the sims freeplayFormat: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Developer: EA

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

I remember when The Sims first came out and my sister was big into it. I looked at the monitor and proclaimed that it was stupid and not a real game. Well this “not real game” would go on to become a huge franchise that would sell millions and millions of copies around the world and make an appearance on just about every platform under the sun. Even yours truly got caught up in the Sims hype as well. So I was excited to see what the Sims could be like on a iPad.

The Sims Freeplay looks every bit as good as its PC and games console big brother in my opinion. It has that classic Sims look to it where you immediately know its the Sims. So really truth be told there is not much to say about the way that the game looks. Because if you have seen one Sims game then you have seen them all. That is not to say the game doesn’t look good, but it certainly does not stand out from the other Sims games.

Now about the game play. The Sims is the ultimate town building, find making, social game out there. You can play the game in a multitude of ways if you want. For example if I play it I like to do various tasks, but my wife can spend ages just messing around building houses. The basic idea though is that you create your Sim and then need to guide then through the world. Your Sim has six needs in there life these are hunger, energy, bladder, fun, social and hygiene. Making sure all these are taken care of are what the goal of the game is. Along the way you can hook up with other Sims, get a job or really do what you feel like.

Now I will admit that when I found out this was a freemium game and I knew it was from EA. That alarm bells started ringing that this would be a very expensive game to really get into, but I owe EA an apology because yes there is a ton of content in the game store, but without spending a dime you can still do a ton of stuff in this game. And have many different items for you to play with. So I really have to tip my hat to EA in that regard.

In all this is game I think would have been suited to the name The Sims Lite. If you are expecting an experience like what you get on your PC then you will be a little disappointed. But if you go into this with the understanding that this is like a watered down version of the Sims then you will have a great time. Even though I use the term watered down please do not let that put you off. Because there is still a decent amount of content here that can keep you happy for hours oh and did I mention that this is all for free? So it is a worthy addition to your iOS game library. But one thing I will warn you about is that this game is a hog for storage space this is one very large file so make sure you have enough space.

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store