This Fall the makers of The Sims are unleashing a console-exclusive spin-off called The Urbz.  Set in an urban environment that's cooler than any that exist in the real world, The Urbz lets players walk in the shoes of an average Joe or Jane.  They live in a world where appearance is everything, style is job #1, and the key to success is how well you socialize.  That doesn't sound too different from the real world now does it?

It's interesting that the developers chose to make The Urbz a console exclusive.  It isn't anything like the games we're used to playing on PS2.  You can break dance, but you can't jump on people's heads.  Items can be purchased, but many of them are for bragging rights, not for curing ailments.  The characters spend a lot of time talking in the game, but you'll rarely know what they're saying – all that comes out is gibberish.

This strange, unconventional and seemingly unappealing concept is brilliant.  That brilliance can be summed up in one word: entrapment.

The Urbz entraps its players in the same way the previous games did: by giving us just enough duties to ensure that we are never content to leave.  How can I exit when my Urb (the cool word for "human character") has to go to the bathroom?  How can I turn the game off when he's hungry and in major need of entertainment?  Oh great, now his socialization points are dropping.  Now I've gotta greet some punks and pretend to fit in!

That's your life in this game.  Your life, your real life, becomes theirs.

The Urbz is intentionally less demanding than The Sims due to the difference in console and PC gamers' tastes.  Five individual needs must be met: Fun, Bladder, Hunger, Hygiene, and Energy.  Bladder seems to be the most important at first.  If you don't go to the bathroom when the meter runs low, you could have an embarrassing accident (the Urbz apparently have a weaker bladder than real humans).  Such an event will make it difficult for others to be around you without laughing for feeling disgusted.

Having a low Fun rating means you're bored and may have a cranky attitude towards others, lessening the "fun" others have while talking to you.  The last thing you want is bad hygiene though – we all know what it's like to be near someone who smells.  It's anything but pleasant.

While there's only one way to solve the hunger issue (eat something), there are a lot of ways to restore your Urb's energy.  First of all you can sleep.  That's the best and most effective way to restore energy, but it also takes the most time.  It's not always convenient either.  Suppose you're tired but want to keep working?  Or suppose you're nowhere near a comfortable bed?  You could always sit in a chair and rest for a short while, or take a dip in a hot tub to improve both your hygiene and energy ratings.  Now that's multi-tasking!

If worse comes to worse and you need a quick pick-me-up, you can go over to the vending machine and buy an energy drink.  It'll replenish about half your energy, but that amount will decrease as the night goes on, indicating that the drink that gives you wings is no longer working.

Your needs constantly grow in this game, just as they do in real life.  You can never be away from the bathroom for too long, especially if you're drinking a lot.  Nor can you work all night long without taking a break.

What kind of a job must you perform in this game?  You could pierce bodies, work at a chop shop, or box and tame ferrets.  It's at this point that I began to scratch my head, wondering how a quirky game like this can be successful, while games like Pikmin go unnoticed.

Crazy as it may be, taming ferrets is actually kind of fun.  All the jobs are mini-games, so that right there gives you an idea of what to expect from them.  In the case of the ferret taming, you must press the correct buttons (X, square, or circle) in the order that they appear on the screen.  A short Sims-style jingle plays with each successful button press. 

The Urbz could've been a must-have for everyone who loves The Sims or other resource management games.  Unfortunately, the developer's impressive vision far exceeded the capabilities of our current generation of consoles.  Minutes (technically hours) of loading occurs in this game.  "Minutes?  I can wait."  It doesn't sound like a big deal if you've forgotten the days of 30-second load screens on the PSone.  Those days have been long gone since the PS2 arrived.  But they're back with The Urbz.

Since the world never stops going, neither does the game.  It loads at an almost constant pace.  More than once there was so much to load that the game didn't even acknowledge an action.  I'd tell my Urb to go talk to someone, or get back to work, and he'd just stand there, staring into nothingness while the disc loads.  Maybe this was intentional.  Maybe they wanted us to stare at the screen, watching our stats die and our hunger increase while the character stands still.

While this enormous technical issue prevents me from giving as much praise as I would like, The Urbz is still a must-play.  You have to at least try it.  The gameplay is unlike anything you've experienced before (except for The Sims, which most console gamers have not experienced before).  It's clever, addictive, and features a lot of quirks you don't normally get from a game that was made outside of Japan.

Note: The technical issues listed in this review may be less noticeable in the Xbox version.  Xbox has a hard drive that helps to minimize load times.  The Nintendo DS is a cartridge-based system, so that version should not have any load times at all.

Gameplay: 7.3
Choose your gender (or the opposite if you prefer), pick your style, and attempt to become the coolest, baddest, phattest cat in all the towns.  I'm not one for point-and-click-style games, but for reasons I can't quite explain, The Urbz made me an addict in less than an hour.  It's like an RPG but from an entirely different perspective.  You don't fight monsters and cast magic spells -- you socialize with punks and hip-hop wannabes.  A surprisingly rewarding experience that's only hindered by severe load time and character response issues.

Graphics: 7
The Urbz gets a "B" for having stylish characters, attractive backgrounds and a great camera that can zoom in and out very quickly.  It gets a "D-" for showing characters go to the bathroom.  Men and women use the same bathroom and will walk in whether someone's using it or not.  Yuck.

Sound: 6
Jingles that get old, sound effects that become annoying, and music from the Black Eyed Peas.

Difficulty: Medium
And you thought real life was hard...

Concept: 8
The Sims meets urban lifestyle, minus the adult family life aspects, plus the need to be cool, fit in, and succeed at several different jobs.

Multiplayer: 7

Overall: 7.1
Technically, The Urbz doesn't have much gameplay.  Most of what you do involves the guidance of a simulated human.  Strange concept, but it worked with The Sims and it works with The Urbz.

The urban atmosphere and reputation (socializing) aspect are cooler than a hardcore console gamer might expect.  The controls are inviting for players of all skills.  A flexible, reliable camera helps keep the important characters in view.  The 3D cursor and one-click actions give the game a PC feel without having to use a mouse and keyboard.

Technical issues keep the game from scoring high, but it's still an engrossing game.

...And sometimes it's gross.  I don't know about you, but my idea of a good time does not involve the viewing of a man or woman going to the bathroom.  All nude parts are purposely blurred, but even so, it was completely unnecessary.