The Sims: Castaway Stories

The Sims: Castaway Stories - (PC)
Developer: Maxis
Format: PC
Genre: Sim

Lost meets Neighbours

Taking a well worn plotline of desert island survivors, your previously contented band of Sims find themselves alone and uncatered for in the sunshine. In true, and infuriatingly addictive, Sim fashion, it's up to you to see how they survive, evolve and simply get along.

Here, there are two modes - a story mode, driven by a thin plotline and the classic mode where everything goes. Explore, build, craft, interact and try not to kill each other as island life slowly unravels. The basics of food and shelter quickly throw up their heads so you'll have to scavenge from the island's resources and salvage what floats ashore from time to time.

There are also several different island environments from volcanic to dense tropical forests and lagoons, each requiring different elements such as clothing and survival techniques. The nifty ability to 'research' and craft new tools is great fun - you'll be re-visiting any childhood camping tricks of building traps and making fishing nets (if your childhood was particularly Ray Mears in focus!).

Then there's the ultimate dilemma. Do you settle down, blissfully in tune with your new environment and comfortably adapted to a life without the luxuries or do you forge an escape plan, a means to find your way back to the super-sized civilisation.

This is a great, fun addition to the whole Sims universe and one that can easily be handled by most laptops - maybe that's not a good thing for your day-to-day real life productivity!

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