MySims Cozy Bundle review: Charming with a caveat

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As a long-time fan of the Sims franchise who has spent countless hours designing virtual dream homes and managing digital families, I found the MySims Cozy Bundle to be a delightful trip down memory lane. While it may not offer the depth or complexity of its modern counterparts, the charm and simplicity of this bundle is undeniable.

2024 may seem an unusual time for the release of the MySims Cozy Bundle, given the abundance of life-simulation and building games currently flooding the market. In contrast, when the original My Sims and MySims Kingdom were initially launched in the mid-2000s, such games were much less common.

Welcome home! Now get to work

In MySims, you find yourself in a charming yet struggling Sim village. The residents are discontented, leading monotonous lives, and even the bustling town square is now a mere echo of its past glory, filled with vacant lots and dilapidated structures. Though the storyline setup may seem familiar due to games like Disney Dreamlight Valley and Fields of Mistria following similar patterns, it effectively sets the stage for you to jump into action around town. After learning the ropes from the mayor, your objective is to make friends – which primarily involves constructing things!

MySims offers a different take on the Sims series, more like a spin-off focused on building Sim characters rather than a scaled-down version of the gameplay experience. The character customization is quite basic, with only a few hairstyles, clothing options, and facial expressions to choose from. Interaction-wise, you can either give gifts, say rude or kind words, and that’s about it. Most of your neighbors have interests grouped into six main categories such as adorable, intelligent, or eerie.

Instead of seeking friendship from you, they’re actually after material possessions. For instance, one neighbor requires a new set of chairs, another needs furniture for the community library, the hotel is missing various items, and your nearby friend desires a new hi-fi stereo. When the mayor speaks about rebuilding the town, she’s referring to it literally – you are responsible for designing its new structures, resolving issues for all residents, and taking care of its natural environment as well.

In Your Image

In my gaming experience, MySims might not offer the same depth of social interaction as other games, but boy does it make up for it with an incredible building system! While you might find limitations when it comes to customizing basic items like chairs and tables, you can still add some personality with unique colors and a dash of style. But where MySims truly shines is in home design.

As a game master, I’ve got the freedom to shape my own town, pretty much how I see fit. If there’s a pesky neighbor obstructing my view, I can simply move them to another part of the city without any hassle. Fancy a quaint little flower stall tucked away at the back of a hotel? No problem, I just place it there. The residents are generally cool with my changes, so I’m free to make this town my own creation. However, figuring things out on my own can be a bit tricky since the building tutorials are scarce, but that just adds an element of adventure to the game!

In this game, you gather essentials, which is the term used for resources in MySims, to construct various items. You’ll find familiar activities such as fishing, mining, chopping trees, and picking flowers. Despite the repetitive nature, these tasks are scaled appropriately so that they never feel like a burden or chore. The jobs are manageable, there are no deadlines, and you have the freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you prefer. It’s an enjoyable and stress-free experience, ideal for brief play sessions. However, it may not leave a lasting impression as the characters’ personalities are quite simple, and the additional locations you can explore are similar to the main town, offering more of the same.

Wizards and Workshops

In essence, MySims Kingdom is an enhanced version of the original MySims game, now set in a magical realm instead of a regular town. As a Wandolier, you’re a magic-wand-wielding construction worker, employed by King Roland to restore his crumbling kingdom. This setup is similar to that of MySims, but with EA emphasizing the fantasy elements and injecting a touch of whimsy, making MySims Kingdom stand out more distinctly. One of your early responsibilities as an official Wandolier involves creating magical shelves for Marlon the court wizard’s teddy bear collection. Despite being in a kingdom with magical abilities, inhabitants still enjoy watching TV and behaving much like typical MySims characters would.

In my perspective as an avid fan, the social structure in MySims Kingdom mirrors that of MySims, albeit with fewer chances to cultivate friendships. The bonds you establish are more about duties than feelings, and the main objective remains the same: constructing various structures. However, MySims Kingdom challenges me to create even grander and more impressive buildings! This time around, furnishings and smaller indoor items arrive pre-made, allowing me to save resources such as paint and Mana for larger projects.

In my perspective, the denizens here are nothing like the folks in MySims; they’re quirky, vibrant, and simply bursting with character! One resident asked me to construct an intricate pulley system to operate a mechanical bull, while another insists on having a dance floor right in their front yard – this isn’t just any dance floor, mind you, but one that needs a labyrinth of wires for the strobe lights and DJ booth power supply. It’s absolutely madcap, and I must say, I’m thrilled about the variety these tasks offer compared to the rather repetitive projects I encountered in MySims.

The game, MySims Kingdom, provides additional intrigue by breaking down the kingdom into diverse themed areas. These include a party island, the ruler’s headquarters, a nature reserve, a lab for rocket research, and an enchanted forest, among others. It offers the same level of variety you’d find in an expansion pack for The Sims 4. Plus, you can form friendships with the animals you encounter during your journey.

The MySims Comfort Pack offers enjoyable instant fun, as I delightfully spent short periods constructing tasks or collecting resources. However, the overall experience of MySims can be somewhat dull and rarely evokes the feel of a Sims game. Nevertheless, MySims Kingdom seems to be an imaginative rebranding of MySims, but it effectively maximizes the foundation laid by EA in the initial game and is undeniably superior to its counterpart within this package.

For this review, we received a copy of MySims Cozy Bundle from the publisher. You can purchase MySims Cozy Bundle right away on Nintendo Switch.

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2024-11-25 17:27