The Sims have moved to the city and are on a quest to make their reputation among the other young, hip urbanites. The Urbz: Sims in the City offers a Sims Lite that will appeal to many console gamers looking to test the Sims waters, but the games flaws ultimately make it less than a satisfying dip.

To tell the family secret, I never play PC games anymore. A bad experience with an early PC game messing up the computer I used for work turned me off to them permanently. I don’t even own a computer powerful enough to play the average game made today. This of course means I never played The Sims on a PC. When The Sims finally made its way to consoles, I was busy with other games and never really gave the game much consideration. So unless you count the successful raising of a bad-tempered Seaman or a short but brutal Animal Crossing addiction, I’ve never really done the virtual life stuff at all. So The Urbz was a really different experience for me.

The story of Urbz is straight forward. The gamer plays as a self-representative avatar that can be either male or female. As a new resident in the city, you are anxious to build your reputation and become one of the popular crowd. You do this by getting out among the locals and showing them the real you … or at least the real you that you want them to see. There is a rudimentary story that develops during the game, but the vast majority of the time you’ll just be hanging with the other Urbz, working a job and buying stuff that enhances your lifestyle. Sounds a little like real life, doesn’t it?

The game starts with a character generation sequence not entirely unlike a role-playing game. Of course since the urban lifestyle seems to favor form over substance, you won’t be balancing strength, dexterity and vitality numbers, you’ll be choosing district affiliation, a body type, hair style, ear size, skin tone, etc. There are 12 districts in the city and the people from each have styles that range from goth to gangsta. In addition to the stock items that can go into the way your character looks, there is also a tool to morph or stretch certain features for greater individualization.

After generating an Urb, the player is dumped into a small apartment to make his way in the big city. This dive will have all the basics to start with … except in the bathroom. Strange, I don’t remember ever having to move in my own throne when I used to rent. Don’t worry, you can use public ones until you can get your own installed.

Socializing and the quest for reputation drive the game. To socialize with another Urb the player’s Urb initiates a branching conversation by designating him with the floating, glowing jewel that serves as a cursor. Depending on how things go, the player will earn reputation stars: gold for good reputation, red for bad reputation. To be accepted and held in high esteem by fellow Urbz, your Urb will have to do a few things. The latest fashions and clothes that are appropriate for the district you are partying in will make it easier to get into the hottest nightspots to meet the beautiful people and raise your rep. Fixing up that ratty apartment is a good start too. A cool pad with lots of fun stuff will make other Urbz want to hang at your place.

Of course these things come at a price, so it is a good idea to get a job and earn some simoleons (the currency unit of Sims) to buy all the stuff you’ll need. Jobs are simple mini-game affairs that have the player mashing buttons a lot. As low-skill, low-pay jobs are mastered your Urb can move on to more demanding jobs that pay a bit better.

Each Urb has five needs that are represented by bars on the heads-up display. These needs are bladder, hygiene, hunger, fun and energy. The first three are pretty self-explanatory. Fun is the all-work-and-no-play-makes-Jack-a-dull-boy syndrome where you’ve been doing too much work and need a bit of a break. Energy means you either need that double espresso to give you a boost or it is time to drag your butt home to bed in order to recharge the batteries. As time passes the bars fill up. If the needs are not taken care of, unfortunate things happen. I think I’ll let your imagination work on what happens when the bladder need is unmet. Energy depletion makes an Urb not the most socially attractive individual to be with.

To keep track of all that is going on, your Urb is equipped with an XAM (eXchange, Access, Messaging) device; a sort of an all-purpose PDA that acts as a phone and monitor of things like personal inventory, goals, relationships and messages. This is an indispensable tool that must be referred to often to do well in the game.

The graphics of the game are only so-so, but they are more than made up for by the variety of strange and laughable animations that occur as Urbz gather and interact. The sound is pretty good. The Urbz speak a strange Urblish language accompanied by text balloons. The music is okay, with some recognized licensed tunes and some other more generic stuff.