MySims: Cozy Bundle review for Nintendo Switch

System: Switch
Release date: November 19, 2024
Developer: EA
Publisher: EA

When is a “cozy” game not, in fact, a cozy game? EA’s surprise re-release of the Wii-era MySims games for Nintendo Switch is a curious case of historical revisionism, given that both the original game and its follow-up MySims: Kingdom both pre-date the term by at least a decade. Nevertheless, the original games’ twee 2000’s aesthetic and alleged cozy credentials have merited a quick and dirty remaster job for the Nintendo’s hybrid. Nostalgic pull aside, the awkward holdovers that come with Wii Remote controls, and stiff competition within the genre dull the franchise’s grand re-appearance.

On the surface, you’d be forgiven for thinking that both MySims and its successor follow the crafting/resource gathering/appeasement formula present in titles like Disney Dreamlight Valley – the setup is broadly similar, after all. You’re new to town, and the mayor needs you to adopt the role of renovation contractor – assisting the locals in doing up their homes and businesses in line with a specific theme. The manner in which you go about achieving this in MySims is uniquely simplified, however. The target audience of these games was very young back in the late 2000’s, so you won’t be overwhelmed with multiple layers of dependency when it comes to crafting and foraging. Generally, one item will represent a color that you can then use to apply patterns and swatches to the building or piece of furniture that you’re creating. MySims: Kingdom expands upon this by rewarding you with specific items for the resources you gather, which makes progression feel a bit meatier and more substantial.

Once you’ve shaken enough trees and fished enough lakes, the actual act of building and creating takes center stage. Both MySims and MySims: Kingdom were appropriately praised for this element back during their original release thanks to their intuitive use of the Wii Remote. If you’re building furniture, you’ll be presented with a rotating plinth that you can drag and drop building blocks onto – filling out a transparent blueprint of the chair/stove/bed as you go. Creating actual buildings is the same process – you’re given a bevy of roofing tiles, fences, lawn ornaments and the like with which to fill in your real estate canvas. Once you start digging into the building process it’s readily apparent that this is the real focus of both MySims, and their biggest outlet for creativity.

That was all fine and dandy back in 2007, but 2024 is a different beast altogether – as is the Nintendo Switch, with its hybrid console nature. The biggest blocker you’re going to face when doing any and all of the above is the games’ control scheme, a grotesque amalgam that see’s the original games’ PC port – mouse controls and all – mapped entirely to the Joy-Con’s analog stick. If you opt to revisit these titles in docked mode, you’ll spend your time nudging a mouse cursor around the screen in order to achieve just about anything – with the exception of moving your custom Sim around town. To be totally frank, this solution is arduous at best and tortuous at worst. Why there isn’t an option to use the Joy-Con controllers as a souped up Wii Remote and Nunchuk is beyond me, and I can only hope that a patch will arrive later on down the line that will open up a more accessible control scheme for TV-based players to use. Play in handheld mode, and you’ll thankfully sidestep these issues almost entirely, as you can tap and drag items with your finger in order to get things done. This solution still isn’t totally free of fiddly awkwardness, but it’s a walk in the park compared to what I can only describe as using a PC mouse in third person. While not a complete death sentence for the entire package, these input deficiencies really take their toll on the original MySims game. MySims: Kingdom isn’t affected to the same degree thanks to a slightly more hands-off approach to building, and a greater focus on story and exploration.

Outside of building, the level of interaction you have with both your Sim and his/her Sim mates is cutesy, but shallow. You can join in on activities with various Sims around town, however this mostly boils down to pressing a button and watching a funny animation play out. It’s low impact and low stakes – perfect for the young and nostalgic – but a bit empty and repetitive overall. You won’t have to manage your Sim’s needs and desires like you do in the mainline series, either. Not having to virtually sprint to a virtual toilet is a relief in and of itself, but after picking up your 800th apple, you might begin recalculating your own personal desires as you stomach the likelihood of collecting 800 more. It’s that lack of deeper interaction – along with the simple visuals of both games – that really hurts the broader appeal of MySims: Cozy Bundle. Next to PC, Nintendo Switch has become a de facto “cozy” gaming platform – and competition within the genre is absolutely fierce. If you’ve read this far into the review, then you likely already own at least a couple of farming/social/life sim games, and I’m not confident that MySims is worth sinking a significant amount of time into given the broader cozy gaming landscape.

It’s not that the MySims games are without merit – they did trigger an entire generation’s obsession with the genre, after all. It’s more the case that they have been superseded by dozens of titles in just about every single metric in the interim. If you have any degree of nostalgia for these games, then you’ve likely already picked up this bundle and put as much time as you’re ever going to put into it. For everyone else, this is more so a curious footnote in the history of one of gaming’s biggest genres.

A copy of MySims: Cozy Bundle was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.