The Sims Superstar Review

The Sims Superstar is the latest expansion for The Sims, the top selling game franchise of all time.  While new careers for your sims have been introduced in previous expansions, this is the first time you'll be able to take an active role in your sim's career (unless you count vegetable farming in The Sims Unleashed).  The new career path that's at the center of the game is entertainment, and you'll have the chance to take your sim from the depths of obscurity to the pinnacle of superstardom.

Your first step towards stardom is to sign-up with an agent.  This is done by answering an ad in the new daily tabloid of sim entertainment, The Studio Insider.  This paper will also let you know who's hot and who's not, which is important to know when you are building your network of celebrity friends.  Picking an agent is like starting any other career; just answer "yes" when prompted and you're an entertainer.  A word of caution, though, becoming an entertainer will wipe out your current career.

Pursuing a career as an entertainer works differently than other jobs in The Sims.  Instead of a daily carpool to whisk your sim off to work, you can call for a trolley to take you to Studio Town at any time.  Studio Town is a special community area away from your neighborhood that is akin to Downtown or Vacation Island.  It's where anyone who is anyone goes to sing or be filmed, and to rub elbows with the other sim elite.  As an entertainer you must sing for your supper, literally.  Interacting with special star objects in Studio Town earns your sim cash and helps him or her build her star power.  As with other objects your sim's mood has a large effect on performance, and an unhappy sim's act will be sub-par at best.  Bad performances will go unpaid, and even worse, could hurt your fame score.

Unlike other careers, you are not awarded promotions once you meet the requirements for the next level in your career.  As an entertainer this is replaced by a fame score which is rated from zero to five stars.  As your fame grows, you'll be awarded additional stars, a half star at a time.  Some star levels have additional requirements such as a minimum score in a certain skill area or two, but as your fame rises the real challenge will be to meet the famous friends requirement.  In Studio Town it's not always what you know, but who you know.  To reach the higher levels of fame your social circle of friends will need to meet minimum requirements for total star power.  For example, if you need three stars worth of famous friends, you can meet the requirement with three one star friends or a single three star friend.  If you think the answer is to hobnob with the top superstars in the game right off the bat, then you'll be in for a rude surprise.  Until you can generate some star power of your own you'll be just one of the little people and not worth the star's time.

As you advance in fame you'll gain access to more star objects.  At the beginning you'll have your choice between the open mic and the karaoke bar, but as your fame grows you'll be able to earn more money by single jingles, appearing in music videos, or starring in your very own movie.  Although the fame objects are geared towards either music, film, or fashion, you won't be restricted to one of those tracks.  Sims are thoroughly modern superstars who can cross boundaries between different types of media.

 

As you become more famous, fellow sims will begin to take notice of you.  Paparazzi will snap pictures of you, sims will become all giddy when they recognize you, and you can even pick up an obsessed fan.  If your fame grows high enough, you'll be recognized by your peers with awards for your performance in movies, music, or fashion.

The entertainment career is a welcome addition to The Sims because players now finally have control over their sims at work.  The amount of money that you bring home each day is entirely dependent on how well you do while at Studio Town.  The dark side to this is that you can just as easily come home with your pockets empty.  Starting out as an entertainer is quite challenging; the fame objects to which you'll initially have access won't earn you a lot of money.  You'll need to play well just to have enough to cover the basic expenses such as food and your bills.

The road to fame is also a long one.  Don't expect to be appearing in movies before putting in many hours of gameplay.  Studio Town provides objects to fulfill some of your motives, but you'll always need to head home for some sleep at some point.  Because your sim needs to be in a good mood to do well with the fame objects, you can expect two good performances on a good day with the rest of the time spent fulfilling motives. 

Things get even more challenging when you begin to need friends with star power to advance.  You'll have to spend time meeting famous people at Studio Town, which will prevent you from using the fame objects and earning money.  You'll eventually be able to phone famous friends and invite them to your home, but you'll need to do a lot of leg work and face time in Studio Town first.

Superstar would have been a full-sized expansion with the addition of the fame career and Studio Town alone.  As an added bonus though you also get a large number of new objects.  These include a set of spa objects that will allow your sims to relax and enjoy steam treatments, mud baths, and massages.  There are also some exotic objects which include a skydiving simulator and a scuba diving tank.  In addition, you'll also get new objects to add to your home such as a satellite dish which will expand your channel line-up by four.

While Superstar doesn't address the issues that have been with The Sims since the beginning such as painfully slow zooming and scrolling, it does add quite a bit of new play to the game.  As long as you're patient and realize that there's no quick road to fame, you'll probably find yourself enjoying the game.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 87%.  Superstar is a supercharged expansion for sims seeking the spotlight.  You've really got to want it though, as achieving superstar status takes quite a bit of work.

System Requirements:  Pentium II 450; 128 MB RAM; 4 MB Video RAM; 4x CD-ROM;  1.12 GB Hard Drive Space;  Mouse.