| The Urbz: Sims in the City | |
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North American PS2 cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Maxis, Griptonite Games |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Series | The Sims |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS |
| Release date(s) |
Nintendo DS |
| Genre(s) | Life simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
The Urbz: Sims in the City is a video game for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox consoles, as well as the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS portable systems. It is the third Sims game for video game consoles and is the second Sims game not to be released on PC. The next release for consoles and handhelds was the console port of The Sims 2.
Hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas provided several music scores for the game, which have also been translated into Simlish. Members of the group would also appear as guest Urbz in the game.
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The objective of the console games is to go to each of nine Districts and build their reputations (called "Rep", in-game). Rep is a measure of how popular a character is; as characters gain more reputation, they gain access to larger apartments and different Districts. In the end, the character will have the largest apartment and be able to visit any of the Districts.
In addition to gaining Rep, the player must also make sure that his or her character has its needs fulfilled, and to increase the character's skills by playing mini-games. The amount of money Sims can make at the various jobs in each of the districts is determined by what skills they've leveled up. As they progress through the game, players will get messages for rent from Darius, the Sim with the highest rep in the city, and get programmed messages to their XAM. Also, other challenges, like helping Sims (or Urbz) get money from people,
The player will be given different tasks depending on the District they're in. The tasks are varied in nature, including fulfilling needs, furnishing an apartment, building reputation, mastering a job, making friends, tagging an object, and helping others.
The handheld versions are played as an adventure game and require the player to complete missions to advance. The goal of the Nintendo DS and GBA versions is to complete the five missions. Like the other games of The Sims franchise, an Urb has eight basic needs; Hunger, Sleep, Fun, and so on. In order to succeed in the handheld versions of this game, these needs must be kept high and steady.
In this version of the game, Daddy Bigbucks plans to take control of the entire city, tear down all of the buildings and turn the town into a totalitarian world where its citizens are forced to pay for the most basic necessities such as charging for every time a Sim would breathe the air. There are three districts that can be unlocked upon completing certain sets of goals. Once the player has beaten the game, they are free to live in any of the houses or apartments so long as they have enough money, the most expensive and last to unlock being the penthouse in King's Tower.
The player also has the opportunity to change what type of person they are of the four: Richies, Artsies, Streeties and Nerdies. By getting a high rep with the leader of each group, the leader will give the player a list of goals, and upon finishing them all and getting the highest possible reputation with that group, will become part of them.
The game drew generally favorable reviews, with an average ranking of 70.6% according to Game Rankings[1]:
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