When The Sims started out on the PC it was interesting to see it branch out to other consoles and even more so when the series had gone portable. Oh The Sims looked good on mobile phones but this is the year Sony introduced the PSP while Nintendo brought us the Nintendo DS. The Sims 2 for the PSP is not a direct port of the amazing PC version but with interesting new twists worth a glance or two.

A vast departure from its PC original and even the most recent console version, The Sims 2 on Sony’s portable takes you on a trip into the familiar New Mexico-like township of Strangetown. You start the game by creating your character (going back to the PC game’s character creation and not the console version’s awful character generator) and then watch as said character drives down the dusty road that leads into town. Suddenly a flash of light catches your eye and swerves up into the sky. Is it a UFO? Is it some strange government test plane? As you ponder these things your car hits something sharp and your wheel pops and suddenly your car starts smoking. Luckily you’re close to a garage and an eccentric mechanic named Oscar starts working on your car. You’re stranded in Strangetown, a place where the supernatural and the otherworldly go hand-in-hand and the people are as strange as the town’s name.

You’ll meet a number of the town’s wacky inhabitants from a gas station convenience store clerk who claims she can tell fortunes to Bella who not only sells you her mansion (complete with maid) for what little change you have in your pocket just because she can’t take the ghosts or the alien abductions anymore. The game plays like an adventure game but also manages to squeeze in The Sims-styled gameplay (you still have to eat, take care of business in the bathroom and take showers). Sure you’ll have the same nonsensical conversations (complete with symbols) but unlike the original the game tosses in some actual text dialogue that’s actually both funny and nicely written.

Many of the many differences between the PC and console versions is the fact that both games feel alike but they play differently so the same can be said about this version. The first thing you’ll notice is that befriend a character in the game you’ll have to play a sort of chatting mini game. It is here that the character you want to befriend will flash an image of a topic he or she is interested in and you’re given three choices with either the same image or an image that matches the other character’s topic of interest. For example, the town Sheriff might flash an image of a rocket ship and if there is no image of a rocket ship among your choices you might want to pick the image of the astronaut since they’re both related to the topic. Of course, the mini game is timed so you’ll have to pick fast in order to double your chances.

Like The Sims 2 there’s life aspirations and personality traits you’ll have to satisfy. You can satisfy them by completing a set of tasks you’ll find on the left side of the screen. If your life-long aspiration is to gain as much knowledge you’ll have to discover many of the town’s secrets as well as the secrets other characters will confess to you. You will also be introduced to the Sanity Meter that you’ll have to keep pretty high or risk going crazy bananas. Your character’s sanity is kept in check by successfully completing aspiration goals but it’s not going to be easy. There’s still the usual necessities you have to take care of such as going to the bathroom, making money to live on, eating and keeping entertained but at least flirting is a breeze thanks to the chatting mini game. There’s even a way to intimidate a character into giving you information!

There’s also a number of mini games that help break up the adventure game element. For example there’s a whack-a-mole-styled game that has you using a shovel to smack zombies on their heads (remember, this is Strangetown we’re talking about) and even a dancing mini game that has you line dancing. These games are actually pretty fun and kind of make up for the fact that the game lacks a real multiplayer mode (although you and a friend can share secrets and characters with each another). The other bad news is that the game doesn’t run as smoothly as it should thanks to its constant load times. There’s a load time for everything you do including checking out your Sim’s stats. The result is that the framerate will stutter to the point that you might not push the right button on time and thus adding a negative score to a mini game you’re playing. This is not only frustrating but it also takes away from the experience in a most noticeable manner.

The Sims 2 is a sharp-looking PSP game that looks a lot like the other versions of the game. The characters are wonderfully rendered and so are the game’s environments. It’s impressive to see so much detail in the compact PSP screen. The only real bad part is that the characters might not convey the right reactions to a given mood. Your Sim might be smiling and blowing kisses at somebody you’re threatening or pointing a finger at somebody defiantly when you really want to drown the person with kisses. This doesn’t happen in every conversation but it does show up many a time.

As for the game’s sound it's pure Sims fare and it all sounds wonderfully detailed. The same gibberish you might expect from the characters is found here and so are many of the distinct sound effects that play throughout the game. You’ll know a ghost is around because you’ll hear the spooky ghostly sounds that play when one is floating around. Turn on a radio and you’ll hear a number of different tunes that contain the same gibberish but actually sound a lot like actual music.

One of the most original and delightfully well-conceived Sims game available for a handheld, The Sims 2 for the PSP is plagued by too many glitches that get in the way of the gameplay. This is too bad, really, since this is actually a fun game with a lot to offer. If you’re a fan of Maxis’ gibberish-talking Sims then you might just enjoy this enough that you’ll be able to ignore its problems. If you can’t tolerate painfully obvious glitches, though, you might just want to skip this and buy the far more superior PC game or the fun console version. 

Gameplay: 7.5
It looks like a Sims game and it even plays like it … until you come across the chat mini-games and the entertaining story that has you exploring the peculiar town of Strangetown. The game introduces some interesting concepts with the Sanity Meter and selling a friend’s secrets for money. Many of the mini games are actually fun. Too bad the game is hindered by long and frequent load times and framerate stutters.

Graphics: 7.9
The game looks a lot like the console and PC game and that’s a really good thing. The character models are nicely detailed and look sharp in their detailed environments. There’s the occasional pop-up but the bad part is that oftentimes the body language doesn’t match the intended emotion.

Sound: 8.0
Ah, but the Sim-speak is back in all its gibberish glory and there’s some great sound effects that come out of the PSP speakers. The real highlight, though, is the number of interesting tunes that range from the Sim version of alternative rock to the recent mix of hip-hop and reggae. Its good stuff just made better on the PSP.

Difficulty: Medium
The art of successfully flirting has become less of a guessing game and more of a timed mini-game. Many of the puzzles are no-brainers but fulfilling your Sim’s aspirations and keeping your Sanity Meter high can be a bit tricky. The hard part, like in real life, is earning enough money to survive.

Concept: 8.0
Imagine a game that takes your created character into the familiar locale that is Strangetown and then exploring five different areas while getting a job and befriending many of the town’s wacky inhabitants and you get an idea what the PSP version of The Sims 2 is like. Building relationships is a mini game of its own and the character creation is better than the console version. There’s multiplayer but, disappointingly enough, it’s not what you might think.

Multiplayer: 5.0
You and a friend can connect wirelessly and import created Sims, trade learned secrets, perks, potions and even inventions so if you were looking for multiplayer action this is a real disappointment. Couldn’t we have at least played the various other mini games with a friend? EA you really want to see this Sims fan cry, don’t you?

Overall: 7.6
On the one hand, The Sims 2 is a charming PSP game that doesn’t lack most of the familiar gameplay elements while adding some fresh ones but then again its most troublesome glitches are just too bothersome to ignore. As a fan of The Sims you might just love all the things this game has to offer but for those who are just casual admirers this game just doesn’t sparkle as brightly as the PC and console version.