Create a perfectly reasonable human being and then mess their life up

The Sims 3 for iPad  : Activision has a lot to answer for. It was the company’s seminal title, Little Computer People, released in 1985 that provided a template for EA to heartily exploit with The Sims franchise. In case you’ve slept through the chart-hogging releases, it’s all about creating a character with certain traits, then organising their life so that they are fed, watered, cleaned, have money, friends and a job. Then get your Sim out into Sim-land to meet others, create friendships and meet objectives, while pandering to their personality-trait generated whims.

So, the mobile version follows the same concept, starting with character creation where your Sim can be as conservative or a trampy as the initial wardrobe allows. There are five personality traits to select from, which dictate how the Sim reacts to others and what demands they are likely to make.

The presentation for all this, right up to plonking your Sim in their house, is first rate. The screens feel nicely designed and everything is easy to select with the tap-and-go control. When the Sim leaves the house, it switches to an overhead three-quarters view and your figure is now a tiny stick person. In some respects this was an inevitable consequence of the small screen, but it still doesn’t look great, although it makes navigating around the town simple enough. It’s an understandable compromise.

Once another character meets your Sim there are multiple choice actions to select, dictating how the other character now views you If you were hoping for options for pistol-whipping and armed robbery, prepare to be disappointed — this isn’t Sim GTA. In fact, no matter how unpleasant your character traits, it’s quite hard to be really nasty, just mildly unpleasant or creepy. The aim then is to actually get on and discover the 73 goals that can be unlocked. If you like ordering other people’s lives or just want to have fun with a character that’s the opposite of yourself, then there’s much to enjoy-in The Sims and it has a good deal of medium-term playability. If you’re disappointed that you can’t go on a crack-whore crime spree then this is, perhaps, not the game for you.

Rating 4 Star