Sim Castles - 12-14 May 2001

Vima - Having never been here before, I wanted to look around first rather than write my review as I went. The site is a mixture of good and fair. A lot of the objects are off-angled, but there are some gems here as well, and it's definately worth a look at.

The walls and floors have been relocated to an unspecified location, which is disappointing. Smooth transitions are often essential and it would've been nice to have moved them before taking them down from this location.

All and all, the site is about average... The layout is good and easy to navigate. Scrolling is minimal and I like that. Three martinis...and a bookmark.

Squeegee - Initial impressions.. It's another case where Netscape doesn't give a website any justice. I had loaded up this website with Netscape and found that only a minute percentage of the navigation buttons would show up. I then found them farther down the page but at peculiar locations. Again, using IE I was able to get what the webmaster MIGHT have intended. I do know that the update text didn't seem show up in Netscape. So, the dissimilarity was like night and day.

I sure wish people would consider trying to make websites that are gracious to Netscape users as well as users who favor a Microsoft product. I know that numbers of users is not much, but it's still a large amount of prospective surfers who would patronize the site. It's just something to consider.

The site features a straightforward layout and the graphics used would be considered "bright" to me. But, it's better on my eyes then some of the other websites that I have reviewed thus far.

There is a decent variety of creative objects offered. I tend to favor the huge selection of potted plants like the "Gorgeous Coleous". I also found the "Fun Stuff" area very interesting. There are some featured skins for users of Yahoo! Messenger. (not actual Sim "skins". But the custom backgrounds a person can use with the instant messenger program).

I ran into a predicament while trying to look in the "Walls" area. It seems that Sim Castles is in the middle of a complete move to another server. But the problem comes when I tried to click on the URL given as the new location. It just comes up as a "The page cannot be displayed". The Floor section has also moved. No URL given on that page just in case that the URL in the Walls section was typed in incorrectly.

Users will find the "Tutorials" page instructive and helpful. I did a quick glance and noticed lots of screenshots that would sooth any confused soul.

There are some negatives to the site such as that incorrect URL given as the forwarding address to the new location. And also the fact that Netscape users will find the site like a jigsaw puzzle. But overall, it's a nice site. The tutorial section is a major plus in my opinion. Anyone willing to take the time to make something for others and then offer it as a tutorial is a blessing.

I submit a review of two martinis and an extra chewed up cherry.

Storel - Oh, dear, another site that chokes on Netscape. The home page only shows the site title and 4 menu buttons (with large gaps between them) when viewed with Netscape, while in IE you see the title, 9 menu buttons, 3 paragraphs of news items, a graphic by the title, and a bunch of site links. *sigh*

Sim Castles is run by "C&C Creations", which turns out to be two sisters-in-law named Chris and Cathi (plus a few friends and family). They're in the process of moving from Geocities to Topcities, so the Walls and Floors sections were unavailable when I reviewed the site, but the rest of the site is still available at the Geocities location as of this writing.

The Objects section is fairly large, with ten subsections of several pages each. The Flowers section has indoor flowers and plants in vases, pots, and baskets. A few of them aren't quite at the correct angle, which is something I don't care for, but most of them look pretty good. (There were broken graphics on pages 2 and 4, though.)

I wish I could say as much for the Furniture section. The Bubble Wall is kind of interesting, but the chairs and sofas are oddly shaped, flat, 2-dimensional objects that sit at diagonal angles and only have one view angle, so they seem to be facing you no matter which rotation you're viewing them from. That's got to look weird when somebody's sitting in them and you view them from behind. Objects with only one view drive me crazy, because I rotate my view frequently while playing to get clear views of what my Sims are doing as they move around the house, and it really looks odd to have some objects that don't rotate along with the others.

The Decorative section is a bit better. I liked the stained-glass cat and snake sculptures and the flashing neon sculpture, and the bucket of apples was cute. Most of the other objects -- birdhouses and a "See No Evil" monkey totem pole -- were a bit off the correct angle, and since they were done from photographs I suspect most of them don't have rear views, either. Many folks aren't bothered by those flaws, though, so if you aren't then ignore my grumbling.

Most of the Lamps are off-angle, too, although the bamboo lanterns are closer than most, and the snake and cat lamps (which match the stained-glass sculptures in Decorative) look pretty good, too. On page 4, the "More" button that's supposed to take you to page 5 actually goes to page 6, which is empty since there are only supposed to be 5 pages in this section; you have to return to page 4 and click on the direct link for page 5 to get there.

The Art Gallery only had eight paintings in it, with ArtStudio frames; some fairly interesting paintings, actually, so it's too bad there aren't more. The Bathroom section was even smaller, with only four objects. The stack of toilet paper rolls was a cute touch.

The Outdoors section was the largest, with nine pages of assorted objects. There were several good-looking shrubs and flowering plants, and some unusual topiaries (some of which looked a bit flat, though), along with a variety of birdbaths and porcelain lawn figurines. There were also quite a few cute children's things, including several chairs shaped like cartoon animals and some inflatable things to put by the pool. Some of the kids' items are sculptures, so you can't really do anything with them, although the Outdoor Play Slide turned out to have been made from a sofa. (I didn't test it in the game, though, so I have no idea which part of it the Sims actually sit on.)

Noelle's section had some nice perfume bottles and several wallpapers that would only appeal to kids (Noelle turns out to be Chris's 12-year-old daughter, who made everything on this page herself). And the Room Sets page had two furniture collections, of which I preferred the Country Green Kitchen set, which has a counter, stove, dishwasher, dining table, and end table in a nice green pattern.

Fun Stuff had two Sims-themed "skins" for Yahoo Messenger, which is something I don't recall ever seeing anywhere else. If you use Messenger, you might enjoy these.

The Tutorials section is hosted separately on Angelfire, and turned out to have several useful tutorials covering different aspects of making objects with PaintShop Pro. If you're interested in object making, these are worth bookmarking even if the rest of the site doesn't appeal.

Overall, some of the objects aren't bad, but too many of them have single views or inaccurate angles for my taste. The Netscape incompatibility didn't help, either, but I have to admit the tutorials are nice. I'll give them two martinis.

Simantha - *wakes up* Where am I? Oh, in the Lounge. Last time I left this place there was a bright light and...yep, I'm missing time again. That's no good. Anyways, I see there's a review today and lots of martinis at the ready!

Hmm. Seems sort of dry, this layout, although the colored buttons sure are pretty. Is that house...why is there a house floating over on the left menu? Confused. Guess I'll start with Objects...oh, great, there's that little "Done, but with errors on page" thing down at the bottom of my browser. Terrific. Wonder what I'm missing. Okay, so these objects are mostly decorative but go in various types of rooms. I like the three rolls of toilet paper, I could use those in the Lounge's ladies room, we never have enough in there!

Screenshots of objects don't look bad, though, maybe I'll find something I really really want in here today...Hey, I remember these chairs! I have been here before! And I didn't like the chairs! Sorry, but your Sims just won't sit on them at the correct angle. The objects have to be made at an angle in order to look correct in the game, and these aren't. The birdbaths are very pretty. I may have to get one. This handpainted children's furniture set is really cute, but I can't say the same for the recolored Country Green set...it just doesn't appeal to me. Bravo on making the matching stove, however you need to have a fridge, too, doncha?

Ohhh. That little pink floating house above the left menu goes to the official site. I didn't know that though, and thought it was a link to the home page for *this* site. Might want to do something about that.

Walls and floors...might want to categorize them somehow. Nice though.

Okay...I will slide a martini down that way to that cute guy, keep one for me and slide two and a half down to you, SimCastles! Oh, and I'll keep this extra half too ;)