The Sims 2 Nintendo DS Review and Tips

Having just got a Nintendo DS one of the first games I rushed out to buy was ‘The Sims 2’. I expected it to be like the PC version of The Sims and eagerly switched it on ready to start building my family and house etc. What I soon found out however is that The Sims 2 for the DS is nothing like the original versions at all!

You take control of a character who has just broken down in ‘Strangetown’ and you somehow wind up being persuaded to stay and manage the Hotel there. You begin the game with just two rooms available in your hotel and by interacting with other characters building more rooms and keeping your guests happy you expand into managing a full blown hotel. As you would image with a name like ‘Strangetown’ things that go on in your hotel aren’t the sort of things regular hotel managers would have to contend with. You have frequent alien and robot invasions on the town which you must stop, residents who go loopy and become your responsibility to calm down or restrain and annoying guests who seem to think that you are at their beck and call.

At first I must admit I was a little disappointed that this was so different to the PC version of the Sims, but after playing it for just half an hour I must confess I have become somewhat addicted to the game! I love the fact that it is set in real time, so when you turn your game off (after saving it of course) you return and various things have taken place whilst you were gone. Guests check in for a certain amount of days and the better you make their rooms and the more you interact with them the higher hotel score you eventually gain.

You can earn money in a variety of different ways here are a few of them:

1) Pick up gourds (the little green things you find littered around the town) and sell them at the bar.

2) Pick up fuel rods and sell them at the community hall to the same guy who you approach to build rooms.

3) Calm down or interact with residents, they will give you gifts or money in return.

4) Vacuum up the piles of dust around the hotel and grab anything strange from in them. You will often find gold teeth, money and rings which will earn you valuable simoleons.

5) Find missing items in the desert that belong to residents and sell them (A bit unethical but hey!)

6) Build a gallery and paint your own works of art, the better the painting the more money you will make when someone buys one!

These are just a few of the ways to make money in the game, if you have more feel free to comment and add them!

All in all I think this game is great, it does get a little repetitive sometimes but that can happen with any of the Sims games. Highly recommended if you are new to the Sims and want to get started with something not quite as in depth, or for DS fans looking for something fun to waste away a few hours on.

We give The Sims 2 DS an awesome 4/5 rating.