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 PC. The next release for consoles and handhelds was the console port of The Sims 2.

Unlike other games in the series, your Sim lives in the big city where there are nine districts, each with 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.

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

The Urbz is the first game in The Sims series to have weather. Weather is eventually featured in Windows for the first time in Seasons and The Sims Castaway Stories, as well The Urbz' successors such as The Sims 2 for console, The Sims 2 Pets (console) and The Sims 2 Castaway.

Note: The Urbz: Sims in the City is the Sequel (according to timeline) 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. 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

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.


 * 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 a certain Urb, one is 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, Ungaroo McBain, is shown on the front cover with tattoos, one, Harry Snivel, is the person which 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.

Trivia

 * This is the first of the console Sims games to start the player in a different setting other than Mom's house or in a dream.
 * 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.
 * This is the first ever game to feature Sims living in big city. In all previous Sim games, most of them take place in remote areas that are away from metropolitan places.
 * However, SimCity is mentioned in The Sims and The Sims Bustin' Out so these game could take place in a city. The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories also mention SimCity but all of these games could take place in a Suburb. In Bridgeport, Sims live in a city, just like in The Urbz: Sims in the City.
 * This is the only game that has a subtitle (Sims in the City) trademarked, all EPs and SPs' subtitles (Such as Pets, Late Night and Superstar) are not trademarked.
 * It is the the only game to use a colon between it's title and subtitle. Some games are incorrectly spelled as, for example, The Sims 3: Generations and The Sims 3: Late Night instead of The Sims 3 Generations and The Sims 3 Late Night respectively.
 * However, EA sometimes uses colons between The Sims 3's title and subtitle on EA Support pages.
 * This is the first game to feature world time as Time passes on all lots. This later appeared in The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval.