20 years later, I'm rediscovering the best PS2-era Sims spinoff and now I don't even need The Sims 5
Apr. 18, 2024Now Playing | If there’s one Sims-adjacent game that needs to make a comeback, it’s The Urbz
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The Urbz made me want to become a body piercer at the tender age of nine. Who could blame me, though, when the grungy attitude of Urbzville represented everything Pleasantview was not?
Urbz and legend
Meet the Sims 4 modder who went from styling hair to styling mermaids, vampires, and werewolves for a living,
As a burgeoning emo kid yearning to live out the punk rock fantasies I was far too young to realize, The Urbz was my way into the subculture. The Black Eyed Peas' Simlish versions of all their most popular songs were all over The Urbz' soundtrack, sure, but for me, it was all about the aesthetic. I lived vicariously through my Urb, envisaging myself as a cool, capable teenager working part time at a piercing shop, dyeing my hair all sorts of wild colors and building up my street cred on the scuffed path to popularity. In reality, I was a mousy-haired pre-teen with chipped black nail polish, and as I near my 30s, I feel much the same.
In that way, The Urbz is still a transformative yet timeless experience that does something different. Newer iterations of The Sims might add a fresh lick of paint to your metropolitan dreams, most notably through expansion packs like City Living or For Rent, and I’m sure some of the best Sims 4 mods do well to emulate its urban charm. Still, nothing comes close to the personality of the original, and I think EA would do well to capitalize on that for newer fans of the franchise.
The Urbz still occupies a very special place in the hearts and minds of many dedicated Sims fans.
Exploring the network of underground posses, cliques, and seedy hangouts makes me wonder what The Urbz 2 might look like.
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One thing’s for sure: The Urbz still occupies a very special place in the hearts and minds of many dedicated Sims fans. It’s a longshot, but given the choice between The Sims 5 or seeing a recognizable spinoff getting some proper TLC, I’ll always go for the latter – especially if it means getting My Chemical Romance to record a few more songs in Simlish for me to rock out to in a tattoo parlor.
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