Games Played 04/12/2009

Drakengard - PlayStation 2
Hammerin' Hero - PSP
Infinite Undiscovery - X-Box 360
MadWorld - Wii
Phantasy Star Portable - PSP
Phantasy Star Universe - X-Box 360
Sega Rally Championship - SegaSaturn
Splashdown - PlayStation 2
Test Drive Unlimited - X-Box 360
Uno - X-Box 360
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - PlayStation 3
Virtua Cop - SegaSaturn

RANDOM GAME OF THE DAY:


The Urbz: Sims in the City (2004)
Developer: Maxis
Platform: X-Box
Purchase Date: 12/14/2004


I wish I could be that funny to a total stranger in real life.

Maxis should have known better than to attempt porting their highly popular personal computer simulations The Sims and The Sims 2 to the home console market when they did so in 2003 and 2005. There was just no way the limitations of the consoles back then would ever hope to support the additional contents and the type of memory-hogging customizations found in the PC versions. The Urbz is their smarter approach to create a successful Sims game without having the player feel that there may be something terribly missing from the entire experience. It loses its largely open ended gameplay to appeal to a more goal-driven audience, which encompasses the majority of the console gaming population. The game retains the series' free-roaming, do anything you want life simulation but with a much larger emphasis on reputation building. Since I am not necessarily the most social person ever, the idea of game progression, which is tied to unlocking more customizable items for your avatar, based on your popularity is not particularly motivating. I mean, if I really want to that popular, why am I playing a game about someone who wants to be popular? I didn't get too far into this game and the horribly long loading time as well as rigid gameplay constraints don't help the game much.

LIBRARY STATUS: 2 out of 5