The game's Get a Life mode is far more goal-oriented than the Live Mode.  There are seven levels - each of which takes place in a larger home -  which each provide a set of objectives that must be met in order to complete the level and move on to the next one.  Completing an objective will also unlock a new object for use in the game, and also allow you to unlock multiplayer game modes.  The objectives include things like getting a promotion at work and repairing broken objects at home.  In a way it is a method to teach you how to play the Live Mode by helping you to focus on a few aspects of the game at a time.  As such, once you play through it and unlock everything you won't really have any incentive to play through it again.  Get a Life mode can also be frustrating at times.  It can be annoying when you are one objective away from advancing to the next level but are stuck with a few days of game time spent bathing and feeding your sim just to get him or her in a good enough mood to finish the last goal.

Two player action.

The multiplayer modes are similar to the Get a Life mode in that they present an objective to accomplish, but this time you are competing against a friend to complete the objective within a set time limit.  The Sims will also let you play cooperatively with a friend in Live Mode, giving you a sim-roommate.  The multiplayer games are not as fun as the single player games, and are hampered by the fact that the game's split screen makes it hard to manage things.

Overall the graphics did not suffer from the translation from the PC, but since the PC game's graphics are several years old at this point The Sims does not stand up too well against other PS2 games.  The graphics are somewhat fuzzy and dark, and scrolling around a house is fairly slow.  The game's zoom level is also disappointing as it doesn't allow you to get too close to your sims so that you can enjoy watching their interactions with other sims and game objects.

For a game that was originally mouse-driven, the developers have done a very good job with the control in the game.  You'll quickly get the hang of moving and rotating the camera, and checking on your sims' vitals.  An onscreen cursor in the form of a beam of light is used to highlight objects or select sims, and a context sensitive menu pops up giving you a list of available actions.  The only thing hampering the control in the game is the slow scroll rate, which can make it a time consuming chore to move around a house and queue up actions for your sim.

Whether or not you'll enjoy The Sims depends on your taste in video games.  If you crave action and have a short attention span, then it probably is not the game for you.  It takes a lot of time and patience to develop your sim, and you have to tolerate a game character that needs to constantly be told when to go to the bathroom and to flush afterwards.  If you're a more patient gamer and enjoy a more passive experience, you'll probably find The Sims fascinating.  It certainly is a unique game, and one that can surprisingly eat up a lot of your time if you're not careful.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 84%.  A very well done port of the PC game that will introduce PlayStation 2 owners to the phenomenon and obsession that is The Sims.  Action gamers should stay way clear of this one, though.

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