The Sims 2: Castaway review

Nov 2, 2007

Desert island Sims... right from the start, that's got to be a more interesting concept than any amount of getting jobs, cleaning carpets and going to the toilet you'd have to do in a normal Sims game.

Actually, you still have to do a lot of that sort of thing in Castaway, but then it wouldn't really be a Sims title without it. The big difference for us is that the scenario is now a much better motivation for making sure your virtual person stays alive and well in a strange and hostile environment.

After you've created an avatar and populated a yacht with a crew of (hopefully) strong swimmers, disaster strikes and you're all washed overboard to face an island filled with strange plants, the odd monkey and not a great deal of danger.

Initially you take control of one Sim while you attempt to make the best of your new jungle home. To push the story along, you'll have to complete objectives such as catching some food, building a decent campsite and investigating different parts of the island. If you want to discover as much as you can, it's possible to just wander the island indefinitely, gathering raw materials to build new items and making friends with the local chimpanzees. As long as you take care of your Sim's basic needs, you can do whatever you please.

But to get the good stuff, such as the more advanced building plans, you'll need to locate other survivors and get them working for you, either by controlling them directly or assigning tasks. Once you've figured out how to make a raft there are other islands to discover, and the ultimate objective is to escape back to civilization. If you're dedicated enough, you might even uncover a mystery or two.