With the proliferation of Sim-styled games, it was only a matter of time before someone would create the ultimate Sim. Yes, that’s right – an aquarium simulation game!  I don’t know how accurate it is to call My Sim Aquarium a game since it seems to be more like an interactive screensaver, which is not that far off since you can actually set up the game to be your screensaver.  Yes, there are sim elements but at a very basic level.

You start off with a trip to the pet shop, which is simply clicking on an icon where you can scroll through different types of fish to buy from the shop’s fish tank.  There isn’t any currency in the game so I’m not sure why they call it “buying” and “selling” your fish since you’re just picking or getting rid of your scaly friends.  Once you select them, then it’s time to start the simulation through the care and feeding of your new fish.  There is a fish helper, which gives you the status of the mood and health of each of your fish.  You can also monitor the quality of the aquarium water and change it when necessary.  The goal is simply to keep your fish happy by feeding them and keeping their environment clean.  Unfortunately, that’s all you can do when it comes to interacting with your fish.  Sort of like a real aquarium … hmmm maybe not such a good idea for a sim game. 

The good news is that you can change the look of your aquarium through a wide selection of different backgrounds and the addition of small buildings, plants, rocks, coral, sea-flowers, wood & other accessories.  All of these added props would be great if it wasn’t for the lackluster graphics, especially the background environments.  The colors are bland and everything has a 2D look to it when placed into the aquarium.  Luckily, the visuals for the fish make out much better than the rest of the objects in your aquarium.  If this game can be used as a screensaver, why not beef up the graphics since you spend most of your time just looking at the damn thing!  Since I’m on a roll here, where the hell is the one prop that is in practically every fish tank in America?  Yes, the always popular deep sea diver with the continuous flow of bubbles streaming from his oxygen line.  He is nowhere to be found. 

The fish are the highlight of the game and the developers came through in making sure they look like the real McCoy.  This is another reason why it is so apparent that everything but the fish got the short end of the stick when it came to development time.  There is a decent selection of fish - over 48 species so tropical fish fans should have a field day.  I also liked the inclusion of an encyclopedia that gives you a brief description of each fish.  Your aquatic pets do react like real fish when they eat and perform other actions such as chasing each other.  You can also touch the fish with the mouse pointer and they will respond.  But beyond that there is not a whole lot else you can do when trying to interact with your fish.  So you just end up spending most of your time staring at your fish.  This wouldn’t be so bad except you’ll notice the fish have a tendency to swim through the bottom of your aquarium.  Clipping is a problem and it’s a constant reminder that there are better screensavers out there. 

On the plus side, it’s fun to feed your fish especially when you use the fun stuff with the highlights being food that makes them glow (neon food), grow large or change into a box shape.  It’s too bad the food resembles small rubber triangles.  On the other hand, you can always opt for feeding pizza to your fish.  Don’t ask me why pizza is a choice here.  If you do treat your fish well enough (i.e. not feeding them pizza), they will grow up healthy and some will eventually produce offspring.  I’m just not sure your interest will be held long enough to witness this.

My Sim Aquarium is strictly low budget material and the overall entertainment factor suffers because of it.  It might be amusing to the very young (7 or younger) but it’s highly likely they’ll lose interest after the novelty of feeding fish wears off.  In the big pool of PC games, My Sim Aquarium ends up sinking to the bottom.