You can also fish once you craft a stick. You’ll be picking up a lot of things, often. Luckily all that you need either washes up on the beach, grows, or can be found lying on the ground. You’ll need items to build tools, shelters, make clothes, etc. Doing certain tasks increases individual skills, such as preparing meals increases cooking, building things increases mechanical, etc. However to achieve certain goals, your character must have the stats to complete them, such as having a high enough level of mechanical skill to build a raft. The books give certain goals to achieve, such as build a fire, build a shelter, etc. Upon waking up, your Sim finds books left by previous landlocked island inhabitants. Gameplay-wise, Sims 2 is fairly straightforward. You then wake up on a deserted island, alone, and the fun begins! After you create the Sims, you’re then shown the shipwreck via cell phone pics.

I chose the Executive, whose main talent is communication (Schmoozing, sounds like most executives I know…) You can also choose to create an entire crew of fellow Sims to later interact with on the island, or you can go it alone and rely on chimp assistance. In addition to looks, you can choose their job and personality, which will affect your stats going into the game. With what first looks to be a limited amount of customization, you can get a large variety of Sims. The characters look quite a bit better compared to the characters created in Bustin’ Out, more smooth and less blocky (ie: ugly). I also picked up Sims: Bustin’ Out and played it a bit so that I could compare it to this latest version.Ĭastaway starts with the opportunity to create a sim. I was pleased that in Sims 2: Castaway, the stats need to be minded but aren’t such a chore as to make the game an exercise in frustration. Lost in Blue took survival to the extreme, where tending to the protagonist’s needs such as hunger and thirst became a chore. Being a fan of “Lost in Blue” on the DS, another shipwreck survival sim, I was immediately intrigued by Sims 2: Castaway. Some of the later titles have intrigued me, but not enough to buy them. I was unable to tolerate Sim Mom’s harping at my Sim every 10 seconds in “Sim-lish” to get a job, eat, take a crap, whatever….I found it annoying.

My first experience with a Sims game was with the first, The Sims, and I can honestly say I played it for 30 minutes.

Will your shipwrecked Sim successfully escape the deserted island? Or will you be content to build an island paradise ala Gilligan’s Island? Will you create other Sims to keep you company? Or will you rely on chimps and homemade sand buddies to keep you from going insane? Does Maxis effort make any of this worth your time? Read On…

The sims 2 castaway hieroglyphics