The Spin-offs

games that used the Sims name, but not the Sims game

The Urbz: Sims In The City

Taking a much more ‘urban cool’ approach with its style, The Urbz was more about building street rep and wicked-sick dance moves – all to the tune of The Black Eyed Peas sung in Simlish. Certain key aspects of The Sims does carry over to its gameplay, primarily the motives system and the opportunity to decorate apartments.

Mysims

This cutesy rendition of The Sims brought the concept over to the Wii as a game that is not unlike Animal Crossing. It didn’t garner much interest – largely due to the lack of the elements of The Sims that had made the franchise so popular in the first place – but it did go on to release a number of sequels on Wii and DS.

The Sims Freeplay

As a free-to-play mobile version of The Sims, it’s easy to see how the gameplay could be negatively affected by the concept. In truth, the core Sims experience remained largely intact, but with actions playing out in real-time – so watching a TV show literally takes 23 minutes – it didn’t have quite the same fluid sense of progression that many fans would be used to.

The Sims Stories

The trio of Stories games – Life, Pets and Castaway – used The Sims 2 ’s engine but was designed for players using laptops and weaker computers. While the traditional mode does exist, the focus is on the more scripted events of each of the games, which uses prompts and the Wants and Fears systems to guide the player.

The Sims Medieval

While the idea of a medievalthemed Sims game actually makes sense, that’s not what this is. The Sims Medieval is more of an action adventure style game, with reduced options for Sim and house creation and a greater focus on heroes and questing. In fact, only hunger and energy remained as motives for the characters.