygiene, and
Energy.  Bladder seems to be the most important at first.  If you don’t go to
the bathroom when the meter runs low, you could have an embarrassing accident
(the Urbz apparently have a weaker bladder than real humans).  Such an event
will make it difficult for others to be around you without laughing for
feeling disgusted.

Having a low Fun rating
means you’re bored and may have a cranky attitude towards others, lessening
the "fun" others have while talking to you.  The last thing you want is bad
hygiene though – we all know what it’s like to be near someone who smells.
It’s anything but pleasant.

While there’s only one
way to solve the hunger issue (eat something), there are a lot of ways to
restore your Urb’s energy.  First of all you can sleep.  That’s the best and
most effective way to restore energy, but it also takes the most time.  It’s
not always convenient either.  Suppose you’re tired but want to keep working?
Or suppose you’re nowhere near a comfortable bed?  You could always sit in a
chair and rest for a short while, or take a dip in a hot tub to improve both
your hygiene and energy ratings.  Now that’s multi-tasking!

If worse comes to worse
and you need a quick pick-me-up, you can go over to the vending machine and
buy an energy drink.  It’ll replenish about half your energy, but that amount
will decrease as the night goes on, indicating that the drink that gives you
wings is no longer working.

Your needs constantly
grow in this game, just as they do in real life.  You can never be away from
the bathroom for too long, especially if you’re drinking a lot.  Nor can you
work all night long without taking a break.

What kind of a job must
you perform in this game?  You could pierce bodies, work at a chop shop, or
box and tame ferrets.  It’s at this point that I began to scratch my head,
wondering how a quirky game like this can be successful, while games like
Pikmin go unnoticed.

Crazy as it may be,
taming ferrets is actually kind of fun.  All the jobs are mini-games, so that
right there gives you an idea of what to expect from them.  In the case of the
ferret taming, you must press the correct buttons (X, square, or circle) in
the order that they appear on the screen.  A short Sims-style jingle plays
with each successful button press. 

The Urbz could’ve been a
must-have for everyone who loves The Sims or other resource management games.
Unfortunately, the developer’s impressive vision far exceeded the capabilities
of our current generation of consoles.  Minutes (technically hours) of loading
occurs in this game.  "Minutes?  I can wait."  It doesn’t sound like a big
deal if you’ve forgotten the days of 30-second load screens on the PSone.
Those days have been long gone since the PS2 arrived.  But they’re back with
The Urbz.

Since the world never
stops going, neither does the game.  It loads at an almost constant pace.
More than once there was so much to load that the game didn’t even acknowledge
an action.  I’d tell my Urb to go talk to someone, or get back to work, and
he’d just stand there, staring into nothingness while the disc loads.  Maybe
this was intentional.  Maybe they wanted us to stare at the screen, watching
our stats die and our hunger increase while the character stands still.

While this enormous
technical issue prevents me from giving as much praise as I would like, The
Urbz is still a must-play.  You have to at least try it.  The gameplay is
unlike anything you’ve experienced before (except for The Sims, which most
console gamers have not experienced before).  It’s clever, addictive, and
features a lot of quirks you don’t normally get from a game that was made
outside of Japan.

Note: The technical
issues listed in this review may be less noticeable in the Xbox version.  Xbox
has a hard drive that helps to minimize load times.  The Nintendo DS is a
cartridge-based system, so that version should not have any load times at all.

Review Scoring Details for The Urbz

Gameplay: 7.3
Choose your
gender (or the opposite if you prefer), pick your style, and attempt to become
the coolest, baddest, phattest cat in all the towns.  I’m not one for
point-and-click-style games, but for reasons I can’t quite explain, The Urbz
made me an addict in less than an hour.  It’s like an RPG but from an entirely
different perspective.  You don’t fight monsters and cast magic spells — you
socialize with punks and hip-hop wannabes.  A surprisingly rewarding
experience that’s only hindered by severe load time and character response
issues.

Graphics: 7
The Urbz gets a
"B" for having stylish characters, attractive backgrounds and a great camera
that can zoom in and out very quickly.  It gets a "D-" for showing characters
go to the bathroom.  Men and women use the same bathroom and will walk in
whether someone’s using it or not.  Yuck.

Sound: 6
Jingles that get
old, sound effects that become annoying, and music from the Black Eyed Peas.

Difficulty: Medium
And you thought
real life was hard…

Concept: 8
The Sims meets
urban lifestyle, minus the adult family life aspects, plus the need to be
cool, fit in, and succeed at several different jobs.

Multiplayer: 7

Overall: 7.1
Technically, The
Urbz doesn’t have much gameplay.  Most of what you do involves the guidance of
a simulated human.  Strange concept, but it worked with The Sims and it works
with The Urbz.

The urban atmosphere and
reputation (socializing) aspect are cooler than a hardcore console gamer might
expect.  The controls are inviting for players of all skills.  A flexible,
reliable camera helps keep the important characters in view.  The 3D cursor
and one-click actions give the game a PC feel without having to use a mouse
and keyboard.

Technical issues keep the
game from scoring high, but it’s still an engrossing game.

…And sometimes it’s
gross.  I don’t know about you, but my idea of a good time does not involve
the viewing of a man or woman going to the bathroom.  All nude parts are
purposely blurred, but even so, it was completely unnecessary.