SimLife: The Genetic Playground
| Developer: Maxis | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Mindscape | Sound: |
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| Year: 1993 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Simulation | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
7/10 | |
SimEarth paved the way for complex ecosystem simulations but suffered from a certain austerity. SimLife aims to be more accessible, putting in a real effort to make the interface more user-friendly (the help function displays a legend next to each button). It’s also more playful, setting aside planet formation and geology in favour of a more interactive approach: the creation and maintenance of life!
In practical terms, you must implement all the conditions for your creatures to thrive in harmony. This involves adjusting the climate, developing suitable terrain, and maintaining balance in the food chain.
You’re free to scatter animal and plant species across the globe by clicking everywhere and waiting to see what happens. You can also put on your geneticist’s coat and imagine the most improbable crossbreeds, drawing and naming your creations!
There’s not really a specific goal in this game, other than completing the usual scenarios, but the “experiment” mode stands on its own. For me, it’s a joy to do whatever and watch, then throw in a big catastrophe and start again. It’s a true sandbox with enough maps and statistical screens to give it educational justification. And finally, the sound effects are hilarious (for the first ten minutes)!
Of course, like its predecessors, this one remains difficult to get into without a fair bit of patience and the hefty manual.
Prefer the original version on PC/Mac.
More recently, its humble successor was released: Spore (PC, 2008). And even more recently: Equilinox (2018).
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