Full Review of The Sims 2: Castaway for PlayStation 2
Other Reviews for this game

Yet another game added to the Sims 2 series. It makes you wonder when they are going to move on to Sims 3. But, that doesn't matter. What does matter is this great game. I like this Sims game a lot better then other Sims game, but that is just my own personal opinion. I hope you enjoy the rest of the review, and I hope I help you decide whether or not to try it out.

Graphics

Well, there isn't much to say here. The graphics just aren't that great.
The landscape (trees, sand, water) are okay, but the look a little boring. Water looks the best, but trees and sand just look a little plastic-like.
The characters themselves are just horrible. When customizing them, you will notice a lot of glitches, such as the necklace coming out of the shirt in an incredibly weird way. It's really hard to edit main face features (nose, eyes, mouth). No matter how much you edit them, there is always too much resemblance between two or more.
The menu graphics are the best. Nice and glossy. But, that's all I have to say about that.

Sound

The sound is quite good. Animal sounds match with the animals, but there are some weird noises that will appear occasionally. There isn't really any background music, unless you have the jukebox playing. And, speaking of the jukebox, the music from there is okay. They actually have music from real-life artists, although they changed the vocals to sing "Sim language". This really ruins that.
Regular sound effects, such as chopping wood and climbing trees, are okay. But your Sim as some annoying grunts and moans that it does constantly, no matter what it is doing.
When fast-forwarding, the sound gets really screwed up. I understand that the sound is supposed to sound like it is supposed to be going very fast, but they applied that effect badly.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the best part of the entire game. It really makes up for the sound, graphics, and lastability.
Basically, you and up to five other Sims were on a cruise. A storm hit and you were all stranded on three separate islands. You job is to send a rescue signal to be, well, rescued. As you go along, you find "goal books" to tell you some things to do. You can become friends with monkeys, and find your fellow shipmates (referred to as "tribe mates"). You can invite them to your tribe and go through the game with their help.
There are some secret things to unlock (mainly hieroglyphs and treasure maps). You can do various activities such as fishing and building.
The various items and resources can be quite creative. Although the descriptions for each item/resource are annoying, and fail at being funny.

Lastability

Once you beat the game, it will probably just gather dust. There really is no replay value, unless you feel the need to build every single item possible. When you send the two types of rescue signals, there isn't much else to do. You don't get rescued really. There will be a cut-scene, but you end up being back on the island. There is a secret island that you can get, but there really is no point to it.
I see no reason why you would want to replay it at all, or even continue a completed game.

Overall

The sound and graphics really suck in the game. But the gameplay really brings the rating up. So does lastability, but not as much.
The sound can get annoying, and the graphics are quite glitchy and don't fit really well.
The lastability could be better, if only there was something to do after beating it. When you beat it, you will probably move on to some other game, never touching this one again.
The gameplay is really the only good thing about the entire game. If the gameplay was any worse, this rating would probably be a six or something.
So, if you are a die-hard Sims fan, buy the game and play it. If you aren't, save some money and borrow it maybe. But I wouldn't really buy it. You might have noticed that I said this was my favorite Sims game at the beginning. When I said that, I meant gameplay-wise. Graphics, sound, and lastability weren't "included" with that.