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Game essentials: The Sims Mobile
TSM
Play with life.
Imagine a reality TV show where you’re in control. It’s that mix of human drama and player ownership that is just part of what makes The Sims Mobile so utterly engrossing.
It’s a natural evolution of the virtual-pet genre, letting you create your own human characters before involving you deeply in their day-to-day life.
As with any reality TV, it’s compelling to watch – thanks partly to the wonderfully expressive characters – but it’s even more absorbing to play. You can be a benevolent voyeur, an unseen friend or even a mischievous villain, creating various dramas and disasters for your poor Sim to deal with.
Take a job as a barista, for example, and you can clean the cappuccino machine, make fancy tea, talk to customers, chisel gum off tables and more. Everything is merely a tap or two away thanks to its simple interface, and you’ll be rewarded for each task you complete.
The same goes for outside work, with social events giving you a huge number of options to play with. Whether you’re hoping to find a BFF or a long-term partner, you can take things slowly or be flirtatious from the get-go. And it’s a joy to discover that there are no limits on who you can romance.
You can live vicariously through your Sims however you wish, essentially. Save up enough money and you can splash out on a swish new sofa set, or build an extension that’ll give you extra room to play around in. Make enough friends and you’ll end up as the neighbourhood’s social butterfly, working hard and partying even harder.
If you can’t decide between such a huge array of possible opportunities, daily tasks give you a more structured experience – not only setting you specific goals, but rewarding you handsomely for ticking them all off the list.
And you still have control over how you complete them: changing your appearance can be a matter of putting on a new dress, or you can opt for a much more drastic makeover. Either way, The Sims Mobile gives you something to aim at when you’re not quite sure what to do next.
It gets even better when more players and Sims join in. Inviting friends transforms it into an irresistibly communal experience – with just a hint of competition for good measure. And if you fancy a change of routine, you can bring another character to life, giving them different jobs and hobbies to shake things up – or to give your existing Sim a new friend, housemate or rival to interact with.
It’s this flexibility that makes The Sims Mobile a game which creates delightful anecdotes: a world where great stories naturally emerge, whether you’re helping to create them or just letting Sim nature take its course.
The only disappointment, in fact, is that real life is rarely this consistently funny, heartwarming and rewarding.