The actual core gameplay has remained the same as it was on the day the first Sim pissed themselves then passed out from sleep deprivation, waking only to cry themselves silly because they hadn't seen any of their mates that afternoon. The has always been about micro-management and for some reason this has appealed to an unprecedented number of people. Maybe it has something to do with peoples urge to have some control over their lives, something that seems increasingly hard to do in this modern world. Or maybe the world is made up of far more anal-retentives than one could ever have feared possible. Well both types should be catered for here as the level of fiddling required to get your Sim to even the lowest rungs of the fame ladder is frankly scary. Not only do you have to keep the little blighters eight basic needs ticking over nicely but you also have to worry about your fame level. To make it into the big league your Sim will have to get the attention of the press, make contacts and friendships with the movers and shakers of the fame treadmill and generally keep up a level of exposure that will ensure that the number of stars representing your fame level keeps on rising. A nightmare of management juggling - think of one of those fat-cats who seem to be a non-executive director of half the private companies in the land. Then combine them with some lanky hippy keeping five flaming torches up in the air at once. This is the kind of work you will have to endure if you really want to see your Sims name up in lights. Just remember that you will receive neither the bloated salary nor the admiration of all passers-by like my two analogous examples. This is by far the hardest of all the myriad of Sims expansions, a challenge to be sure, but is it any fun?

For me, it was fun for about a day, then it became tedious, then downright annoying, and then uninstalled. But I am not the largest fan of the Sims in the first place. It has always been a game I can take in small doses for a few days before I remember once again that this is the most pointless of all the software entertainment out there. Which is saying a lot next to Yoda's Desktop Adventures. If you are a massive fan of the Sims you will no doubt have bought this already. If on the other hand you have played some Sims before and got some passing enjoyment from the whole process without actually giving too much of a crap about what happened to your little computer people then this is probably an expansion pack too far. It really is very hard, making it difficult for the non-obsessive player to get access to much of the new content. So while Sims Superstar is a competently put together game with plenty of new objects and career paths to pursue, its reliance on extreme difficulty shows how far beyond the bounds of good game making the series has been pushed.

Sims lover:

Everyone else: N/A

85%

By Sam Gibson