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I originally purchased The Sims 2: Castaway for the DS and enjoyed it so much that I also picked it up for the Wii. It’s rare that I’ll buy a double of a game that I already own, that is how much I enjoyed this game. However, the two games, I found to my delight, are very different.

A fan of The Sims for PC (and now Mac), I eagerly picked up the original Sims 2 for DS and was disappointed. The game had some glitches that forced me to start over, so I never really finished it. I had my doubts about how good Castaway would be for the DS, but with several gift cards from Christmas, I figured I had nothing to lose. I was happily surprised. If you’ve ever played the survival games Lost in Blue and it’s sequel, you will enjoy this game for the DS. It is very much a survival game, only with a custom Sim of your design.

There are several ways to play the game. There is a bit of a story to play through, as you explore the island you’ll meet up with four other castaway Sims. They’ll ask you for help and you’ll essentially run errands for them. However, after you’ve helped them as much as you can, you can trade with them for different things. One Sim is a farmer and she’ll trade you seeds to grow crops while another is a chef and he’ll trade you recipes for food you can make. You can find your way off the island and finish the game there if you like, or, given the option, you can return to the island and collect everything there is to collect. Various fish and bugs to catch, food to make, different articles of clothing will wash up on the beach or you can make yourself out of leaves and grass, and there are so many more random objects to collect as well.

Controls are decent. I would have liked the option to switch between the stylus and the d-pad to move around, but it was easy to get used to using the stylus for everything except camera movement.

For the DS, I give this game 3 out of 5. One point because the objective wasn’t always clear and one point because I think that the graphics could have been a little prettier.

[Rating 3/5]

For the Wii on the other hand…

After playing on the DS and then moving to the Wii, I was thoroughly happy. Castaway for the Wii is beautiful and there is so much more to do! I knew that the game on the DS would be toned down a bit, it would have to be to even be able to run, but I still didn’t realize how incredible it would be on the Wii. I couldn’t put it down on the DS as it was, I was pleasantly surprised for the Wii.

The Wii Castaway is similar to the DS version only there is so much more to it. Rather than having other Sims already on the island that you have no control over, you have the option at the beginning of making just one Sim or an entire crew! You pick your main Sim and that’s the one you control for the first little bit, you’ll meet up with the rest one by one later. In order to change between Sims, you must first make friends with them, meaning you have to have a good relationship with them (i.e. don’t pick fights unless you want your Sims to hate each other).

There are also three islands to explore, as there are in the DS version, however each of the islands have more to explore than just a few places. Everything is easier to harvest and there is more of it, the reason for this is my favorite part: you can build things! From furniture to houses you design (as long as you have room for it on your space), it’s not hard to collect enough materials to build whatever you’d like. Remember where you collected them is another story. It took me twenty minutes one day after exploring to go back and find the material to make rope. That’s how much space there is to roam around in on this game.

You can spear fish, pole fish, catch chickens, hunt boar, tame monkeys (AND have them collect things for you), plant and harvest fruit and vegetables, interact with other Sims (which I recommend making at least two so you have an easier time filling your social requirement, otherwise it’s left to monkeys), make clothing and tools, and explore the island to your heart’s content. There are several ways to get off the island however, as opposed to just the one in the DS version, which means if you can’t figure out one, you have your choice of others. Same as before, you’ll be given the option to return to the island to continue building or collecting. This version of Castaway doesn’t really keep track of how much you’ve collected like the DS does, but that’s because there’s so much for you to do.

The controls take a little getting used to, even for an experienced Wii user. I’m still figuring out what I can and can’t do with the remote and nun-chuck and I’ve been shipwrecked twice!

For the Wii, I give it 4 out of 5, only because it had the same problem as it’s counterpart, some things just weren’t clear on either how to do something or what to do next.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I completely enjoyed this game and am glad I picked it up for both DS and Wii. I highly recommend it for both systems and hope you enjoy it as much as I did!