The Sims Bustin' Out (GameCube)

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Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Andrew Park
• Reviewed on: 12/16/2003
• Released on: 12/15/2003

The Sims was originally an award-winning, best-selling PC game, though the game made the jump to consoles last year. The second game in the series for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube, The Sims Bustin' Out, successfully expands on the previous game, not only by letting you make a more highly customized computerized person (or "sim"), but also by letting your sims "bust out" of their own homes and freely visit their neighbors. You can simply stop by your neighbor's house for a visit or move in and accomplish specific goals that let you unlock new items, new clothing sets, and other extras once you complete them. Bustin' Out is also more colorful and more varied, and it sounds a whole lot better than the previous Sims game for consoles.

The Sims have busted out of their homes...into other peoples' homes.

Bustin' Out follows the same structure as that of the previous game--it features two main play modes, a goal-based "bust out" mode that lets you unlock new features as you complete specific objectives, and a free-form "free play" mode that lets you create a family of little computer people, then allow them to do their own thing. That means your characters will need to satisfy needs (known as "motives") such as food, sleep, and social interaction; they'll meet new friends with differing personalities; and they'll be able to develop their houses by building them up and buying new objects for them. The new game's bust out mode is at once more cohesive and more varied than that of the previous game, and it certainly gets tougher as you progress. This is because although you start off in your mom's house, as you did in the previous game, you can move out into other houses in the neighborhood and revisit any previous ones to clean up any unfinished objectives. Bust out mode's objectives are also usually related, like requiring you to advance two ranks in a single career path. The difficulty increases gradually and offers a good challenge later on.

A good part of the challenge comes from managing your sims' motives and careers, much like in the original PC game. Your sims' needs are constantly being depleted, and you must refill them by ordering your sims to perform an appropriate action, like fixing dinner when they're hungry. In the meantime, in order to advance in bust out mode, your sims must also pursue career paths by finding a job in the paper, then leaving home to go to work each day. Bustin' Out presents the workday in the same way the PC games did: That is, your sims are required to work at certain hours of the day, during which they simply disappear from the game for several hours, only to return home later, more tired and more hungry than they were before they left. However, in order to advance in a career path, sims must go to work in a "good mood," with all their needs mostly filled, so if you're dead-set on completing every last objective, you'll often find yourself with the less glamorous (and less interesting) task of babysitting your sims to make sure their every last little need is met.

Fortunately, you're not required to complete every last objective to move into a new house in bust out mode--you're free to visit any of the mode's 10 dwellings or pick up stakes and move among them until you complete enough objectives to complete the game, which should take you between 10 and 15 hours if you hurry. And free play is even more open-ended; it resembles the original version of The Sims in that you can create a family and move it into a house, then watch as the family members interact with each other and their neighbors. But this is about as interesting as it's ever been. If you like the idea of watching tiny computer-controlled people, who have minds of their own, interact with each other, forge friendships, and get into unexpected trouble, you'll likely enjoy this aspect of Bustin' Out. Even experienced fans of The Sims will appreciate Bustin' Out's new social interactions and new recorded speech.

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