The Urbz: Sims in the City (2004). Play online

Summary

I start The Urbz: Sims in the City as a modest window‑washer wandering the streets of Miniopolis, only to be drawn into Daddy Bigbucks’s greedy scheme to dominate the city. The GBA title plays like a handheld adventure, giving me direct control of my “Urb” much like the portable Sims Bustin’ Out. Keeping my character’s eight basic needs high is essential while I tackle the five main missions that drive the storyline.

Unlike the DS version, the GBA spin‑off sticks to those five missions and foregoes the extra DS‑only mission and location. Managing hunger, fun, social needs, and more feels surprisingly gritty for a portable title, and it forces careful planning between action and downtime.

Early on I’m slotted into a “Rep Group” – Richies, Artsies, Streeties, or Nerdies – but completing key objectives lets me switch allegiance to reshape my social image. Three districts gradually unlock as I rack up goals, each offering fresh neighborhoods, shops, and challenges.

Once I beat the game, I’m free to move into any house or apartment, provided I’ve earned enough cash, turning the city into a sandbox for endless style and status experiments.

Storyline

The handheld version acts as a sequel to the Game Boy Advance and N‑Gage releases of The Sims Bustin' Out. The protagonist arrives from SimValley, gets fired when King Tower is sold to Daddy Bigbucks, and after a botched attempt to steal a key from Lily Gates is arrested and taken to jail.

The sheriff releases the player on probation, prohibiting them from leaving the Urban area. Grandma Hattie then recruits them to lead a strike that opens the bridges to Sim Quarter. Bigbucks knocks the player off a ship, and they wash up in the Bayou where twins Bayou Boo and Crawdad Clem mistake them for a vampire. The twins help the player return home; Bayou Boo is bitten and becomes a vampire, but Grandma gives a cookbook to make chocolate that cures him.

Later the protagonist and Grandma are arrested for running but are let go by the sheriff. In Glasstown they meet the original King Tower owner, Mr. King, and discover Bigbucks has built a time machine to claim land in the past. With Ewan Watahmee and Sue Pirnova the player builds their own time machine, stops Bigbucks, banishes him to an island, and a lifelike statue of the protagonist is erected in the city center.