MySims Camera (DSiWare) Review

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 by Adam Scott Clark

Ever wanted to share a photo with a My Sim? No, we haven't either...

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.

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.

3/10

Scoring Policy

User Comments

1. irken004 21 Sep 2009, 22:32 BST

THE CUTENESS!!! THEY HAVE NO SHADOWS!!!!

2. LinktotheFuture 21 Sep 2009, 22:40 BST

Maybe someday we'll get apps that are actually useful....nah that would make to much sense.

3. ArtMcCarthyDotCom 21 Sep 2009, 22:54 BST

If they made this but with miis instead of mysims it would be great.

4. Cheezy 21 Sep 2009, 22:58 BST

Besides the Web Browser and Flipnote, let's see a good app...

5. Mr G 21 Sep 2009, 23:10 BST

OMG nintendo if you do this but with an animal crossing app i will go crazy and so will my wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. KeeperBvK 21 Sep 2009, 23:16 BST

How about mentioning which MySims characters are in this?...I'm a fan of the series and my sister is into it like mad, so it would've been nice to see some more information.

7. jackdsi 21 Sep 2009, 23:20 BST

I want this with animal crossing!!!!!

8. koolkitties 21 Sep 2009, 23:25 BST

I don't want this with anyone!

9. Chrono Cross 21 Sep 2009, 23:26 BST

Great score!

10. ballistikboy 21 Sep 2009, 23:33 BST

I wonder why they thought we'd be interested... hrm... maybe... I just don't see alot of MySims titles flooding the DSi market or anything. Seems a little like a spot of shameless self-promotion for EA's Sims series. I gave this a 5 out of 10 originally, but I have to agree and give it a 3. There really isn't much you can do but put characters into photos you've already taken. Blahhhh.

Why didn't Nintendo release 2-in-1 Solitaire instead of this today? That has a much broader appeal than something like this...

11. sak904 21 Sep 2009, 23:34 BST

Actually, you can have up to three at once without overlapping them. But, this program probably only deserves a 2. And in reply to KepperBvK, they seem to all be ones from the Secret agents version.

12. KeeperBvK 21 Sep 2009, 23:39 BST

@ sak904: Thanks, but that doesn't help me at all, as MySims Agents features the same characters as the other games in the franchise before and there are a lot more than just 8 characters in the MySims universe.

13. Egg miester 21 Sep 2009, 23:53 BST

interesting idea nintendo needs to do an animal crossing one

14. warioswoods 22 Sep 2009, 00:07 BST

I didn't even know that MySims was a successful franchise; I always assumed those titles flopped at retail, and I've never heard a single good thing about them. Apparently they must have held some sales ground in order for this app to make any sense.

15. KnucklesSonic8 22 Sep 2009, 01:00 BST

Looks like I'll be spending my remaining 200 Points on the Mario Calculator after all. Thanks for the review. It was handled pretty well consideing what you had to work with.

16. JustYourAverageBleh 22 Sep 2009, 03:17 BST

Who's on the photos?(the people?)

17. Meffaliss 22 Sep 2009, 03:23 BST

Not interested...

18. KeeperBvK 22 Sep 2009, 07:33 BST

@ warioswoods:

They're all good games except for MySims Party. Even MySims Racing is a really nicely made game.

19. brandonbwii 22 Sep 2009, 07:55 BST

@warioswoods
I recall the original MySims selling over 800,000 units. Likey reaching over a million in later months. Not too shabby for a Wii release.

I personally like the core concept/gameplay of the MySims games, but only that. After the creation phase of the game there's not much there. The story is elementry and the only memorable character in any way is Buddy. It's a real shame because the series has the potential to be Nintendo quality with more depth and better writing, just like the other EA classics Boom Blox and Henry Hatsworth.

As for the app, when I first heard about it I imagined you add MySims to photos you were about to take. I guess not.

20. KeeperBvK 22 Sep 2009, 08:15 BST

"The story is elementry and the only memorable character in any way is Buddy."

Have you ever played MySims Kingdoms or a demo of Agents? They got tons of memorable characters.

21. LEGEND MARIOID 22 Sep 2009, 11:26 BST

Why did they bother?

22. MetalMario 22 Sep 2009, 21:01 BST

More DSiWare crap.

23. protozone.quadrant 22 Sep 2009, 21:43 BST

i almost bought this :0

24. Bass X0 22 Sep 2009, 21:47 BST

I quite like Violet, Yuki and Vic Vector.

25. luigiman2 23 Sep 2009, 00:58 BST

My Sims Camera looks really bad. No offense.

26. Tony 23 Sep 2009, 14:03 BST

This would be a great fit with Animal Crossing characters. I would love to have my picture taken with Tom Nook

27. StarDust 24 Sep 2009, 01:45 BST

More junk to "nickle and dime" people out of there precious Nintendo points Also totally useless if you have prior experience in Photoshop.

28. cheetahman91 24 Sep 2009, 02:53 BST

Yeah more shovelware! Just another reason DSiWare isn't much of nothing with a few exceptions.

29. Bass X0 09 Oct 2009, 14:36 BST

Yet it seems to be selling well. Highest placement is #3 in the charts. Regardless of what it is, its doing something right at least. Why did they bother? Because its making money.

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