The Sims: Life Stories

Takes the best stuff from Sims 2 and its add-ons, adds a story mode and makes the whole experience a bit lighter on the hardware. What is there not to like? [Mar 2007]

Visually and audibly, The Sims Life Stories has exactly the same presence of The Sims 2 series.

If "The Sims 2" is like a doll's house, this is like a soap opera. [Apr 2007, p.83]

Potential players don't need to fear it sucking away hours of their lives (although it still might), but they can look forward to an excellent game with some very amusing stories to tell.

Life Stories is very successful in widening the Sims audience even further. Just remember that experienced Sims players should look elsewhere, as they will romp through the challenges with ease and sorely miss the depth of customisation options and add-on packs of The Sims 2.

Those who have laptops and not a lot of time to invest into virtual lifestyles should definitely check this out - with easy to use controls, a more causal gameplay style in the sense that it doesn't take all day to refresh your Sims and teach them new skills, and two stories to play through, The Sims Life Stories is an interesting experiment that ticks the right boxes for the right kind of people.

Life Stories is aimed at people who grew tired of The Sims but don’t have the necessary computer hardware to upgrade to the full version of The Sims 2. If you’re in this group, The Sims: Life Stories serves as a nice middle-step, but you’ll be better off upgrading to the full-on Sims 2.