Sim City (SNES) vs. The Sims (MXB)
It’s a shame, really. I’m willing to put money on that most folks who play The Sims don’t have any idea what Sim City is. In fact, if you said the words “Sim City” to them, they’d probably be like “… eh? Is that a new expansion pack or something?”. No way, dude. It’s not an expansion pack. It’s the game that started it all.
Sim City, just like The Sims, is the innovative creation of well-respected game designer Will Wright. Instead of controlling virtual people inside of a virtual house, though, you control what is more-or-less the mayor of a town. You start your town from scratch, zoning areas for residential, commercial, and industrial, building power plants and police stations, setting up roads and phone lines, all that 
fun stuff that needsta be done in order to forge a new city. If your city rocks enough, people will start to move in, and you’ll get more money in the form of taxes, which you can spend on more expensive stuff like stadiums and airports. Every once in the while you’ll get a gift in the form of some special structure — be it an amusement park, casino, or even a statue of Mario himself. Without this game, there would be no Theme Hospital, Roller Coaster Tycoon, or any other of those simulation games — Sim City created the genre.
The Sims — do I even need to explain it’s gameplay? Who HASN’T heard of The Sims? It’s the king of casual gamers! GameCola’s Xbox Game of the Year for 2003! If you haven’t any clue what The Sims is, you’re reading the wrong publication. Try Better Homes and Gardens — GC isn’t for you.
Anyway, The Sims wouldn’t exist with out Sim City, but just because The Sims is more recent, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better game. Both have never-ending gameplay, both allow you to be the overlord of various people, and both have you utilize a cursor to dictate the going-ons of the game. The Sims, at least for consoles, anyway (I’m only mentioning the Xbox title in specific because it’s the one I own), has one big advantage over Sim City: Multiplayer capabilities. While with Sim City the best you can do with another person is to take turns building parks and firehouses, The Sims allows you to curl up with your sweetheart and control digital representations of yourselves. Really guys, what better way to get your girlfriend into gaming than by engaging her in a round of virtual house? It’s brilliant. Sim City may be more innovative, but The Sims takes the cake overall. Now if you’ll excuse me, I needta get back to the game NOW so my character doesn’t pee himself or light the house on fire, or do something else so brilliant.
Winner: The Sims (MXB)
