Desperate Housewives: The Game Review - A Sizzling Entry Or A Fizzling Waste?

Overview

Following the trend of Friends, Barbie, and a bunch of other popular hits on TV, ABC has launched a game based on its hit show: Desperate Housewives. Now if you’ve been wondering what it’s like to live in Wysteria Lane and interact with the major characters of the hit show, then maybe this game will serve to do you some good. But if you’re not and you’re looking for a Sim game to play on your PC and you found this, I’m sure you’ll wonder - what can be said about Desperate Housewives the Game?

Gameplay (3 out of 5)

Meet Bianca - she’s the newest addition to the housewives of Wysteria Lane, and another new character to add to the most quirky and shrill set of women you’ve ever seen (or watched). There are 12 episodes, so that equates to levels too. She’s married to a philandering husband and a disgruntled teenager.

Notice that the tutorials are extensive and pretty concise, something that makes it obvious that the game was targeted for fans of a show. Props to the crew for thinking that middle aged women will be interested in becoming a housewife of Wysteria Lane.This game is basically about social interaction - think of it as a talk show/gossip channel packaged in a game with a marketing spiel to it. You’ll be given goals of course, to get through each episode but other than that, its pretty clear cut. The game utilizes quests and interactions, but you’ll soon realize that its really about the story, and you might find yourself enjoying this game.

Graphics (3 out of 5)

The game features a pretty standard 3D graphics engine, and for the fans of the series, the avatars will probably resemble the actors and actresses. The neighborhood is colorful and the graphics do their job. One thing that will bug you however, is the way the camera pans out. If you’re familiar with smooth camera panning from other sim games, this might take some getting used to. But otherwise, its pretty decent.

Sounds (4 out of 5)

The game sounds - meaning the music and the background score - are pretty decent. You don’t really need to pay attention to these much, as you’re likely to be more interested in how the characters speak and interact. After all, that’s pretty much the focal point of the game. To the chagrin of loyal Desperate Housewives fans however, the actors that play the characters did not do the voices for the game. Expect some changes in voices and of course the possibility of less than premium voice acting.

Overall (3 out of 5)

Desperate Housewives the Game might not be the regular simulation game that one expects when playing. There’s not really much novelty here, although there are a handful of sidequests. It’s mostly about interaction and the panning of the story. I did enjoy playing the game however, more than i thought I would. The twists and turns of the character development put me on edge, and it made me feel like I was watching and playing the game at the same time though.