The Sims Carnival SnapCity, a game with a name that only a mother could love, is most easily described as the mutant child of Sim City and Tetris. I once read that the likelihood of two really intelligent people having a stupid child is higher than of two normal people having a really stupid child. SnapCity is that stupid child. Sim City is one of the hardest games ever, and everyone eventually loses at Tetris. I'm not sure that you can fail at SnapCity. Unless, I guess, both of your parents were really, really smart.

But that doesn't mean that it isn't fun. The music is nice. The graphics have a cartoony shinyness to them which makes the game easily pleasant to look at. And the gameplay, while kind of silly, is just interesting enough that after each level you'll wonder what the next one holds. It's never held my attention for more than an hour at a time. But an hour is usually about 45 minutes longer than I planned to play it to begin with.

Just one more level....

In "story" mode, you playfield will be typically be a grid with a city already in the works. You'll have goals: fill all colormatch zones, complete two special zones, and build a park. Each level will have a number of zones already laid for you, each of a different color. Green for residential, blue for commercial and yellow for industrial. Colored blocks will fall from the sky which you must place on the grid in a zone of the same color; this is the colormatch zone.

There will be also be special, starred zones. While some special zones may (or may not) be on the grid when you start, you can also "earn" them. Each block you place adds to your "star meter" (or whatever it's called, seriously). When your star meter is filled, the next block you drop will be a special zone. Sometimes these zones will allow you to pick their color (based on the first piece dropped in them), sometimes the color will be set. Upon completing a special zone, you'll given a choice of which special building to place there: a park, police station, minimall, fire station, clinic, and so on. While some special zones may (or may not) be on the grid when you start, you can also "earn" them. Each block you place adds to your "star meter" (or whatever it's called, seriously). When your star meter is filled, the next block you drop will be a special zone.

Some special buildings will have additional effects. A fire station allows you to fight fires. Click click click. A police station allows the apprehension of burglars. Click click click. The clinic allows the apprehension of diseased people (perhaps they're made into soylent green!), and so on. The forestry service building allows the placement of trees, and there's another one for adding water to your city.

In an unusual turn of events it seems that by combining two games which are intrinsicly easy to fail at, EA has managed to make a game that is nearly impossible to lose. If you're not sure what you want to do or you just want to look around your city, click on the bulldozer or road building icon. Both of these functions have the added benefit of stopping the relentless (slow, sure, but still relentless) falling of piece of from the sky. I'm pretty sure that you'd have to be a three-toed-sloth on Ambien to have trouble keeping ahead of the game in SnapCity.

In free mode, you just play and play, zoning things as you like. You still get special zones and building, it just never ends, and the starting grid is empty.

The demo is long enough that you'll know before it's over whether or not you'll like the game. So, while I do recommend this game to those who enjoy puzzle games, you don't have to take my word for it. The demo can be found at Bigfish games. You can also purchase it from them, or directly from the EAStore.