AMN's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
When a special little town falls into disrepair and despair the mayor calls forth some help: you, the player. Taking a step back from the traditional "player as unseen guiding force" perspective in the other Sims titles, MySims dares to cast players as a character in his or her own town. The player character is tasked with bringing the ailing town back to life by designing furniture, collecting special essences, construction buildings, and dealing with the demands of the townsfolk.

Most of the gameplay revolves around building furniture. Various shapes of building blocks and other fun components are displayed onscreen, allowing the player to grab each block with the Wii remote and maneuver it according to a blueprint. Blocks can be rotated and turned to build, for instance, a chair. Various essences (red apples, stone, and other such things) are used during construction and design to give objects a special flare. The town's personality is defined and measured by the types of essences on display, allowing the player to shape the city as he or she sees fit.

What's Hot
Talking to townsfolk plays a big part in MySims, so it was nice to see that the game offers up a choice of responses when engaging in conversation. Spoken words come out as Simlish, of course, while text boxes provide an English translation. After a character speaks the player is offered a choice between answering politely, becoming angry, and other such appropriate moods. This keeps the famous Sims pastime of being a complete jerk to the people living in the little virtual world. Furthermore, the characters and the world they inhabit have their cuteness cranked up to eleven. Everybody in MySims is just so happy! The joy is infectious.

What's Not
Ultimately, there's not a lot to do in MySims beyond building furniture, designing buildings, and collecting essences. Townsfolk will send the player on various assignments, but in the end it all comes back around to furniture and essences. MySims quickly boils down to a "gotta collect 'em all" type of gameplay, although without a reward at the end beyond the ability to build chairs infused with, say, red apples. The whole affair seems rather pointless. Moreover, just about every action in the game calls up a loading screen. Going into a house? Please wait. Building a chair? Please wait. Leaving a house? Please wait.

Final Word
While there is an intriguing idea at the core of MySims, there are just not enough interesting activities worth repetitive engagement. One has to credit Electronic Arts for trying to jump on the Animal Crossing bandwagon before Nintendo has a chance to dominate this type of game on Wii, but MySims feels like a soulless knock-off of better games in the genre. The Sims are happy, yes, but it comes off as forced, and at the end of the day it's all about designing furniture. Players who enjoy a simple Sims-like experience may get something out of MySims, but there's just not much worth recommending here (unless you've always dreamed of building chairs out of essences, of course).