The Sims Bustin' Out is EA and Maxis' next generation of doll house simulations. Though the original game was already in 3D, this new version has received a complete overhaul. Fans of the old game will notice right off the bat the new look in Bustin' Out. People and things are less angular, and now look more like they've been molded out of clay than carved out of wood. There are also plenty of special effects to accompany the new look. The game has a completely cartoon feel to it, which may actually turn some older players off. It's not over the top, but it definitely departs from the original look of things.

On the other hand, the audio will be very recognizable to veteran gamers. Most of the old music tracks are back, along with a whole slew of new ones. The gibberish dictionary that sims used to reference for their everyday conversations has been refined and expanded. They'll never speak anything recognizable, but their dialogue, along with their body language, is used to give away their emotions and works excellently.

The Sims Bustin' Out for the PS2 is a combination of Free Play, Missions and Online play. Like in the other Sims games, Free Play lets you create a family that starts out with twenty grand to spend on a house. Here you will build a humble abode from the ground up, relying on the money you start out with and the money you get from putting your Sims to work. Checking the daily newspaper will remedy your Sim's state of unemployment, as every day brings a new starting position at some strange job. New jobs in Bustin' Out include such things as a Gangster, Paramilitary and Mad Scientist, just to name a few.

The Mission mode is basically Free Play with stipulations. You create a single sim who lives with their mother and works their way up in the world by completing these mission goals. At the beginning of the game, these goals usually consist of things like increasing certain needs for your Sim or buying an item and placing it in the house. Each time you complete a goal, you get a reward like money or unlocking a new item.

As the game progresses, these goals become a little bit more difficult, as well as tiresome. They usually end up being things like making friends with ten different people, and if your sim isn't a generally nice one, this becomes a very tedious and boring task.

Throughout either of these modes of play, you're going to have to look out for your Sims' needs, while also increasing their skills. The needs consist of things like hygiene, hunger, sleep, entertainment, etc. As the day goes by, these needs will drop, and it's up to you to find a way to bring them back up. The skills come in the forms of cooking, body, logic, charisma, creativity and mechanical awareness. These skills not only help you move up the corporate ladder of whatever job you're working at, they also help your Sims lead better lives. If your Sim has a low cooking skill and tries to use a huge oven, chances are it and your Sim will go up like a match and burn to the ground.

The Online mode basically lets you invite a friend over to your house or go over to another friend's house. This can actually be done on or offline, but online is much simpler once you get into the game, because you don't have to deal with the split screen mayhem. Once two people are in a house together, they can do all the things they could in the regular game, whether it's messing around with the stuff in the house, eating dinner or going out to one of the many locations in the town. Voice chat is also featured in the online portion of Bustin' Out, but you'll easily be able to get by with the in game communication that the Sims like to use.

The Sims Bustin' Out is not meant to be a hard game. The Mission mode is just another way for you to get into the open ended gameplay, but in a more structured way. It does get a little difficult towards the end, but only because you get stuck with lengthy mission goals that aren't really that fun to complete. You can also do a money cheat with two players on the Free Play mode, so there is really nothing stopping you there either.

The Sims Bustin' Out adopts the same style of interface that the previous version of the game used. A third person, zoomable camera is situated around your sims and is easily moved around the map to get better angles on things. Walls can also be made invisible, or you can look through the roofs of houses to see inside the buildings you've made.

The point and click interface, surprisingly enough, works well with the PS2 controller. You can easily switch between sims, and just about anything you click on will bring up a list of actions you can perform. These are then queued up at the top of the screen, and rearranging them or canceling them are just a few button combinations away.

Bustin' Out is the first big step Maxis and EA are taking towards a whole new Sim experience. While it may not be worthy of being called The Sims 2, it definitely is an improvement over the original game. A ton of new objects, plenty of character customization features, and a more dynamic town should be enough for any Sim fanatic to purchase this title.