Those loveable Sims are back, and this time they're going medieval on your a... Well, actually, they're just going medieval in The Sims Medieval, a new stand-alone game from EA Games. This isn't a Sims 3 expansion, but a whole new game unto itself, complete with new mechanics that will dazzle some players and frustrate others, as they build their Sim kingdom from the lowly origins of a castle and village to a monumental fortress. Of course, no Sims came is complete without a social element, and you'll find that in spades here as well, as you build relationships with others within your kingdom and with surrounding empires, who will respond to your growth in both positive and negative ways.

As with all Sim games, you start with a basic setup. Instead of creating a family and buying your first house, you'll select your monarch, who will move into a pre-established castle and kingdom. You have a choice of quite a few pre-made Sims, as well as the option to create your own. Concepts like traits carry over from The Sims 3, with each character possessing two positive traits (like Logical Mind, Culinary Genius, or Chivalric Code) along with a fatal flaw (like Hubris, Drunkard, or Promiscuity). Each Sim has a meter that measures their Hunger and Energy, although other more complicated meters like "Fun" or "Bladder" have disappeared. The look of each Sim is customizable to some degree, although clothing is selected by outfit instead of individual pieces.

Your Kingdom must have a set direction, which is selected in the Kingdom Achievements. At first your only option will be to grow your Kingdom, with no new Achievement goals selectable until you've built at least eight buildings. While that doesn't sound like much, the casual player may find themselves stuck with that goal for quite some time. Building means completing Quests and Quests take time. As a casual player, I found I'd get through a Quest in a play session, which means I spent a couple of days just getting through this early part of the game. With twenty-some achievement goals to try for, there is a lot of the Sims Medieval experience left in my future.

In order to build your kingdom, your Sim will undertake Quests. These are storylines that run from simple tales like finding a missing child to more complicated storylines like assassination plots and invading wizards. A Quest may have different approaches as to how to handle a specific problem. For example, a Quest about trying to intervene in a Boar Hunt gives your Sim the option to hunt the boar yourself or distract the other hunters in order to let the boar get away. This allows you some control over how you want to play the game instead of simply having to do the Quests in a set manner. Each completed Quest gives you reward points, which you'll use to expand your empire.

To add complexity to the Quests, while you're undertaking them your Sim will also be given daily goals - responsibilities appropriate for the character that they are expected to undertake. Your Wizard may have to create an elixir for a lovelorn citizen while your Monarch may be expected to pass legislation. This means creating a balance between progressing in Quests and maintaining the Sim's responsibilities. Fail to do either and you may find your Sim headed for the stocks as punishment, and that certainly puts a damper on your Quest progression.

While you'll start with your Monarch, your kingdom will quickly grow, adding new key Sims as you build up different locations in the kingdom. A wizard's tower brings a Wizard, building the barracks brings a Knight, a tavern scores you a Bard, etc. Since you get to choose what order you wish to build your kingdom, you'll get access to different characters in the order you wish, although putting off some buildings until later could cause some problems. For instance, not having a physician makes it harder to heal wounds and illnesses. Also, certain Quests or options on how to undertake Quests will be off limits until you have a Sim that provide the appropriate talent. You can fight with your Monarch if you don't have a Knight handy, but only your Spy can use subterfuge, for example.

Players used to The Sims 3 may feel somewhat limited in what The Sims Medieval offers them. Buildings are pre-established. You spend reward points to build them, but they come furnished and ready for use. You have access to additional décor and can move around furniture, but it's a long way from the customization Sims players have gotten used to. Each building even gets placed in a pre-determined location, so you get little control over the overall look of your Kingdom.

Even choices with the Sims themselves are a little more limited. For instance, you don't get free-for-all control over your Sims. At any given time, you can only access and control the Sims who are directly involved in a Quest's progression. The other Sims keep themselves busy as your Quest proceeds, and you don't have to worry about the non-used Sims completing their daily responsibilities. Only having one Sim to control can be awfully boring at times, particularly during Quests where there is a lot of walking from one end of the Kingdom to the other, when switching to another Sim while one travels would make the game a lot more enjoyable. The Sims 3 players will also have to get used to characters that don't age - a return to an older Sims mechanic. I fully expected the generational situation of The Sims 3, where characters grow old and die and are replaced by the next generation of Sims. Instead, the characters you select as your key figures will be yours for the game, unless they inadvertently meet an unfortunate demise.

Ultimately, The Sims Medieval feels a lot less like a Sims title and more of a mix between a Civilization game and an RPG. Your actions will help the Kingdom rise and fall and improve or ruin relations with adjoining kingdoms, but fans of the other Sims titles may find the lack of freedom and limited customization a little frustrating at times.

Final Score: C+