Sims 2: Pets (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Will Wright is the man behind the incredibly successful The Sims franchise and year in, year out is continues to shift units in the millions worldwide. 2004 saw the release of The Sims 2 on the PC and a couple of years later it graced many of the consoles on the market, including the Nintendo DS. But as with the PC version, EA has a habit of releasing a constantly slew of add-on and extra content for the game to tide fans over until the true sequel comes and so this is what we have here with The Sims 2: Pets. Hoping to combine the success of The Sims with that of Nintendogs, the result is far from the quality we've come to expect from the franchise.

Gameplay

The Sims 2: Pets takes the traditional gameplay seen in previous Sims titles and pairs it with a veterinary simulator. The game starts with you creating a caricature, very much like every other Sims title except in a much more limited way here, giving it a name, choosing a pet from a collection of dogs and cats and then moving into your new home, which doubles as a veterinary clinic. Your job will be to see to various clients and their pets through the day, diagnosing their problems and attempting to treat them in the hope of earning money. It's a rather shallow interpretation of the being a vet but it has some basing in real life. For the first couple of clients, the issues with the pets are so trivial that you'll wonder why even include it in the game. But it's a way of getting used to the mechanics of the gameplay and so you'll have to check the heart rate, feed the animal, pet it and finally comb it to ultimately determine that it simply needs a bath. It's not the best start to a game but after saying you'll cure the issue, the pet stays with you for a couple of days and is then returned to its owner in a better state. Later pets will have the likes of fleas or broken limbs and so you'll have to play through extended mini-games where you'll fix the problems. The cases become more interesting as you go on but the gameplay rarely changes and begins to stagnate quickly and doesn't quite feel as well implemented or fleshed out as it should be. It also becomes more difficult as you'll have to take into consideration your own well being alongside that of the pets in the tradition Sims style, with the 6 bars present on the top screen charting your comfort, hunger, and hygiene amongst other things. It bogs the game down far too much for what it is trying to do.

While in your custody, you can take the pets out of the confines of the clinic, as can be done with your own pet that really plays little part in the gameplay other than sitting around in its bed, and take them to the park where you can walk them and play with them. Of course, when they're better they head back home but you can still interact with you own pet and teach it new tricks, which once again take the form of mini-game sequences that just feel bare in comparison to say Nintendogs. You can also spend some of the money you make on customising your pet with accessories, such as collars, but as they don't have any effect on the game whatsoever, it seems like a hollow task to even jump into. The customisation element crosses over to your house but again, it just bogs the game down. There are too many elements working against each other here to get any real sense of enjoyment.

Controls

The majority of the game is controlled by way of the touch screen, although the d-pad and the shoulder buttons are used. You tap on the screen and click the walk option, or the use option if it is an item you want to use, which appears to have your Sim caricature walk to where you want them, using the d-pad to move the camera around. It feels very restricting in comparison to the other Sims 2 games on the console as you have limited control over the movement or the interaction of the character and a button based setup would have been much better. The movement of the camera on the d-pad is a tad slow yet the longer you hold a direction down, the faster it gets until the point you'll have zoomed past where it was you wanted to send your Sim. Likewise, you can turn the camera round with the shoulder buttons but it only adjust to certain angles and isn't very helpful. When playing the treatment mini-games or playing with the pets, the touch screen controls work well. But, they seem to take forever to work, with the brushing going on for far too long.

Graphics

Everything in the game is created in 3d and from a distance, it all looks pretty good. However, when the game gets closer to the action, which is does all too often, you'll see how badly made all of the artwork really is. Character models, both those of the Sims and those of the animals, are angular and pale in comparison to some of the 3d work which can be found in other games on the system. The DS does have limitations when it comes to 3d work but it can do much better than this, with this looking like it came out of the mid 1990's. Textures are also pretty bad, being incredibly blocky to the point where no matter what you look at, you can see each individual pixel that has gone into making it and it just looks awful. Again, this is an area where the DS has limitations in smoothing out texture resolutions but it's been done much better in other titles, some of which are even in the same franchise, such as the original Sims 2, so it is baffling that it looks as bad as it does. For better or for worse, the game does manage to maintain a solid frame rate but its little consolation for the poor visuals.

Sound

The music in the game manages to outdo the poor performance of the visuals but it seemed throughout the entire play time as though there was only one song, which played on repeat over and over again. There are a couple of songs but they're nothing spectacular and do seem to blend into one repetitive mess. Still, it's been done better than the visuals. The noises from the animals are done well and sound realistic enough and that is the most important thing seeing as the game is based around pets.

Dual screen

Gameplay all takes place on the touch screen, with control options all being placed here as well. The top screen is relegated to showing information screens that detail the various bars assigned to your comfort or hunger. There are occasions where the top screen does show the gameplay but it's minimal. As they are though, the screens are used as best they can be given the game's content.

Final comments

The Sims 2: Pets feels like a poor attempt at trying to mask the success of the Sims with that of Nintendo's Nintendogs series while making it a veterinary simulator. While each of these things works well on their own, here they just do not work together well, making for a tedious game which seems to drag on and on. EA have tried to do too much in the game and it hasn't paid off, with the game turning out to be the worst of the Sims 2 expansions yet. If you're looking for a game where you can care for animals, then stick with Nintendogs and if you want to play the Sims on the console, then stick with the Sims 2.

Pro: Game maintains a solid frame rate, healing the pets is somewhat enjoyable if very basic
Con: Presentation is ugly and dated, controls are too restricting, gameplay just doesn't work together
Final score: 4.7

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