The Urbz forum mini-preview

[Marek]

The Urbz: Sims In the City is perhaps a bit of a misunderstood title. I have to admit that the first press release, issued earlier this year, really turned me off. Fortunately, the producer of the game clarified a couple of important issues during a demo we were given of the game by EA. He emphasised that The Urbz is not to be taken as The Sims: Street. It's a social satire – a parody of moving into the city. Indeed, after playing it for a while, it became clear to me that The Urbz isn't trying to be blatantly “cool”, but that it's trying to make fun of trying to be cool. It's a subtle difference, but it's easy to mistake the game for something that takes itself serious based on some the assets that have come out.

I was told that while The Sims is a parody of consumerism, The Urbz is a parody of conformism. The goal of the game is to roam various districts and perform various actions that increase your fame and social standing. Most of the game's options are based on social interactions. You can approach any non-player character and perform various greetings or rituals. Another way to increase your street reputation is to get a job (which usually involves some type of mini-game), which earns you money that can be spent on changing clothes, hairstyle, piercings or tattoos. With twelve different places on the body for piercings and tattoos respectively, it's possible to create a pretty freaky appearance for your character.

There are a number of districts in the game, such as a sort of industrial Goth-style train station and a Tokyo-inspired raver/fruity/neon world. Each district has a list of quests and sidequests that can be completed. Later in the game, when you've become more succesful, your image will appear on posters throughout the city as the result of sponsorship deals. Eventually, the behavior of other Urbz will start to change, as they'll think you're really cool and will want to conform to you. You'll have a chance to establish new fashion trends and get your own group of adaptors.

The Urbz turned out to be more appealing than I expected, mostly thanks to its humerous bits. For example, there's all sorts of wacky objects that you can buy in stores. In the Tokyo-style district, there were things like bonsai trees, fishtanks and the Schnizzelator, a weird sort of robotic karaoke rapper. Objects can be placed and used anywhere in the game world, so you can trash a place completely or put a Schnizellator in the middle of a street. There's quite a lot of these fun options sprinkled throughout the game. As you may already know, the Black Eyed Peas have provided Sim-ified versions of their music as well as appear as interactable characters. Should you really hate the Black Eyed Peas, it's indeed possible to kill them all. There's also some crazy ways for your own character to die, such as a murderous monkey that you'll meet somewhere down the line. (Don't be alarmed though: when you die, your life is immediately restored.)

There's also still the basic chores of The Sims. These repetitive roleplaying elements are obviously not for everyone. A major difference with The Sims is that The Urbz isn't exclusively based on open-ended gameplay. There's also a linear storyline involving three villians (read: Urbz much cooler than you) who need to be eliminated through social humiliation, which culminates in a dramatic conclusion at the end.

The game's roots in the basic concept of The Sims would appear to make it a guaranteed success, though EA will have to work hard on convincing gamers first that The Urbz is different enough to warrant purchasing alongside The Sims. EA will also have to more clearly communicate how The Urbz is not a cheesy 'gansta' version of The Sims, but rather a more humerous, imaginative and mission-based take on The Sims formula. Based on what I saw, there isn't a big easily-definable draw to the game, but its appeal lies in a broad range of options and minigames. It's really easy to get into and perfect for the casual gamer, though I'm inconclusive on how much appeal it will have to the hardcore gamer (it really could go either way).

Air guitaring is one of the many ways to interact with other characters. In the background you see three images on the wall. That could be you when you get famous.

You can keep customizing your character throughout the game.

The bartender job involves a rhythm-based mini game. If you screw up, customers complain. Fortunately if you suck at the mini game you can still complete the job, but it will take much longer.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

...The Urbz is a parody of conformism. The goal of the game is to roam various districts and perform various actions that increase your fame and social standing. Most of the game's options are based on social interactions. You can approach any non-player character and perform various greetings or rituals. Another way to increase your street reputation is to get a job (which usually involves some type of mini-game), which earns you money that can be spent on changing clothes, hairstyle, piercings or tattoos. With twelve different places on the body for piercings and tattoos respectively, it's possible to create a pretty freaky appearance for your character.

You'd be amazed at how many people actually attempt this in real life. I've seen them in action. Bless them.

[manny_c44]

This game still seems like a steaming loaf to me.

[toblix]

I've seen some ads for this game, or something, but I just figured it was one last expansion pack for The Sims or something. I didn't know it was a completely separate game, one with actual goals. Maybe I'll explore further. Or even better yet, how about you write more and show pictures.

[Marek]

I think I'm done writing, Toblix

[toblix]

What, for good?

[Roderick]

I'm still unconvinced, but that may change. I'm not necessarily heading towards an I Already Hate It position, but I'm keeping with my initial scepsis.

[Farbror]

Whoa. So this is really totally different from the original Sims?

I still don't get it, do I have a house? And do I have to furnish it, and do I have to reguarly eat or something to increase my Hunger score, like in the original? It doesn't seem to fit this kind of game.

[Marek]

So this is really totally different from the original Sims?

Yes.

I still don't get it, do I have a house?

Well, you have an appartement, but it's fairly bare bones. They want you to explore the city instead of hanging out in the appartement, and frankly there's not much to do apart from taking a shower, or a shit.

And do I have to furnish it

You don't have to, but you can redecorate any room in the game including but not limited to your own appartement. However, the focus is a lot more on customizing the looks of your character.

and do I have to reguarly eat or something to increase my Hunger score, like in the original?

There's 5 of the original 7 (I think?) maintenance bars. They took some out that didn't fit The Urbz. I think they took out the social interaction bar as that's pretty much all you'll do in the game anyway. You do have to sleep and stuff. If you sleep on the pavement you get fined by the cops. You can sleep on a bench in the train station, but that's bad too.

Basically you're exploring nine districts (read: levels) 95% of the time and not spending any significant amount of time in your house, as all the quests and fun things are in the city. The house is more like a house in an RPG... just a home base where you can regenerate and leave some of your stuff.