The Urbz review

We can't say that this is a crushing disappointment, because we weren't expecting great things from it in the first place, but to see a near-identical game to the mono-screened version you'll find reviewed a couple of pages over is a disgrace.

Honestly, bar a few touch-screen orientated changes, this is an identical game to the one you'll find on GBA. If you want to know what the game is all about, we suggest you read the other review and then come back...

Okay, so the differences between this and the GBA version, then. To start off with, visually, it's slightly better - but only slightly. The resolution is a little higher and DS's superior backlit screen helps to make things feel a little sharper.

Next, the menu screens that you access in the GBA version by hitting Start or Select have now been shifted to DS's bottom screen - hardly groundbreaking but, practically speaking, it does make things flow a little smoother, allowing you to multi-task while, for example, you wait for your Sim to finish taking a shower, cook his dinner or sleep or complete whatever other tedious task he's in the middle of.

Aside from these menu changes, the only other major difference is that some of the mini-games you encounter further into the game also use the touch screen. It's blatantly obvious that these are additions that have been hurriedly bolted onto the existing game's framework. It's a pretty poor show, to say the least. DS is a powerful piece of kit, with some many unique features, it's almost insulting to see a game like The Urbz use them so begrudgingly.

So the question then, is which one (should you be so desperate to buy an Urbz game) do we recommend you go for? Well, given that the games are so similar, and the SP is significantly smaller and cheaper machine, we suggest you go for the GBA version...