Review by digimax

I was a Sims fanatic, I had almost every "popular" Sim game, and my favourite was "The Sims" series. However, I wish to have a game to carry with me all the time, and "The Sims: Bustin' Out" came out. The game was overshadowed by numerous flaws.

2004. The Urbz: Sims in the City was a major improvement. It is, indeed, a huge step.

The story begins from the rooftop of a building, and your character has to do his / her boring jobs of cleaning the building. Then, you found out that you are fired, and a super rich man, Daddy Bigbucks, have bought over the building, suddenly. After a chain of events, you were caught in jail, but was released. A huge world is available for you to explore, and most importantly, you have to stop Daddy Bigbucks from destroying the city for his "Urban Theme Park" project. While playing the game, you will experience numerous events which may be amusing, annoying, or simply fun.

The graphics are very similar to Bustin' Out, but expect more. Your character is more customizable, and you can change clothes by buying them. Instead of the plain "dimming" effect, you can see the difference of day and night. More importantly, you choose icons instead of sentences during conversations, which is a blessing.

The music in the game is rather catchy and they are atmospheric as well. The characters still have rather basic and short "reaction sounds", which was a disappointment.

Game-play seems to be perfect. More entertaining and fun mini-games, and also, more mini-games than Bustin' Out. There are also more missions, more places to explore, and also, something important, called Rep Groups. Rep Groups are determined by your "personality recipe" that is decided by answering some questions while creating your character. Talk to people, gain or lose relationship is still part of the game, but this is where it becomes rather "generic". You can find out what interests a person has and start talking all over a favourable subject to gain relationship, which doesn't really occurs in real-life.

Instead of purchasing a house, you have to rent apartments. Home furnishings are also vital to keep your character's Needs bar filled up, so that events can move on smoothly without him/her fainting. However, fans of the "The Sims" should also know that this game is not "open-ended", as it is often linear and you have to complete missions to proceed in the game.

I'd recommend that you buy The Urbz, because it is a game with very minor flaws, and usually you will be involved with the fantastic game-play and thrilling storyline to be mindful of the flaws. If you own a Nintendo DS, go for the DS version instead, for it has more features than the Gameboy Advance version.

GREAT!

Overall: 8/10