The Sims 1 review

The Sims 1 was launched on January 31, 2000. It is a crappy game by modern standards, but it is innovative, being the first game of The Sims series, and if it didn’t existed, probably the better games The Sims 2 and 3 may have never appeared.

The Sims 1 have only 2 life stages: child and adult. Sometimes you get a phone call asking if you want to adopt a baby. There is also possible to make babies, putting two sims in the love bed introduced by an expansion pack and click “play” on them, you get a baby crib, the baby require feeding about every 6 hours and after 72 hours they will turn into a child. But children never turn into adults (unless you have Makin’ Magic and use charm Age of Instant), and adults never die by aging (but there are many ways in which they can die: starvation, burning, drowning, shocking, etc).

Babies in The Sims are objects, not Sims. If you move out a family having a baby, the baby is not taken to new lot. When babies turn into children, head and clothes are randomly selected as in The Sims 1 there is no genetics.

Children if neglected will be taken by social worker, or if miss school bus and falling grades, they will leave forever to military school.

The Sims 1 do not have weekdays, adults go to job every day and children go to school every day.

The Sims 1 have 10 career tracks with 10 position each, expansion packs add more careers making a total of 21 careers. Salary and hours vary from job to job, career been inverse proportional, the ones with lowest entry level salary have highest top level salary. More details here: The Sims 1 career tracks.

The Sims 1 is limited in terms of architectural features. Houses can only have 2 floors. You cannot have foundations, basements or stairs if the ground is hilly, like in The Sims 2 and newer games. Any area enclosed by walls gets automatically a hipped roof, gabled roof is impossible. You cannot change roof other than color and one of 4 pitch options (you can however, make single story houses with terrace at second story).

The Sims expansion packs

The Sims had 7 expansion packs, each adding new items in game in buy mode, build mode, careers and Create a Sim, and some important features listed below:

The Sims: Livin’ Large, released on August 31, 2000

Allow player to switch 5 neighborhoods, all featuring the 10 lots from Sim Lane, but can carry distinct houses and sims. Original neighborhood is called 1, the 2 have 3 houses of which one is occupied by a family.

The Sims: House Party, released on April 2, 2001

Introduce ability to throw parties at your home. Allow player to switch additional 3 neighborhoods, making a total of 8.

The Sims: Hot Date, released on November 12, 2001

Introduce ability for Sims to leave their home and travel to new destinations. Introduced “Downtown” destination with 10 community lots.

The Sims: Vacation, released on March 28, 2002

Introduced “Vacation Island” destination, you can stay in vacation for long time and save game here.

The Sims: Unleashed, released on November 7, 2002

Introduced gardening and pets in the game. Dogs and cats are controllable like Sims. Expand the default neighborhood of 10 lots on Sim Lane with “Old Town” with additional 31 lots, with ability to rezone them as residential or community.

The Sims: Superstar, released on May 13, 2003

Allows Sims to become entertainment figures and includes representations of several famous personalities. Introduced a new destination called “Studio Town,” which functions as a workplace for celebrity Sims where regular visits may be required to maintain their fame and career, players can follow their Sims to work. Allows non-celebrity Sims to visit Studio Town for leisure.

The Sims: Makin’ Magic, released on October 29, 2003

Introduces magic to the game and allows Sims to cast spells, forge charms, and buy alchemical ingredients. Introduced “Magic Town” with 9 lots, which house vendors of magical ingredients and items and a number of magic-related mini-games. Introduces baking and nectar-making. 3 lots in Magic Town are residential, which contain new aesthetic accents such as new grass textures, background sound effects, and a higher chance of growing magical items, marking the first time that Sims may live outside of the main neighborhood.