• Play, work, and socialize with over 25 new outrageous characters

• Discover 20 new locations and try your hand at 8 new careers

• More than 150 unique objects to collect, and in-game auctions to trade or collect with friends

"The Sims: Bustin' Out" is now available for PS2, and I admit that I was a little doubtful at first. Nine out of ten times the graphics will never be better than the PC. Well, this is the rare instance where the PS2 version has better graphics than the PC. You get incredible zoom in functions that were very limited to merely clicking on the PC version while on the PS2 you can smoothly zoom in and out with the analog stick. The load time is ten times quicker than it ever was on the PC and the controls are more than adequate, although I must warn you that it does take some time to get used to. The longer you play, the quicker you will get used to the controls.

For those who aren't familiar with the "Sims" games, the premise is pretty simple to follow. It's like living a computerized life. You create people and have them live their lives while making sure all of their needs are met. You can have them live successful and filling lives, or you can be the reason for their torment and suffering. It's up to you. You call the shots and make the decisions. You can either play "Bust Out Mode" or "Free Play" ("Free Play" becomes available once you start "Bust Out Mode" and save). Also, if you have the ability to play games online, this game comes with an online mode that you can play as well.

As I've said, the graphics on the PS2 version are far more superior to that of the PC version. And what's great is that now you can enjoy the wonderful world of "The Sims" without wasting all of that computer memory. It does, however, eat through your Memory Cards (which you need in order to play), so make sure you have one or two that are only for this game and for nothing else. If you only want to create one Sim, then you'll be fine with only one Memory Card that has nothing else saved on it, but if you want to make more, you will need at least another one to go along with that one. That is really the only downfall of the game, but it is something that can be worked around.

Be warned. This game WILL eat up your time without you even being aware of it. What you think will be a simple fifteen minute game can easily turn into a three hour game and you wouldn't even notice. That's how addicting this game is. If you don't have the time to be addicted to a game, then you may want to pass this one up.

"The Sims: Bustin' Out" for the PS2 is a remarkable game that surprisingly outdoes the PC version. The graphics are great, the controls are very workable, and the replay value is off the charts. This is one of the few games that can show you that PC doesn't always mean "better." Save that memory on the PC and pick up the PS2 copy of "Bustin' Out," and let the fun begin. -Michael Crane

64 of 69 found the following review helpful:


the good and the bad  Dec 18, 2003
I've been playing the game now for a couple of days. There are quite a few things I like: you can see your house/objects/sims closer up now, there are more objects, they've refined the build mode so that building goes a bit more smoothly, the new interactions (like towel snap) are fun to watch, there are more options in the sim creation mode (more clothes, facial features, hair, etc.).
Now for the things I didn't like: perhaps I haven't found a way to do it yet (in which case, I will update my review...) or perhaps I misunderstood the advertising-- but in "free play" mode you can't "bust out" anywhere, it's like the previous Sims game in which you're basically confined to your house. I was very disappointed since I had thought that you could go to other locations on both the "level" based, bust out mode AND free play, not just in the bust out mode. Also, forget about playing with your Sims from the previous console game. As opposed to the PC versions in which you get an "expansion" and you're able to use the new features with your previously saved games, "The Sims, Bustin Out" is NOT an expansion game in that sense. You will not be able to access any of your old sims. I had read quite a few previews on different gaming websites and all of them failed to mention these two (in my opinion) very important details.
Overall though, I do like the game- it's addictive. My big wish for future installments of the Sims for the PS2 is that they acquire the gameplay and features of the PC versions.

17 of 17 found the following review helpful:


Your very own interactive soap opera  Mar 24, 2004 By K. Bourn "bohemiangirlpdx"
As most people familiar with the Sims phenomenon are aware, Sims Bustin' Out allows you to create characters who interact with other "Sims" in various everyday--and not so everyday--situations. In Bustin' Out, your character starts out living with Mom, who sports a pink bathrobe and bunny slippers and nags you about getting a job while you figure out the basics of operating the game controls. Your Sim can select from several careers: movie star, fashion victim, jock, mad scientist, counter culture, gangster, and paramilitary. If you climb the ladder of success all the way to the top, you get to move into Malcolm's Mansion. At this point, I'm a few promotions short of the 10 required to get to the mansion so I can't describe what it's like. What I CAN say, is that Bustin' Out is incredibly addictive! The challenge of getting the next promotion, or accomplishing some other goal, really hooks you in.

Bustin' Out has some fascinating and odd places where your character can live including a haunted house, an art gallery, a disco, a gym, a military outpost, and a beach-side love shack. Each location features various goals to accomplish, which will unlock new items and new outfits. Making friends with other Sims unlocks interesting social options ranging from the elegant (air kissing or kissing the hand) to the crude (burping in face and give noogie). One of the more amusing interactions is watching Mom laugh when you ask her to pull your finger. Despite the goofy robe, she definitely wasn't based on MY mom!

The Good:
* Aside from the androgynous scientists, each Sim character is quite unique. The Sims who you encounter as roommates and party guests each have their own reactions to the different social options you use. Hand kissing may score happy points with Mortimer, the elegant Vincent Price-like resident of Goth Manor, but seems a real turnoff to Dudley, the perpetually sloppy owner of a white-trash trailer.

* The stuff you unlock as you progress gets pretty cool: robots, aromatherapy mood enhancers, musical instruments, mooseheads, bookcases disguising a door, etc.

* Keeping your mood sufficiently elevated by taking care of basic needs (rest, fun, comfort, food, hygiene, potty breaks, a clean house), maintaining relationships with friends (necessary for promotions) and getting to work on time grows challenging.

* You aren't locked into one career, and don't lose ground if you switch careers in the middle of the game. Strategic career switching is one way to avoid going to work without getting fired so that you can concentrate on developing friendships necessary for promotions.

* You can start right in, without spending much time reading the manual. Other Sims will tell you how to operate the controls as you go along. At initial levels, you will get broad hints, such as roommate Dudley commenting on how badly you stink, if you need a shower.

* You can move back to earlier homes, which helps save money if you want to mooch off Mom, or if living with someone rebuilds a friendship faster.

* The Sims wardrobe contains pretty hip clothes, and each time you restart the game from after saving and closing, you can have your Sim change clothes. Your Sim will automatically change clothes for other activities: working out, swimming, heading to bed, heading to work, and bathing. (Intimate areas are blurred out for this last activity.)

The Frustrating and Disappointing:

* Maybe it's just my system, but Studio 8 contains glitches. For some reason, only at Studio 8, the system will not let me purchase all the items currently available for sale, even though I have plenty of "simoleons" (Sim money). Discovering this after selling the futons to replace them with more comfortable beds was a real pain. The roommate who gets stuck sleeping on the couch instead of a comfy bed stays in a pretty bad mood.

* When your Sim is at work, you don't get to see what they do. They're just away from the house. At higher levels for some careers, you at least get to see them head off to work in interesting outfits. For instance, while working as a virus breeder and other careers in the mad scientist track, your Sim will don protective clothing and a breathing apparatus before heading to work, military Sims will change into camouflauge, and those working up the gangster ladder will slip into a black "cat burglar" outfit. But when the movie star as a lowly kid show sidekick and the jock is starting out as a mascot, I would really like to see them wear silly outfits to work--and they don't.

* You can only save one Sim per memory card. If you want to have multiple Sims progressing through life, you will need to ante up for extra memory cards. I haven't tried the "free play" feature yet to see whether you can save both a "Bustin' Out" Sim and a "free play" Sim on the same card.

* The "Bustin' Out" versus "free play" brings me to another aspect that some players have found disappointing. In "free play," you apparently can build your own house and create a family of up to four people, including having a same-sex domestic partnership if you choose. According to what I've read on Bustin' Out websites, "free play" does not give you the opportunity of visiting other locations. Since getting a chance to hang out at places where my Sim wouldn't necessarily want to live is part of the fun, I hope that this feature gets added when the next version comes along.

Since I haven't played any computer versions of Sims or the original PS version, I can't compare Bustin' Outs features. What I did notice is that compared with Sim City and Sim Earth, Bustin' Out really holds my attention by having achievable goals to work for, and by not being too impossible to maintain everything in balance.

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:


Bustin Out?  Oct 21, 2004
Well I bought this game and I was so excited! Then I discovered that you can only leave the house in bust out mode. Also when you bust out you can`t go downtown you can just go to friend`s houses. (from what I know so far if there is a way I haven`t figured it out yet.) Another thing that I didn`t like was that there are not very many house lots as in the computer versions.
But I loved the graphics and all the unlockables. I also loved all the different carreer choices and styles. I also thought that the bust out mode was very cool with all the houses and different goals. I guess I just expected more from my favorite brand of games. But if I was you I would rent it before buying it to see what you think. I really hope the next game for PS2(which comes out in November.)will be alot better.

11 of 12 found the following review helpful:


Pretty cool  Jan 17, 2004 By TwistaG "Quoth the Raven 'Nevermore"
Make no mistake about it: The Sims is a classically good, perilously addictive game. While The Sims: Bustin' Out adds "questing" to the life-meddling proceedings, it's really no more than yet another extension of a five-year-old gameplay device. Concept, meet the breaking point. The Sims: Bustin' Out is essentially a further extension of the "Get A Life" mode from the original console Sims game. Instead of spreading your attention across several Sims, you focus on only one and his "quest" to (A) get promoted, (B) perform tasks in order to unlock more items and Sim moods, and (C) stop the greedy Malcolm Landgrabb from terrorizing the Sim community. The big hook is that you're free from the confines of just one house: Now you can visit any location you've unlocked at any time and even permanently move in if your career path points you in that direction. It finally brings some meaning to the job you choose for your Sim. The new hook is only marginally successful. While the game is paced well enough so that you do, indeed, want to accomplish these pseudo-RPG-ish goals (people turned off by the original Sims may actually like this one better simply because there's a point), the problem is that The Sims core gameplay wasn't really designed with single-character, goal-oriented gameplay in mind. Square peg, round hole...you know how it goes. The presentation and control scheme are about identical to those in the original console incarnation of The Sims-nice but slightly sloppy 3D graphics, generic-sounding (though endearingly intentionally so) pop-rock soundtrack, and the jabbering Sim-speak that's become an audio icon in the mainstream game universe. The control scheme works nicely during day-to-day play but starts to get messy once you decide it's time to build a house from the ground up. Every version has its strong suit: The Xbox version has the smoothest graphics and fastest loading; the GameCube version links up with the Game Boy Advance version to enable object trading and Animal Crossing-style visits; and the PS2 version lets you trade unlocked objects and visit other online players' games if you have the Network Adaptor. Of the three, only the PS2 version seems prone to annoying split-second jitters and pauses that break up the animation. If you're a Sims fan, Bustin' Out will hold your attention for a while, but it's certainly not the second coming that Sims 2 promises to be. Yeah, the Sims finally get to move out...but it's really about time they moved on.

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