It brings a little out-of-tune to the monotonous rhythm of the series

User Rating: 7.5 | The Sims: Castaway Stories PC
By Lovely_beauty | Review Date:
The Sims: Castaway Stories (CS) comes in time when most of us have been fed up with the too familiar background of previous Sims: urban context with hurried life line. After a shipwreck, your sim is drifted to a tropical island (Wannami) with nothing left other than an axe and a chest containing few items. In the first hour of playing, you feel like a second Robinson when the quest is to find food supplies, climb up the trees to pluck coconuts, cut down some wood to light fire... But soon you will find other Sims, all of which form a small, strange society in such a fanciful environment. Following the change in the context are plenty of new activities, most critical of which is of course finding food to survive: thrusting fishes, plucking fruits and sometimes rivals horde of monkeys for these supplies!

In the story mode, gamers are forced to keep continuous attention to Sim's status in order to complete quest. It's a little bit annoying because Sim is exhausted pretty quickly in CS and requires to rest and get "recharged" after a while. Fortunately, recharging here is funny since our Sims have a chance to savour pure natural "dishes" that are nowhere to be found in the city. Of course we can only enjoy these in our imagination but some of Sim's comments are worth referencing. If you can't keep a proper energy level for your sim, it will be troublesome, for he/she can refuse to do some work that is required by the quest or even if this work is done, game still denies your mission completion. In free mode, as usual you will create your own Sims and form a family with all types of characteristics, personality, appearance...

Graphics in CS is not something amazing since it's still built on the same engine as The Sims 2, and suitable for computers with limited processing power. This version runs smoothly even on a P4 1,8GHz 256MB VGA 32MB. Scenery and character models are acceptable. Some of the scenes like the shore with white sand, the bushy forest with many kinds of tropical plants will bring about a rather new feeling of adventuring. Although this version is not bug-free, it's still a worthy products among this endless series.

Other Helpful Reviews for The Sims: Castaway Stories

  • Rating:8

    Not as much fun as the others but...

    By Kittie28 | Review Date: Feb 07, 2008 | PC

    I enjoyed the story mode and that's what I gave an 8. My only complaint with it was it seemed like they made it way too easy. The free play in the shipwrecked and single was a big dissapointment, you have to live with ... Read Full Review

    6 of 6 users found the following review helpful
  • Rating:8.5

    Castaway Stories is something different for SIms fans, and it's a nice change.

    By azza29 | Review Date: Feb 13, 2008 | PC

    It was with both excitement and trepidation that I picked up a copy of Castaway Stories. Having long been a fan of The Sims series (I own all of The Sims 2 PC games including stuff packs, as well as a copy of The Sims wi... Read Full Review

    4 of 4 users found the following review helpful
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