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There is no doubt in our minds that Simsville, Maxis' latest addition to its venerable Sim legacy, was one of the best games of E3 and will be an important title to follow this year.

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SimsVille

Developer: Maxis
Publisher: Electronic Arts

There is no doubt in our minds that SimsVille, Maxis' latest addition to its venerable Sim legacy, was one of the best games of E3 and will be an important title to follow this year. The Sims has been a resounding success. Not only did it capture gamers' attention and become a chart-topper, but it also garnered critical praise. Yet, despite the game's popularity and quality gameplay, some players wanted to explore and control a Sims neighborhood, not just one household. That's where SimsVille comes into play.

SimsVille's tagline is, "Every town has a story.... What's yours?" In essence, the game will combine the SimCity series' macromanagement and The Sims' micromanagement styles. The focus of this hybrid is your town. So, instead of designing a family, as in The Sims, or a metropolis, as in SimCity, you will be able to create your own suburban town complete with different businesses, homes, and shops. In this municipality, your goal will be to fulfill your Sims' immediate needs: a roof over their heads, food, clothing, friends, and a way to make money. Managing a town's economy - and thus, its overall rating - will be your larger, more abstract goal.

At E3 the crowd in front of EA's game displays was at times quite large. But SimsVille was worth the wait. One of the biggest changes from previous Sim titles is that SimsVille features a 3D engine instead of a 2D-sprite tile engine. This will be most noticeable in the game's models, which may look 2D but are polygonal. The perspective is a familiar one. You will be able to see your neighborhoods in an isometric (3/4) view. The engine renders objects in this view. Recent screenshots really don't do justice to how nice the game looks or how smoothly the camera moves. In contrast to The Sims, SimsVille's camera won't rotate. Although this sounds like a disadvantage, it's really isn't, because you won't be placing objects in houses and looking in on your family. According to assistant producer Jenna Chalmers, SimsVille's emphasis is on community - so the game's perspective will let you see how Sims go about their business.

SimsVille also has a number of noteworthy details. For example, as you would select attitudes or personality traits for individual Sims in The Sims, these characteristics in SimsVille will generally apply to neighborhoods. Much as in a real town, some areas will be populated by dynamic, energetic citizens, while other areas may have lazy families with unkempt yards and floundering businesses with dirty windows. In addition, you'll be able to build businesses, restaurants, bars, and so on to attract certain types of families to your town. For instance, you might open some nice, upscale restaurants to draw in affluent families. Conversely, if your families can't find what they need in terms of work or entertainment, they'll leave for a city that has more to offer.

For those of us who loved the SimCity games' grand scale and The Sims' treatment of individual households, SimsVille combines the best of both to give a unique experience in town management.