APP REVIEW
'The Sims 3' for iPhone: How Large Can You Live on a Small Screen?

"The Sims 3," a game by Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), is available for US$9.99 at the App Store.

"SimCity," originally released by Maxis 20 years ago, was the matriarch of a gaming dynasty, giving rise to an impressive sprawl of spinoffs and sequels. The main series hit its true stride with "SimCity 3000," and related "Sim" titles like "SimAnt," "SimEarth," and "SimTower" achieved varying degrees of success .

However, the real breakout of the bunch -- the "Frasier" to "SimCity's" "Cheers" -- has been "The Sims," which this week released its third edition. In addition to PC and Mac versions, "The Sims 3" is also available for the iPhone and iPod touch.

I've lorded over soaring megalopolises, led ants into battle with vicious spiders, and directed the evolution of life on my own personal planet, but I've never before slipped into a Sim's skin. I wondered, would a version of the game that's light enough for an iPhone be a good first introduction to life as a Sim everyman, or would "The Sims 3" for iPhone only appeal to familiar players?

Welcome to the City of Sims

Starting out, "The Sims 3" gives you three slots for creating new characters or saving old ones. Select a slot and start designing your avatar.

Design selection is pretty one-size-fits-all. In this version of Sim land, you're apparently only allowed to be clean-shaven, young and fit -- not that I'm complaining.

Character design isn't just about appearance, though. You must also select what type of person you want to be: a jack of all trades, a nice guy, a jerk, a sleaze, a power seeker or a maniac. Your choice will determine what options you're given when asked how you want your character to act in various situations. Though the maniac selection was tempting, I decided to be a sleaze, just to keep things interesting.

Next, you get to pick out a handful of more specific personality traits, some good, some bad. After that, I was a more refined sleaze -- a conversational, friendly, highly intelligent sleaze, to be exact.

After your persona is created, you start the game in your humble home. The interface makes good use of the touchscreen, allowing you to move your point of view and see your home and others' from all angles. Zooming in and out is done with a slider on the right (takes some getting used to after using Safari so much -- I found myself pinching and pulling a lot). Still, a lot of actions like sliding through menu screens and changing view angles feels a little jerky and unresponsive.

There's also a lot of down time here, mainly when it comes to walking from one end of town to the other and waiting on frequent load sequences.

I've Got Needs!

The most basic goal of "The Sims 3" is one we can all relate to: staying alive and breathing. This means you have to tend to your avatar's physical needs -- keep it fed and give it rest. You should also keep it bathed, or else nobody will talk to it. You even need to make sure it goes to the toilet often enough, which made me wonder whether I'm trying to direct the life of a sleazy adult bachelor or an infant.

Ignoring these needs for too long results in death, and since a minute in Sim world passes in about a second of real time, the mundane task of self-maintenance can be rather fast-paced.

Your character also has a need to socialize, which means knocking on your neighbors' doors and carrying on conversations for as long as they'll put up with you. Also, providing food, home upgrades and furniture means getting a job -- a restaurant, Town Hall and a Quickmart are among your options there. However, this game isn't really about working life. The hours spent sorting papers as a political intern, for example, are mercifully skipped over.

Other goals make things a little more interesting. At various intervals, your character gets random urges. He or she will wish to catch a fish, stay bathed for three days straight, learn to cook, or simply watch TV. Some of these tasks are easy, others get a little frustrating.

For instance, my guy, Glen, decided he really wanted to grow a tomato plant. I took him to the store and bought seeds, a watering can and fertilizer. When he got home, there was no place plant it. Under "Gardening Tips" in the help menu, it told me I needed to upgrade my house in Build Mode, but Build Mode didn't seem to have an option for anything like a vegetable garden upgrade. Maybe it's not offered because Glen just can't afford it yet on his political intern salary, but I'd at least like a clue about where I can go on this.

Learning to cook spaghetti, on the other hand, was more straightforward. I just had to buy ingredients and a stove and make sure nothing burned.

On top of these whims and fleeting desires, your character also has a set of larger, longstanding personal goals. My sleazy Sim aspires to "WooHoo" eight times in one day. If you'd like to comment on what you think that means, the talkback board is open.

Glen also yearns to be "romantically involved" with three Sims. Judging by the names on the various houses around town, it looks like there are two single females here who aren't my boss from work. Things are going to get rough.

Bottom Line

Judging from what I've read and heard about the main version of "The Sims 3" and its predecessors, the world offered up in the iPhone version seems relatively small. Though everything's well-detailed and colorfully rendered, you only get a few blocks of town to roam and a handful of characters with whom to interact.

That's only to be expected when you're talking about a game designed to be played on a pocket-sized computer. Even so, I wonder whether even a dumbed-down version of "The Sims" is a good fit for a small, touchscreen device. Short, energetic and simple games work well on the iPhone, but this sort of "sit back, take your time and build something complex" gameplay -- even when its world is scaled down significantly -- seems like it would be better suited for a full-sized monitor and a mouse, not a little handheld screen. I felt the same way about "SimCity" for iPhone.

Then perhaps I've answered my question from earlier. If you're used to playing "The Sims" on a full-sized system, the iPhone version may feel like a step backwards. You might end up wishing you had your laptop so you could play the real deal .

However, as a newb to the "Sims" series, "The Sims 3" for iPhone did make me understand the appeal of the games, and now I'm a little more interested in checking out the full version.