MySims Kingdom
by Electronic Arts
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Video Game Reviews of MySims Kingdom
Customer Review: "History will replace the word 'science' with the name 'F'"--Dr. F
Summary: 4 Stars
In this Sims game, you are a popular resident of an island who's come back from vacation. The mayor greets you and returns your house key but, before you have a chance to settle in, a mysterious character in black steals much of the island's decorations, houses, and even the bridge. Your ultimate mission is to find the culprit while completing mini missions and games along the way. This is the first "MySims" game I've played. I don't really like the characters looking like children even though most are adults and some are middle aged or older, but oh well.
Game Play: First off, you do not have to worry about keeping your personal needs levels up. There's not a shower or toilet around. You don't even have to sleep although you can sleep which is useful for fast-forwarding the game if you need to be in a certain time of the day to complete a mission or play a mini-game. Some of the items in the game are useless. You go into people's houses or shops and you can't use anything; you can't even sleep in their beds and sit in their chairs. Items that you buy (i.e. the pool table, pinball machine, etc) you can't even play! What's up with that?!
Mission: This game has a lot of weird science going on which, at first, seemed very odd but I ended up thinking it's kind of cool. You work with an 80 year-old professor named Dr. F who is very funny in his lines and mannerisms. The first thing he does is give you an Extractor that collects the Essences (raw materials that make up most things) that, when put in a Synth-O-Tron, will create items ("For science!"). Later, he will ask you to collect a variety of parts for another important invention which include a Perplexing Paw (see what I mean by "weird science"?). Your mini mission while working towards finding the culprit who stole from the island is to build up the kingdom again either from decorative items made in the Syth-O-Tron or from blueprints you collect for Torajiro (the very surly contractor) to create new houses or spruce up existing ones. I reached the five-star level before completing a lot of the building in the game (that reminds me of Sims Castaway with the mission being achieved before you find half the items) but, fortunately, the game does not end after completing the main mission!
Mini Games (with easy, normal, and hard levels): Most of the mini-games are fun, but there are a couple I could not stand.
Tennis--This was the first game I opened and I hated it! I could not win at this game, no way! I think I got as high as 2 points in the matches and could never top it (you need 11 points to win) which meant I got no Simoleons and no prizes or blueprints from this game.
Kayaking--Another difficult game. You have to use your stylus to steer and balance the kayak around a track. Very difficult, frustrating, and tiring. I didn't do well on this game either.
Ghost Zapping--This game is very easy. You just use you stylus to zap out ghosts that appear and also zap spheres that appear occasionally to earn extra points or make it easier to zap the ghosts.
Vegetable Vendor--Pretty easy game, though I don't think I ever managed platinum status. You fulfill orders for vegetables but be careful, some veggies look alike if you don't pay attention.
Dream Card--This game would be very frustrating but there are ways to ace this game. It is a memory game that uses number cards. What I do is bust out my dry erase calendar (a dry erase board is best because there is a card that will reshuffle the cards so you'll need to start from scratch and can erase everything easily with a dry erase board--a calendar is even better because there are 7 cards across just like there are 7 boxes for the days of the week across on the calendar). Just write in each card number in the appropriate box when it is turned over. The trick is, when it is your turn and you turn over a card that you don't know where the pair of is, do not turn over another card you do not know (unless it's the first turn of the game, of course). Turn over a card you know is wrong so as not to potentially give away an answer to your opponent. One thing I don't like about this game is the time it takes to reveal the bonus cards. Unlike the game scoring, you cannot speed this up by touching the screen with the stylus.
Snowball Fighting--This game is fun, although I can't seem to get platinum status. Hit snowmen with snowballs--the blue ones go down with one ball, the red ones need two, the gold ones need three. Definitely get the special yellow snowman (ha, ha, yellow snow) to get an unlimited snowball arsenal. You can also play against an opponent which is tough.
Constellation--This game had the potential of being one of the best. You draw the constellation you see using four stars of different colors. The problem is, there seems to be a glitch with one of the constellations using the yellow star. Even when drawn correctly, it is rejected. I have not found an alternative way of drawing it to get around it so, when playing this game, try to get a game that does not use the yellow star. Another tip: zap as many shooting stars as possible as it will really help your score.
Balloon Presents--Like the veggie game only you don't see the balloon order when you're filling it; you have to remember it.
Fishing--Not really a mini-game, but a side game. It is very frustrating. You have to make certain movements with the lure to attract certain fish. So many times I couldn't get anything. Aaaak!
Summary: Overall, I thought the game was fun and challenging (although, a bit too challenging with some of the mini games) despite being a little odd at times. It was exciting seeing new houses appear and the new characters move in ("If you build it, they will come"), although you cannot be creative in designing the houses, you just choose where to put them. You can decorate your house, though. You do not have to ace all the mini games to complete the mission, which was good for me. Also, the game does not end after the main mission is completed; in fact, you get a new mission! Some of the characters are pretty cool, too. It is not the best Sims game I've ever played, but it was entertaining.
Customer Review: Good game but too short
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this for my daughter for Christmas. She loved the game but said that she was able to finish it too quickly.Customer Review: Daughter loves Game
Summary: 5 Stars
Great game for tweens who like SIMs type games. Daughter liked the way she could take pictures of some of the animals. It must be funny in places too, because I could hear random giggles as she played.Customer Review: fun but tricky too
Summary: 5 Stars
I think the game is realy fun but I am stuck at the part where the guy with the ski resort asks for help I went to the guy with the building machine but you can't build him a home and later the crazy scientist askes fof too many crazy things for his crazy inventions and I can't find the kayak guy and I can't catch a rainbow trout so it is very fun but tricky too.Customer Review: Couldn't get into it.
Summary: 2 Stars
I'll admit, I'm not very far into this game - but I doubt I'll get much further. It's just not holding my interest, and although some other reviews say that it picks up eventually, I don't really think I'm going to stick it out til then.
I love Animal Crossing, loved the original Sims, loved Sims 2 for DS. This is a genre I'm usually into, but this one just kinda feels like a knockoff - some game thrown together by a no-name company to cash in on a trendy genre, not something that's actually a part of the Sims series. Right now in the game, just about all I can do is combine "essences" to make stuff and place it in the town. This would be much more interesting if I knew what I was trying to accomplish in doing this - putting random stuff in random places just isn't that exciting, especially since right now I have very limited control over what I can actually make.
The minigames are okay, but not good enough to carry the game. And it takes forever to run around the kingdom - which is always an issue in this type of game, but again if I felt like there were a reason for me to run to a particular place it wouldn't be so annoying.
Overall, this game starts off very slowly with minimal plot to introduce the characters and overall structure, then sets you free with a minimal number of things you're capable of doing and little direction as to why you're doing them or what would be the best way to go about doing them. It feels very slow and pointless, and I've lost interest almost before I've started.
And as a side note - why is it called Kingdom, and why is there a king? If you're going to sell a game like that, at least have the decency to make it medieval-themed. That would definitely have bumped up the novelty factor some.