Hands-On Preview: MySims Kingdom

by Emily Balistrieri on August 15, 2008 at 2:01 am

What the heck is a “Wandolier?” You learn quickly as you rise from the role of a pig farmer to work for the King in MySims Kingdom. Kingdom already seems more interesting than the original MySims simply by virtue of having a plot! Not only that, but they’ve added cute, cuddly animals, taken out some obnoxious loading times, and tweaked the building system to make it friendlier.

After becoming the King’s Wandolier (like magic wand!) your sim journeys around the different islands of the Kingdom in a boat with your pals Buddy and Lyndsay, assisting all the inhabitants as necessary. Hopper, in his frog suit, needs you to help him cure a curse. Leaf wants to be a rock star. In addition to healing and concert planning, you’ll build bridges, fill hook up power cords to a mechanical bull, repair a rocket, as well as reconstruct a temple.

You need to keep track of a lot of different things to unlock building pieces. Scrolls are what you need to power up your wand with new objects and “widgets,” but to unlock those you need essences. Chop down trees for wood, mine for metal, all using Wiimote motions or button presses when you’re worn out.

You can even switch modes on the fly this time, instead of having to go to a specific area to prospect, for instance. In the first game, essences were required for every construction project, but now the easier to acquire mana is the main form of building currency, although saying that makes me forget what King Points (which you receive for fulfilling tasks for Sims) are for…

The demonstrator emphasized a couple times that they’re really trying to add more life and personality to the characters. Part of that is having them interact right away with what you build. I set up an impromptu camping site near a bride, and almost immediately there was someone roasting a marshmallow. Flanking the bridge with skull statues looked pretty badass, but didn’t seem to scare anybody.

MySims Kingdom seems pretty appealing from the look I got today. I think the structure of a fantasy adventure will be a good context for the decorating and errand running that maybe seemed less exciting in the first game.

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