The Urbz: Sims in the City

The Urbz: Sims in the City is a video game for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox consoles, as well as the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS portable systems. It is the third game in The Sims series for video game consoles and is the second game not to be released on Windows or Mac OS X. The next release for consoles and handhelds was the console port of The Sims 2.

Unlike other games in the series, Sims live in the city of Urbzville, divided up into nine districts. Each district contains their own style and unique Sims. The main focus of the game is building "rep" with other Sims in order to gain fame, entry to VIP rooms and advance to new districts.

R&B group The Black Eyed Peas provided several music scores for the game, which have also been translated into Simlish. Members of the group also appear as guest Urbz in the game.

The Urbz is the first game in The Sims series to have weather. Weather was eventually featured in the PC/Mac games, appearing for the first time in The Sims 2: Seasons and The Sims Castaway Stories. Weather also appeared in successors to The Urbz', such as The Sims 2 for console, The Sims 2 Pets (console) and The Sims 2 Castaway.

The Urbz is the chronological sequel of The Sims Bustin' Out.

Goal
The objective of the console games is to go to each of nine Districts and build their reputation (called "Rep", in-game). Rep is a measure of how popular an Urb is; as an Urb gains more reputation, they gain access to larger apartments and different Districts. In the end, the Urb will have the largest apartment and be able to visit any of the Districts.

In addition to gaining Rep, the player must also make sure that his or her Urb has its needs fulfilled, and to increase the Urb's skills by playing mini-games. The amount of money Sims can make at the various jobs in each of the districts is determined by what skills they've leveled up. As you progress through the game, you will get messages for rent, from Darius, the Sim with the highest rep in the city, and get programmed messages to your XAM. There are also other challenges like helping Sims (or Urbz) get money from people or taking pictures of Urbz.

Features

 * Weather The Urbz features real time weather.
 * 2 Player mode Like the earlier games, players can play in 2 player mode, It requires 2 Urb Slots to play and 2 controllers.
 * District Relationships –People from some districts like and dislike people from other districts.

Tasks
The player will be given different tasks depending on the District they're in. The tasks are varied in nature, but most fall into a certain category:


 * Needs – The first task that the player will have to perform and will continue performing throughout the game is fulfilling his or her character's needs. The needs are hunger, bladder, fun, hygiene, and energy. As time goes by, each of those needs starts to fall. They can be restored by performing specific tasks (e.g., eating to reduce hunger or sleeping to increase energy). If the player's Urb falls asleep in public on the floor, the policeman will fine them or even start a fight; the same applies when the Urb urinates on the floor.


 * Adding Furniture – At each apartment, the player will be asked to spend a certain amount of money on furniture in order to unlock a different pet animal to live with them. The pet has needs like the Urbz and requires care (though cleaning up after them is annoying, placing them under the "follow me" option reduces that issue/allow them to roam and you'll clean up after them all day: try it and see).


 * Build Reputation – In each District, the Urb will need to build up their reputation meter ("Rep"). First, the Urb needs enough Rep to get into the District's club. Then, by increasing the Urb's reputation further, the Urb can gain access to a new District.


 * Master a Job – There's a different job to master in each District. Each job has three levels to complete, each of which requires a certain amount of skill to unlock. Upon completion of a goal in a job, the Urb may earn money to buy items and learn a new social interaction. The job consists of completing a mini-game that involves pushing buttons in a certain sequence or repeatedly pushing the same buttons.


 * Make Friends – The player is required to establish friendships with the residents of each District. By interacting socially, one can increase the relationship between the player's Urbz and an NPC Urb. If the player builds a certain amount of Rep, they may also have other Urbz to join their crew, allowing the player to switch between their Urb and its friends.


 * Use a Powersocial – As one makes friends, the Urb will earn powersocials. Powersocials are unlockable actions that Urbz can use when socializing with other Urbz. Each one is unique to a certain District. As the game progresses, it becomes necessary to use powersocials on certain bully characters. They can be obtained from going inside an area of the district unlocked by rep at 12:00 for a party from Darius.


 * Tag an Object – After becoming friends with the Sim Urb, Rolanda Skye, you're required to tag certain objects, which includes spraying graffiti on walls. There is a graffiti tag for each District.


 * Helping Urbz – Some Urbz want you to help them with some jobs like: Taking pictures of Urbz, Mugging other Urbz for money, tagging other Urbz faces or as previously mentioned tagging certain objects.


 * Villains – In every district, there is a villain which will come, and take money off you and other Urbz. The only way to be rid of them is to use the Power Social given for that area. There are 3 different villains, (one, Urangoo McBain, is shown on the front cover with tattoos, one, Harry Snivel, is the person who asks for your rent, and the last one, Kiki Blunt, is seen when you first create your Urb) but they must be defeated in every area. Defeat them all and you get Darius' Penthouse, a money-making machine and a pet monkey.

Handheld gameplay
The handheld versions are played as an adventure game and require the player to complete missions to advance.

The goal of both the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions of The Urbz is to complete the five main missions. Both versions also include optional rep missions, but only the Nintendo DS version has the special Splicer Isle based mission.

Needs
Unlike in most games of The Sims franchise, Urbz have only five basic needs: hunger, hygiene, energy, bladder, and fun.


 * Hunger – Satisfied by eating cooked or purchased food.
 * Hygiene – Satisfied by taking a shower or washing hands.
 * Energy – Satisfied by sleeping on a bed, couch, or bench.
 * Bladder – Satisfied by using a toilet (or peeing on the ground).
 * Fun – Satisfied by using various objects like the television, trampoline, dance floor, etc., etc.

Development
Development for The Urbz started in late 2000, when The Sims was considered a success. However, due to staff issues, development of The Urbz was delayed until Makin' Magic was released. The Urbz was one of the original Launch titles for the Nintendo DS.

Ports to the, and PC were planned, but development of these ports was later aborted due to poor sales. The PlayStation Portable port was slated to release in 2005, but got cancelled due to poor sales. According to some images found on a beta website in 2008, the game would've had a similar gameplay resolution to The Sims 2: Pets and The Sims 2: Castaway.

The Urbz was intended to be the first The Sims game released for consoles, but Edge of Reality released the console port of The Sims earlier. The Urbz was the second The Sims title not to be released on Windows or Mac OS X.

Differences between The Urbz and other titles
The Urbz is different in several ways from The Sims and other console games games that came before it. Some of the changes between other titles The Urbz were later incorporated into later games, including games in the main The Sims series.

The Urbz is the first Sims game to feature Sims living in a big city. Cities (often SimCity specifically) are referenced in other games, but the games themselves take place in mainly suburban areas; Bridgeport, in The Sims 3: Late Night, is considered the first "urban" world in the main The Sims series. It is also the first game in the series where time passes on all lots; this feature would not re-appear within the series until The Sims 3.

The Urbz is the only game where the subtitle ("Sims in the City") is trademarked; all other expansion, stuff, game, or compilation pack titles and subtitles are not trademarked. It is also the only game released in a prior game era after the beginning of a new era; despite this, The Urbz is still based on The Sims rather than The Sims 2

Appearances or references in other games

 * In The Sims 2 (console) when a Sim uses a metal detector, they might find a copy of The Urbz. They will then throw it away in disgust.
 * In The Sims 2 (console), there is a painting of a woman with purple hair who looks a lot like Jayde from The Urbz.
 * The Sims 2 for console borrows many resources from The Urbz, such as animations, objects and sounds.

Cancelled The Urbz 2: Sims Nightlife
The Urbz 2 started development about 5 months before The Urbz released. The Urbz 2 was planned to launch on PS2, Xbox and Gamecube in 2005. The Urbz 2 would of featured several new additions to the franchise console series: Direct Control and Multistory housing. In The Urbz 2, you are tasked yet again to build your rep in a new city. After taking over the last city, you left soon after to find fortune and then got trapped without money in Simcity. Without work and money, you need to find yourself some work and friends and make yourself famous again.

Also, several Portable Sims games characters would of appeared in The Urbz 2, such as Daddy Bigbucks, Dusty Hogg and Nora Zeal Ott.

Additionally with characters, Jayde would of made her true appearance as a major character (Not just a preset), and she would come to be your must trusted ally to take down Daddy Bigbucks, who is trying to buy out the city. Several new locations would of featured, and some from past games.

Also, The Urbz 2 was to feature online play on the Playstation 2 and Xbox versions for both the main story and freeplay modes. Also, children would of returned.

However, mid through development, around Dec 2004, the game was cancelled and instead turned into a completely different project: The Sims 2 Console. What was the urbz 2 became The Sims 2 Console. However, some legacy content remains. Several characters from The Urbz 2 were reused in The Sims 2 Console, such as Felicity Usher, Betty Buttercup and Candi Cup. Additionally, many of the objects in the game also came over from the urbz 2 project to the sims 2.

Many features also made it, such as the direct control. However, many features were removed, such as: Multistory housing, online play, children, the Phone.

Online play was removed because of 2 reasons:
 * 1) The Declining usage of both The Sims Online and The Sims Bustin Out online mode; and
 * 2) Certain tech problems with the new engine.

Online play had been considered to be brought over to The Sims 2 console, but it was decided mid in development not to. A in house private lan test was done and worked perfectly. In the game files, references and code for server data can still be found.

The phone, shops, real workable jobs and clothing stores were all removed to keep the game in line with its PC counterpart, meaning it would use the traditional Build/Buy mode for the game, and traditional job systems. Also, an easter egg as a "Apology" to some staff members wanting an urbz game, a photo of Jayde was left in the game as a purchasable item in the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube versions of the game. Also, some locations from The Urbz 2 made it to The Sims 2. Many people never knew this, but HMS Amore, 8 Rockpile Rd and Jugen House are both locations from The Urbz 2. Very minor things were changed in those locations. The only exceptions were that the second levels of those places (Jugen House had 5 stories), the stairwells and elevators for those places, and the subway entrances were all removed.

Additionally, The Black Eyed Peas were to of lent their music scores for the game again, but this was cancelled when the game was turned into The Sims 2.

Other content that still exists is that using a texture viewer for PS2 games, you can find textures for many things from The Urbz, such as the bouncer.

Trivia

 * The feature that the player could have other Urbz join his/her crew and allows the player to control other Urbz is similar to a Genie's Enscornel interaction temporary having control of a Sim in The Sims 3: Showtime.

Gallery
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