MySims Camera Review - Screenshot 1 of 2

My Sims Camera is a simple program that requires an equally simple explanation; essentially, it takes animations from the My Sims series and allows you to edit photos taken with the DSi camera by placing characters and stamps into your photos in various poses and styles.

The game is in essence a very basic photo editing program; the only thing different when compared to the built-in photo editor that is packaged with the DSi is the inclusion of the My Sims licence and a handful of the series’ characters. There are a total of eight characters to decorate photos with and these can be manipulated in various different ways. For example, the size of the characters can be changed, their angle on screen can be rotated and various different poses and animations can be scrolled through. Using the “pause” and “play” buttons on screen it is also possible to change the expression on the Sim’s face, and there are a fair amount of different expressions to choose from. If the user inserts a game card from the My Sims series additional content is available for the player to use, specifically characters from the particular game inserted.

Unfortunately, it is only possible to have one My Sim character on screen at a time, unless an already edited photo is saved and re-edited to add another My Sim - though when saved, the resultant photos are rather low quality and the Sim appears somewhat blurry.

MySims Camera Review - Screenshot 2 of 2

The application also allows the user to create custom frames for their photos using the My Sim characters and small selection of stamps on offer. The user can also doodle on screen in a similar to the in-built camera function. The frame feature is a little odd as it doesn’t actually do anything different from the photo editing function and doesn’t include frames in the traditional sense of the word.

Somewhat frustratingly the game cannot access photos on an SD card - similar to Flipnote Studio - and therefore if the user stores the bulk of their photos on SD card they will have to transfer photos over in the Camera application prior to “playing.”

Conclusion

Overall, My Sims Camera is a somewhat strange application with very limited features and a somewhat superfluous nature. There aren’t many options to choose from and saved photos appear a little washed out. The program also runs a little choppily, as though it is taking a while to access the photos on the system memory. My Sims Camera’s saving grace is its relatively low price, and when you consider that Nintendo have charged the same for clock applications and calculators, My Sims Camera isn’t a terrible purchase. Saying that, unless you’re a fan of the series it’s perhaps best to steer well clear of this title.