If Splinter Cell is known for stealthy action, then The Sims is known for being horribly addictive. And this port onto the N-Gage definitely delivers in that area. In fact it delivers across the board, and is one of the launch titles for the N-Gage QD, should help people see the potential of the N-Gage.

Rather than a direct port of any of Maxim's existing title, it appears the underlying code has remained the same, but the controls, graphics and tasks have been optimised for the N-Gage. Someone has actually thoroughly play tested this title - something you could have questioned on the original titles.

In "The Sims Bustin Out" you take control of one person, your Sim. On starting, you get to create your Sim character. Everything from hairstyle, clothing and if they are a messy or clean person can be allocated at the start. You choose your looks from a fair number of built in choices (hair colour, style, face, shirt, etc all the way down to your boots), put in a mildly humorous name (or is that just me) and away you go.

You get thrown out of a car outside your Uncle Hayseed’s farm. That’s your first bit of news – you’ve left the comfy Sims home of the PC and consoles, and you’re "Bustin’ Out" into the real world over the summer. Starting of with a dodgy looking bed in the Hay Loft of the Farm, you’ll eventually progress to living behind a clock in a tower (shades of Back to the Future here), a beachside apartment, and retiring to Gilligan’s Island .

You do this like every other Sim game. You talk to people. Your Uncle is a good place to start, and he’ll ask you to do some things around the house, then go catch some chickens (they’ve been set free by the Veloci-Rooster). Catching the fowl forces you out the Farm and into Sim Valley, where you can start interacting with over 50 residents of the Valley.

The residents (from bad biker boy Dusty Hogg to Claire Clutterball, who decided the best thing in her life was to move into the Clock Tower with my Sim Bruce) all have little errands for you to run (Things like "Can you take this priceless daisy necklace to Nicki Knack?" And they’ll give you some cash when you deliver it). You can get round for a few days like this, but there are the big life changing things you need to look at.

The first big mission you’ll be pretty much handed – get your life in the Barn sorted out, find some furniture, and earn some cash through Mowing the garden. The jobs you’ll get are all mini-games – Mower Madness is the first, where you drive a sit on Lawnmower to grab clumps of grass (£2 a clump) while avoiding the flowers (a £10 fine). As you get better jobs, you get more mini games.

As you go through life, it gets a bit more complicated, with tasks running concurrently. Take this key to the Doctor, while re-opening a closed down Music Hall, plus finding the plans to the secret sewer shortcuts under the city. It’s all go in Sim Valley once you get started.

And on top of all this, you need to make sure you don’t fall asleep. Because being a Sim, that means everything is ‘Sim’ulated. So along the bottom of the screen you have 8 gauges. If these are full, then that part of your life is completely fulfilled. If it’s empty, then you’d better sort it out fast.

Just like Lazlo’s Heirarchy of needs, you need to keep these gauges topped up and spend time tending to them throughout the day. You’ve got bars for hunger, hygiene (take a shower after weightlifting is a good idea), energy (I need to sleep!), socialising (make friends and talk to them), comfort and relaxation (comfy chairs with fluffy pillows are called for), bladder (don’t have an accident, run like the wind) and Fun (turn on the TV, find an arcade, kiss a girl).

Keeping these gauges balanced takes a good bit of ‘day time’ (a day in the Sims lasts about 10-15 minutes real time) and paying attention to what you need to do task wise and where the bars are is important. There’s no point starting a night time shift in the Bar if you seriously need to go to bed, nor would you start chatting to Nikki Knack to get some flyers made up for your band if you’re about to drop dead from starvation.

The Sims really shows what the N-Gage can do. It’s a great game that plays great in short burst of five or six minutes, but is equally at home in a long one or two hour non stop session. The graphics are all crystal clear, and you never feel your on a phone screen rather than a huge 17 inch laptop monitor (well maybe a bit, but you know what I mean, so stop being pedantic!). The Sims should stop all the heckling about poor quality games on the N-Gage. And the problems of Hot Swapping. After all, with this in, you never need to pop another game in.

Go buy The Sims. Now. I’m away to charm Claire Clutterball with my lava lamp in the bedroom.

Ewan Spence