The Urbz: Sims in the City is a video game developed by two North American studios, Maxis and Griptonite Games, as a spinoff to Electronic Arts' extremely popular Sims franchise of casual titles, and published by EA.
The game was released for a big number of platforms, including the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox or Nintendo DS, released on November 17, 2004, in North America, and March 11, 2005, in Europe
The Urbz: Sims in the City doesn't try to change the traditional Sims mechanics, which allow players to create their own characters with unique traits or abilities and then guide them through life by deciding their goals, upgrading theirs stats or making friends with AI-controlled characters.
The Urbz does offer a special urban story, with players needing to fulfill various quests and challenges in a big city, as opposed to the regular suburban environments that appeared in previous Sims titles.
The Nintendo DS version of the game plays out more like an adventure game, with players needing to help their own character fulfill various missions and quests in the game world while interacting with the various groups that live in the city, which is being threatened by Daddy Bigbucks, who wants to control it and punish its citizens.
HINTS
The Sims Bustin' Out reference
When you complete the game, you will get a time machine to steal Daddy Bigbucks' flag. You can also return to November 2003, the month and year when The Sims Bustin' Out was issued. If you travel there, you will be on Uncle Hayseed's farm. If you go to the door, you will see Uncle Hayseed himself. If you go to the tractor, you will see yourself back when you needed to complete the "Tractor Troubles" challenge in The Sims Bustin' Out.