PS2's achilles heel
One thing that came to my attention regarding PS2's supposed variety is its poor selection of life simulations that weren't shovelware.
Sure, you had some Harvest Moon/Natsume games and the Sims but even those were better on other systems.
PS2 lost out to the more innovative stuff like Animal Crossing which gives most of it offerings a run for its money. Sure, it may be surpassed ulimately by its successors, but for the time it was damn addicting. PS2, having less horsepower and longer load times was not suited to the genre. Although it was certainly far better than Xbox, which actually had the superior port of The Sims but not much else to brag about. Fable comes close though.
Some people would claim GTA and Bully as being in this category, but they're more like action games with sim elements.
Nonetheless, most life sims were suited to the PC. Animal Crossing was just exceptional for the era.
Sure, you had some Harvest Moon/Natsume games and the Sims but even those were better on other systems.
PS2 lost out to the more innovative stuff like Animal Crossing which gives most of it offerings a run for its money. Sure, it may be surpassed ulimately by its successors, but for the time it was damn addicting. PS2, having less horsepower and longer load times was not suited to the genre. Although it was certainly far better than Xbox, which actually had the superior port of The Sims but not much else to brag about. Fable comes close though.
Some people would claim GTA and Bully as being in this category, but they're more like action games with sim elements.
Nonetheless, most life sims were suited to the PC. Animal Crossing was just exceptional for the era.
Comments
But you're right. Although I did not say that the Achilles Heel description refers so much to the general offerings of the PS2 as it does to this category specifically. But I think stuff like Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, Wonderful Life (the GC original is superior to the PS2 version) and Animal Crossing give the GC more footing in this category than PS2. It also had the second best port of The Sims, which itself was actually retooled for the console market.
Well that makes since since animal crossing is a nintendo property.
Considering the lifespan of the system hehe
Metropolismania Is a title to checkout and I don't think GC had operation genesis which is a good sim game too.
Missing out on one franchise that's not a console mover ( during the time ) would be a no biggie
Uh, I guess if you're REALLY into Animal Crossing you might think that way, sure. Personally I'd play any Harvest Moon title or Innocent Life or Shepherd's Crossing or Rune Factory before I'd ever play something like Viva Pinata, Sims, or Animal Crossing, but that's just me.
I've played Viva Pinata before and it's pretty good, but I can't stomach Sims or Animal Crossing. Viva Pinata is like managing a really tiny ecosystem, which is kinda neat, and it's one of the lightest "sim" games you can buy outside of what I imagine the Nintendogz/catz/petz/bleh franchise is like.
Still, I wouldn't consider not having Animal Crossing as a detriment to the PS2's library. It's still got the best library of games for any console or handheld ever made.
Wasn't Dog's Life sort of a sim-type game?
Nah, Dog's Life is sort of a mission-based 3D platformer. It's actually a really good game IMO.