Review: MySims Agents the best MySims yet

There’s something charming about listening to developers who are genuinely excited about their game. The exuberance with which they discuss their work is infectious, and while they gush like freckle-faced tee ballers being handed shiny plastic trophies, it’s almost impossible not to drop the hard-nosed editorial facade and share a little smile.

As Electronic Arts’ Geoff Mitchell and Rachel Bernstein walked me through MySims Agents last month, you could’ve told me Geoff had just whacked a double to score Rachel’s game-winning run, and I’d have been none the wiser. They were that excited about Agents.

After playing the finished product, it’s easy to see why.

As the good people at the Sims Studio tell anyone willing to listen, Agents is the third proper entry in EA’s MySims series, following the 2007 original and last year’s Kingdom. While MySims debuted on Wii as a customization-focused franchise emphasizing building towns and furnishing Sims’ houses, the studio experimented with that formula for Kingdom, creating a more linear and story-driven experience.

As it turns out, Kingdom was simply testing the water. With Agents, the Sims Studio has dived headfirst into the pool, shifting MySims’ focus from unrestrained customization to more defined objectives.

In this case, that means plenty of serious detective work.

It’s all about detective work in Agents, more a Phoenix Wright than a MySims

In typical MySims fashion, you’ll start the game by creating your character, a small-time sleuth with big-time aspirations. Your career begins modestly, but after a little success, you’ll be recruited to work for a foremost detective agency’in addition to running the high-tech headquarters from which it operates, you’ll recruit new gumshoes to help with the workload, as well. You’ll dispatch them to investigate smaller cases while you focus on critical, high-priority capers.

More specifically, the wicked deeds of the evil Morcubus.