The Sims: my guilty pleasure

I had the original Sims game on my PC along with several expansion packs. I loved The Sims. Eventually my PC crashed and I just haven't installed the Sims on the new PC yet. Christmas time was quick approaching, the Wii was on the Christmas list - so I figured I would kill 2 birds and get the Sims 2 Castaway while I was at it. I am mostly writing this review, because I didn't agree with the only other review written about it. I thought it deserved a second write up! A Warning: I have never reviewed a game before, so bare with me.

Sims in a nutshell

If you are not familiar with The Sims, you basically get to play God. You are in control of these characters lives. Sims after all does stand for Simulation, and you are living a simulated life. Everything from what they wear and eat to when they go to sleep and where they work. You also get to build their lifestyle. In the original Sims you build them a home, furnish it for them, etc... In Castaway, its not that different. Same concept, different location.

The basis of the game

You start off making your sim(s). You can make 1 or 5 or I'm sure more, but the more you make, the more complicated playing can get because you have the ability to control all the sims (if you want to). Just like the original Sims, you get to choose your Sim's personality, name, clothes, appearance, etc... They added a new feature, you get to decide what your Sim's occupation is. They can be a medic, a Teacher, a Ranger, a Chef, etc... This is supposed to give them "extra" skills in the game, but I haven't really found any difference in these occupations yet.
After a brief video showing your sims partying on a yacht, there is an accident, yacht sinks - you now have your Castaways on a series of deserted islands. It is now your job to help your Sim survive.
Goals
Unlike the Original Sims games, you are given a series of Goals to complete. You are not just left to find things to do. The goals are not time sensitive and you can complete them at your own pace. The more goals you complete, the more goals you unlock.
When you first land on the island you find a book on survival techniques, this starts your goals. You have goals like, make friends with a Chimp, get your Chimp to bring you a present, or build a firepit.
Later in the game, once you are more familiar with the controls and the concept your goals become more like problem solving. you have to build a raft, but first you need to find the right supplies to build the raft. You have to hunt a wild Boar, but you need to craft a hunting spear and find a boar first.
I like this added feature of goals. The goals are given to you in the form of a book. Once all the chapters of that book are finished, you get a new book filled with new goals. I have played Castaway now for aprox. 15 or so hours, and I am still only on the 3rd or 4th book out of like 8 or so. So, there is still a lot left to do for me.

Controls

The controls at first can be a bit tricky and hard to learn, but once you get it figured out, it's actually not that hard. You use the nunchuck thumb joystick to move your sim around the islands. Everytime you get close to an object that you can utilize, options will pop up on the screen. Ie... You are walking around the island, you see something on the ground, you get closer to it, an option pops up that says Coconut : put in inventory or Eat. You use your nuncuck and tilt it up or down to select with option you want, then press the Z button on the nunchuck to select.
The C button fast forwards any action that is being done or fast forwards time in general. The remote is used to check your sim's stats and select other in game menus. It is advised that you keep your remote pointed away from the sensor/screen until need to use it. It really isn't that difficult, it just takes getting used to.

Stats
Your sim, just like in the original Sims, has certain stats that determine whether or not they are happy Sims. The game is nice in that it starts you off with just one or two stats to concentrate on, then adds in more as you progress. The stats include - Hunger, comfort, sleep, bathroom, fun, etc... If your sims hunger stat is getting low, they are hungry, get them to eat something. If the sleep stat is getting low, they are tired, get them to rest. You get the drift, right?

Misc. stuff to know

Now, if you have played the original sim games, you were probably annoyed with the having to find a job and work. Your sim was gone most of the day at work, so you had no time to work on the other stats, other than earning money. If you missed a day at work to work on your fun meter, you got a threatening message saying you would be fired. It became more of a chore to keep your sim happy. That has pretty much been eliminated in this game. Since you are on a stranded island, you don't have to go to work, which means you have more time to control the sim and make them happy.

Also, just like in the original sims, you earn skill points for completing tasks. mechancial skills, cooking skills, creativity skills, etc... The higher your skills get, the more you unlock to do.

Final Words

I love this game. There is so much to do, and the more you do, the more you unlock to do. I'm the type of person who can tend to get lost in time while playing games, and this is one of those games to help you loose time. I sat down for almost 6 hours playing it the first time (getting up to complete small things 'round the house while playing so my butt didn't go numb), and time kinda flew by.
Some of the things do get repetitive and annoying, like having to tell your Sim to go to the bathroom or running back and forth to different zones to gather things into your inventory, but its all part of the game!
I haven't finished all the goals or even explored all the islands yet, but when I do and I get off the island, I can always play again and up the challenge by playing more than 1 sim at a time.

At $50 it is a bit steep, I would wait a while till you can find it for around $20 to $30. It is definately a game worth more attention than it is getting, in my opinion.